Well, we did it! We agreed on a name for the little guy. And I LOVE it! I'm not half sold, I'm not, "well... I guess it's ok", I LOVE IT! Donald does too, I know. The thing is, we had to do some total negotiation last night over dinner at Stella's on Commercial. (And when I say, "negotiation" I mean the conversation went like this: "Stephanie, I want a Christian name in the mix somehow." "But darling, you haven't been to church since you married me." Donald looks at me and says, "Exactly".)

So, since he still wanted a "Jesus" name we agreed that if we named the baby, "X", he could pick a Christian name for his middle name. And his parents will pick the Chinese name. And we already know his last name, so we're all set!

Unless, of course, he totally comes out and is a different sort of name all together!

***

I bought a baby book a few weeks ago, it's just beautiful. Beautifully illustrated, beautiful poems throughout, I just fell in love with it. I updated it a bit this morning, but we don't know where Donald's parents were born nor do we know his grandparents names or where they were born, so we've got to take it over to the in-laws next week and get them to tell us.

This could be an issue.

First of all, we don't know anything about any of their births or hometowns because they don't have birth certificates. They just don't. They didn't get lost, they didn't get stolen, they weren't burnt in a fire.... they just simply don't record births. Maybe in present-day China they do (although there WAS that total scene with the fourteen (or whatever) year old gymnast during the Olympics...), but not up to 40 years ago. Donald's oldest sisters that were born in China don't even have a record of their birth. And Donald's dad's birthday keeps changing every year because he was born on the Chinese New Year, which is based on a lunar calendar and so it changes every year as well. (For the record, our baby is due on Chinese New Year too. Could be interesting.)

So that's ONE issue.

The other?

Superstition. Donald's mom won't tell any of the kids any information surrounding their birth, let alone the time of their birth, because she's afraid the evil spirits will find them and bring them harm. That's just their superstition, that's fine, I just hope we can have a record for the family tree, of her parents names and birth places.

That's it for today. We're heading out to Steveston to walk around the pier and do some shopping. Totally having Indian Summer today... it's supposed to get to over 26 degrees!

S.

There's alot going on right now that's really heartbreaking and horrendous and sad beyond belief. But there's good stuff too. And so that's what I'm going to focus on; the baby!


It doesn't seem possible that the baby looks like this already.

Yet apparently, for 5.2 inches and 7 ounces, this is exactly how he looks. Hmmm... and to think (bad mother moment alert) when I first saw him on the ultrasound I almost jumped out of my skin because to me he looked like either, A) something out of a Japanese horror movie, or B) a turtle. And the sad thing is, I said this outloud. The ultrasound technician probably thought I was a psycho mother. Please tell me that someone else thought the same thing when they first saw their ultrasound? Someone? Anyone?

The tech wouldn't tell us the gender, "Your OB will tell you after week 20. In British Columbia they are not permitted to tell you the gender until after that time."

Wow. I didn't know it was LAW. I thought it was, um, preference or something. I know there are still so many baby girls aborted, even in Vancouver/Lower Mainland area, but I didn't think it was the law.

The baby was moving around like mad in there the whole time, but totally cooperated and the tech got all the pics and measurements he needed. I kind of panicked when he was measuring the heart and checking out the valves because he totally did it in Slo Mo and so I, of course, thought something wonky was happening with my baby's heart. But, no, all is well. He's got a great heart.

For a turtle.

!!

I got emotional at one point when it dawned on me that there is so much action happening inside, I made a baby for pete's sake!, all this stuff going on, my little guy is growing and moving and hearing and functioning. And he came from two microscopic cells. (Or whatever the heck eggs and sperm are.... details, details.) It's amazing. And so I got a bit emotional. And had a moment. And then carried on in awe.

BC Women's has a nice set up, you get to see everything on a big screen, your husband comes in with you from the get-go (unlike Greig & Assoc where they make the husband/partner wait outside until they take the measurements and make sure there's a heartbeat), they talk you through it and let you know what you're seeing on the screen, what they're measuring, etc. Again, Greig's won't even show you the screen until they do their stuff. And hey peddle their 3D ultrasound packages to get your 200.00 (in my experience).

So yeah, I'm not a fan of Greig's. They, after all, told me my baby was dead in the middle of the hallway. I turned the corner and there was my dead baby on the screen in the MIDDLE OF THE HALLWAY. Same thing happened to my girlfriend when she had a missed miscarriage. The thing is, I didn't like the delivery of the news, I didn't like where they delivered the news, I didn't like that they told me without my husband being there, but I did like that I got to see my baby, even on a small screen, even not alive, at least that one time.

