I'm a Mommy!

As most of u know and as most have seen the pics courtesy of hubby, I'm a mommy to
Lucy Violet N., born 5/18/08, weighing in at 6lbs 6oz!!! Hubby, Lucy,  and I are so thankful
for everyone's love, prayers, and words of encouragement! I wanna thank all those that hubby
mass texted the play by play to; you guys kept him sane and from fainting thruout the process....

Here's what happened:

Friday afternoon/nite: Randomly txting/IMing friends that she's prolly gonna be late...I haven't felt
anything....no pre-contractions...nada! Oh wells...telling fiends that she prolly wants some peking duck
before she comes out....how oh how can i evict my precious lil squatter?

Saturday: Wake up and go eat Peking duck as planned....yum!!!! No contractions....I'm ok. Maybe
a lil spotting.....but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Went to watch Chronicles of Narnia....good
movie btw....long movie but good thruout! Meet up with orbity, wife, & friend.....they wanna be part of the
action just in case she comes on time which is Sunday...oh wells...no action...had some juicy buns and
sago tea...got dropped off at home by orbity and friend..who happened to miss "the action" by a few hours.

Saturday nite/Sunday morning: Hmmm...is this more spotting? Trickles...hmm it isn't like the movies...
no big gush...nah maybe it isn't the water breaking...try to wake hubby up...does not wanna get up...but
a lil more trickling..uh oh...water broke! Grab bag and go to hospital...on the way there...got some gas...and
drive pass hospital by accident. Get admitted.

Sunday 2:00 AM: Water was broken but no contractions. Waited for contractions...only irregular ones for next
coupla hours and not too painful...Doc decided to induce contractions with meds...pain was NOT bad
at all...doc and nursng staff kept asking if I wanted ....I tell them pain isn't too bad...on scale of 1-10, it's like a
4...I'll wait. They're a lil surprised at my tolerance of pain i guess. They finally convince me to take it when they tell
me the anesthesiologist will be in surgery later and dunno if he can come in when I do request it....so they drugged
me up. Beautiful I tell you....I feel nothing...I loved the epi. Finally...it is time to deliver....after 45 minutes, doc
decides to use forceps cos baby's heart rate is fluctuating..at 8:48 PM....after 19 hours, my lil girl Lucy, is
born. Turns out cord was around her neck...praise God she was ok.

In Retrospect

The Not So Glamorous Parts That People Don't Tell You About
(1) Getting hooked up to so many things  you feel like an alien...(a) IV fluids (b) blood pressure cuff
(c) epidural drip (d) foley/catheter (e) external baby heart rate/contraction monitor (f) internal baby heart
rate monitor & (g) internal fluids for baby.
(2) After the birth, mommies can start shaking/shivering a lot. I started hurling....felt so nauseous and dizzy.
(3) Stitches from the episiotomy....ugh they hurt more than the labor itself.....but it's been okay..I've been
out and about.
(4) Boobie engorgement...go ibuprofen and believe it or not...cabbage!!!
(5) Constipation....yay for suppositories!!!
(6) Incontinence...ugh hopefully it'll go away...

The Best Parts
(1) Looking at her and falling in love...love at first sight....can't describe the overwhelming feeling..cliched
but wow it's so true...I feel tears come to my eyes at certain times when I look at her...
(2) Watching hubby cry when she was in his arms...
(3) These last two things outweigh any of the bad stuff listed above! By far!
(4) Was it worth it? All I have to do is look at her...and I'll say....yes!

Baby Shower and Great Friends

*EDIT* Wow so I just watched American Idol and thought this was Xanga worthy....Wow David
Cook's rendition of Mariah Careys "Always Be My Baby" was AMAZING!

Sooooo 3 of my best buds in my life (phatbb, jen, and sis) hosted and threw hubby and I our
baby shower this weekend.  They were too generous to host this and not accept anything back from
hubby and I except for "thank yous".   We'll see about that...............

What a great day! Food and friends and fun and nice weather!  We feel so blessed to have such
sweet and overly generous family & friends! From an overly expensive stroller to playards to bottles
to the oh-so-cute onesies.....you name it, our family and friends got it! We totally were surprised that
the stuff we put on our registry all magically appeared on our doorstep and at the shower. Words can't
describe how thankful we are!   Praise God for blessing us with such loving friendships! Thanks to
all who came and those that were with us in spirit! Thank you for your lovely gifts!

To top it off, the day ended with a trip to Flor de Mayo for dinner! Mmmmmm yummmmmmmmm!
What a great weekend! Great weather and great food.........Ahhhhhhh.......I wanna go back for some
more!

I was feeling sortta "maternal" last week and went out to get some yarn.....knitted a lil baby cap in lil under
2 hours total time....so proud of myself......*pat*pat* on my back!  Actually....it's not that little....I
sized it a lil bigger in anticipation that lil Lucy will have hubby's big head.  Next on the list are baby booties!

Got another sonogram yesterday.....lil Lucy is a true Nagooyan! She always has her hand/finger in her mouth ...
Luckily, she moved her hand away from her face this time and we were able to see her lil face.....OMG!!!!
She has hubby's UBER GINORMOUS or as he says....luscious....lips....she was ALL LIP! It looks like
she might have my pig nose....I was hoping of lal things she would have hubby's nose.....ahahaha we're sure
gonna have quite a "breathtaking" baby......She's developing well so far....almost 5 lbs....if all goes as planned...
she'll be a 7 lb. baby.

