Conversation Between Mom and Dad -To Be

Me: I can't believe we are going to be parents in a week.
Hubby: Yeah.
Me: Are you nervous?
Hubby:  No.
Me: Why NOT? I have no idea what to do.
Hubby: We will take care of her. Trial and error!
Me: Trial and ERROR! What ERROR?!! We can't have any error with baby!
Hubby: Nah. That's how it goes. No parents are perfect...
Me: But I am perfect.
Hubby: No you are NOT.

Grandma's coming!

Mom's plane arrived an hour ago. I am anxiously waiting at home. The snow is coming down fast outside with sleet hitting all the windows, loud and furious. I am grateful that the timing is just right. If she were to fly in tomorrow, she might not be able to land since we are predicted to have 5 to 10 inches of snow.

We have scheduled the induction on Feb. 8. We will go in on Feb. 7 and stay overnight at the hospital. Few more days, baby girl! She's been wiggling and stretching rather than kicking. I guess her room is getting smaller each day. We had our last sonogram yesterday. Everything was normal. Dr. said she was proportionally big, not just in the head or stomach as we were told earlier. I also got a chance to talk to my coworker Sue, who had an 11 lb 3 ounce baby girl naturally 23 years ago. Sue is Korean and tiny. She did it, I can do it too. She told me after the baby came, she was heavier than the twins added up together delivered next door. Sue's mother said to her:"You did not give birth to a baby, you gave birth to a monster!!" I hope my mom won't say that to me if the same situation happens.

My Mommy Principles – Pre-Motherhood

I have been thinking about things I want to do when I become a mom and a few principles I must uphold to maintain my own identity rather than purely being somebody’s mom. These may all become invalid once I stare into my baby’s eyes. I may become one of THOSE moms. It’s all possible but it would be interesting to see the pre- and post pictures of my mindset.

• Buy a baby sling and wear the baby out even when she’s fairly young
• Sleep train the baby
• Breast feed her but also bottle train her
• Continue to practice yoga
• Still have dates with hubby (with and sometimes without the baby)
• Travel abroad with her (first target date/destination: May 2012/China & Japan)
• Travel abroad without her (train hubby to take care of her independently)
• Still have girls’ night out once in a while and enjoy my friends and allow hubby to do the same
• Don’t hover over when she becomes a teenager; don’t be overly protective; don’t be overly conservative (think about what I wanted to do that my mom did not want me to do…)
• Teach her to have faith

Home Stretch

Yesterday we had our last sonogram. Baby's measured at 7 lbs and 13 ounces at two days short of 36 weeks. She had her face hidden from us so I was a little disappointed not to see her chubby cheeks for one last time through 4D images. But we will see her in real person soon. I got dizzy and nauseous again in the exam room, probably because the room was small, dark and hot and I was lying down for too long. At this point, the doctor said she was over 90 percentile in terms of weight. However the sonogram might be one pound off either up or down. I am of course hoping for down. I told my OB in the afternoon appointment that I was NOT going for elective C-section. She was fine with it. In fact she said "maybe you have one of those amazing Asian pelvises!" Lately she encountered multiple tiny Asian women giving birth to 10 pound plus babies and she was convinced that it had to be an admirable trait of my entire race. Well, we will see how it goes.

Mike disassembled and re-assembled the car seat today, basically to figure out a way to put the protective padding on the straps. It's great to have someone handy in the house since I hate reading manuals and putting anything together. After battling with it for half an hour, we managed it. Then we added a JJ Cole car seat cover and put a snuzzler inside as well. Looks like baby will be comfy and warm enough, shielded from the harsh February weather. Next step is to figure out how to secure the car seat and base in his car so our baby girl can have her welcome ride home.