Hey, this was supposed to be a happy post...

So, off we went to lunch (note: having trouble using the washroom when in Vancouver? Go to Banana Leaf on Broadway and order the Singapore Laksa.) and then we headed off to the OB's.

All is well. My blood pressure is still low (90/50) but I have gained weight finally. Up to 130 now. Gained 8 lbs.

My ultrasound results didn't make it to her office by that time so we couldn't discuss the measurements and all that good stuff. But, my test results were in from the Integrated Serum testing. For Downs it was 1 in 20K, for Spina Bifida, 1 in 4470 and for Trisomy 18 it was 1 in 99K. So I was VERY relieved.

And so by now, with the blue background, you can tell we're having a boy. YAY! I asked my doctor if she'd tell us and she said she would, and that she'd call me when the ultrasound results reached her. At 4pm on the nose my cell phone rang with the fabulous news!

Belly pic coming tomorrow. For now I'm going to listen to the D-Man talk incessantly in my ear about Jesus names. He actually said Moses. (Which I secretly like).

S.

Overheard in East Van:

Donald: How'd Jesus get on your sandwich?

Me: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Donald: No, seriously. How'd you do that?

Me: No, seriously, HAHAHAHAHAHA!

And then: Trust me honey, if Jesus acutally shows up for lunch one day, you can TOTALLY name the baby Joshua.

Week 17!

Where to start? I might break this up into a few posts so, a) as not to bore you and b) I have something to post this week! Or, I've added more pictures this week for a bit of fun. Whatevs....

Let's start with me and The D-Man. We simply cannot agree on boy names. I know we have lots of time, and the little guys' name wil come, it's just that I came up with a GREAT one and I WANT IT I WANT IT I WANT IT! But he says no-go because it's also the name of a restaurant that his parents love. I forgot about that. But it's such a great name!

I'm going to keep on working on him on this one. It really is THAT great!

(See Jesus in the sammy?)

The name Donald picked means, "God is my salvation." NO WAY. Nothing with religious overtures like that. Yuck. (Apologies in advance for those of you who are named after Jesus or something...your names are beautiful, I'm sure, it's just a personal preference that I don't want religion as part of my child's name.)

Then again, the name I picked for a girl is the name of a witch. (And no, it's not Wendy!)

We've got a doppler!

My sister-in-law had her daughter 2 months premature (both are doing well) and so they offered their doppler to us! It comes at a great time really, after the aches and pains and symptoms of the first trimester are over, and before the baby is rockin' and rollin' like mad in there. There are a few weeks in between all that action, which is right now, so it eases my worry when I can hear his heartbeat. I tried it about 4 times the night I got it to make sure I knew what I was looking for, and no mistaking, the lound sound of galloping horses was about 2-3 inches below my belly-button. I found him! So I surprised Donald with it in the morning before he went to work. It was great! The cats are really curious and both of them jump up on the bed when I'm doing it, and they won't leave me alone for about 1/2 hour afterwards. Immediately on my belly, or trying to lay close to me or sit on my lap or whatever. They love it too!

I'm pretty sure I've finally gained a bit of weight. I think about 5 lbs. I'm using my scale at home and it isn't the best, so I'll know more at week 19 after my ultrasound and doctor's visit.

This person is not me. They look like they get better sleep than I do. (And truth be told, I have much better hair.)

I bought a body pillow yesterday to help me get comfy at night. It's massive! It's rather annoying, it's so big, and hard to maneuver under the covers so REALLY annoying when I want to turn over (it's like there's 3 of us in the bed.) (Ok, it's like there's FIVE of us in the bed... me, Don, baby (hey, he counts!), Chicken and Ling Ling). But I slept through the night last night, so I'm happy with the $13.00 purchase.

This is not the baby. If it was a whole cantaloupe, and without the kiwi and carrots, it's the size of my uterus right now.

My uterus is now the size of a cantaloupe and has shifted to my centre of gravity. This, coupled with my low blood pressure, is causing the dizziness whenever I stand up a bit too quickly.

And that's all for today. Instead of leaving you with a picture of me and my belly, I'll leave you with this video:

More this week on how the baby is doing in there!

Baby Lee's first concert, George Michael.

And what a concert it was! The best I've seen in years. Maybe even EVER. Had a great time. If it's a boy, we're tossing around the name George, the concert was THAT good.

At what age do we tell him he's named after a homosexual singer who gets busted in men's washrooms trolling for a piece?

Later.