Week 17: Onion

A lot has happened in the past week! 

Strike a Pose

I recently signed up to be a "model" for Siemens, which is a company that makes (among other things) ultrasound machines. Whenever Siemens needs to demo their ultrasound machines or test out a new software version, they need pregnant ladies as models. Most women only get a few ultrasounds done during their pregnancy (through their doctor/hospital), and some women pay extra to outside vendors to perform additional ultrasounds, or to do more advanced 3D/4D ultrasounds for fun. 

I signed up for Siemens' model list, and got to go in last Tuesday (11/12). I gave them an hour of my time, and in return, I got paid $35 + mileage haha. But more importantly, I got to see my baby on screen, a bunch of photos and VIDEOS, andddddddd.... found out the gender of our baby!! 

Since Eric wasn't able to come with me to that ultrasound, I asked them to write down the gender on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope. We opened it together when we got home. I know the suspense must be killing you all haha, but I will let Eric reveal the gender in a separate post!

In the meantime, here is one of the ultrasound videos. You can see WuBerry's spine/bones, and also the flickering near the middle of the screen is the baby's heart beating!

Other Weekly Updates

I continue to feel great overall. I feel really lucky to have such an easy pregnancy so far... I'm keeping my fingers crossed it stays this way! WuBerry is now about 5 inches long, the size of an onion.

• Weight: I finally gained weight -- I gained 1 pound! haha. The bump is starting to get more noticeable now, and grows throughout the day. Today was the first day I wore maternity pants to work, and they were so comfortable! Several women told me that they wish they started wearing maternity clothes earlier on in their pregnancies, instead of trying to hold on to their normal clothes as long as possible. I am heeding their advice, and totally understand why! I also felt like I looked bigger today, maybe because my pants weren't squishing in my growing belly?

• Appetite/Cravings: Appetite is fine. I continue to think actively about getting enough calcium.

My parents came to visit this weekend, and brought me and my sisters SO MUCH FOOD! They drove their SUV from southern CA instead of flying, because they filled their car with $300+ of fruit and Korean food/groceries. It's nice to come home during the week now and have plenty of healthy dinner options waiting for me! Thank you 엄마 and 아빠!! <3

• Mood/Energy/Sleep: All fine. Generally getting 7+ hours of sleep each nigh (during the week), and I haven't been tired at all. I need to work out more though! I borrowed some pregnancy workout DVD's from my friend thinking that it would be more convenient than going to the gym... I've tried one workout once so far haha.  But I guess that is one more time than I've gone to the gym in the past two weeks! oops. 

Vacation Soon

Eric and I are flying to Maui on Sunday! We'll be spending Thanksgiving week there with two other couples, and we're looking forward to our babymoon #1! 

Then we have our big 2nd trimester ultrasound / anatomy screening at the hospital the following Monday morning (Dec 2nd). I guess now that we already found out the gender, that appointment isn't AS exciting, but it'll be good to find out more about the baby nonetheless!