Lucy's hat knitted by yours truly  :

My Baby Shower Pics:

***Pregnancy Update***

Soooo this gestational diabetes is kicking my behind!  It's been so hard avoiding carbs..all I want is a delish
slice of pizza right about now... Instead...I think I'm allowed maybe 3 crackers... The finger prickings
are starting to feel like a chore....

I am officially known as "Cankles" by hubby cos my feet are so swollen....Everyone tells me to drink more
water...& elevate elevate elevate! Heh I try to....it's hard tho cos I like to go out and when I work....it's really
 hard to sit...Sigh..it's so sad when you can't make out an ankle bone anymore! Even my mom looked at my foot
and started cracking up and called me pig feet....

The water retention is also causing me to have slight carpal tunnel in both my arms....Heh...actually my fingers
on my right hand are actually numb right about now.

OHHHHHH......only 38 more days to go!!! I guess it'll all be worth it.... This should all go away as soon as
lil LV is born! Meanwhile...I'm looking forward to my last week of work next week! Woot woot!

I'm gonna make a list of must haves to EAT once lil LV is healthily (God-willing) born and I've somewhat
recovered. My dear piggy friends....let's make this happen say some time in late May/June...etc.

My List of Must Haves (in no particular order):

(1) Chinese bakery items: cream buns, pork buns, cakes, red bean buns, sesame balls, etc.
(2) Cupcakes: orange ones from Hostess, red velvet ones from Amy's, anything from Crumbs &
      Sugar Sweet Sunshine.
(3) SASHIMI! Tuna Tartare! Beef carpaccio! Sushi! Tuna Salad from Coffee Shop.
(4) WHITE RICE! Pasta! BREADS! Kimchi fried rice!
(5) Soft cheeses!
(6) Liquor: cocktails, ice cold beers, & wine.
(7) Mac & cheese from Cafeteria......and in general.
(8) Ice Cream: Mint chocolate chip from Baskin Robbins!
(9) Yogurt and mochi from Pinkberry.
(10) Noodles: Pho, wide noodles, stir fried egg noodles, etc.
(11) Baked Potatoes from Wendy's and from Totally Baked.
(12) Shake Shack burgers and cheese fries.
(13) COFFEEEEEEEEEEE!
(14) Chocolate!!!
(15) Pizza!
(16) Fruits: unlimited bananas, watermelons, mangoes, and pineapple!
(17) Chips: Cheez doodles, Utz sour cream & onion, tortilla and guacamole.

Who wants to join me in June???

Pregnancy Updates

Another 8 weeks to go....slowly growing out of cute bump stage to "WHOA! You're BIG now stage!"

On the downside....just got diagnosed with gestational diabetes.  It's diabetes that develops from the
pregnancy b/c the baby encourages the release of hormones etc that blocks the insulin from working
properly. Most women's liver can handle it and can produce the extra insulin needed...and then there are
the few like me that for whatever reason...can not.  Have an appointment with a nutrutionist next week...
but since I don't wanna wait that long...I've started to cut down on carbs...gave up my sweets......and
even worse...I prick myself about 4 times a day to test my glucose levels. This should resolve after the
baby's born....so I'm just grateful I'm not a regular diabetic... But....I still worry....hopefully my baby
won't be too big from the extra glucose and her liver didn't have to work too hard. My glocose levels
have been fairly normal...hopefully I won't have to go on insulin. Gotta say...it's been so hard to give up
things like cupcakes, white rice,  chocolates, chips, chinese bakery items, etc. and it's only been day 4!!
So for u future mothers....watch your diet!!!! Avoid the simple sugary stuff!

On the upside...a new report came out today that said having gestational diabetes could lead to a lower
risk of breast cancer. Go figure!

Just started to buy some stuff for the baby's room. We got the paint color...now just gotta paint it!  
So who wants to come and wield a brush???  Hubby just ordered the crib....now we just gotta go
and pickup and then put it together... Ahahaha...we are just slackers...it's slowly coming along....

Lil LV's Crib:

Le Month in Review Thru Pics.

* Pregnancy Thoughts *

Slowly growing into whale size.....visiting buffalo was amazing for my tailbone....sleeping on bubba's magical
bed greaty reduced the inflammation on my tailbone....it still hurts but at least it's bearable now!  Lil LV is
slowly growing...it's a lil alien-like when you start seeing your belly move when she moves...a lil dusturbing but it's
all good cos at least it means she's alright...hubby is pretty excited about meeting LV soon....I am too...but
I'm trying real hard not to think about the labor process........We also finally started our registry due to growing
peer pressure from my sis and friends....i'm such a bad mother....i hate researching and finding out what to put
onto the registry.... Slowy growing tired and sleepy again but not as bad as the first trimester....

Month in Pics

Found out on our visit to Buffalo that Jesus REALLY is hubby's homeboy!

Firing it up with rock band and an indoor BBQ bash for ilikedng's NYC visit.

Toy for LV won by hubby and mykeeboy

Can't wait til Spring.....warm weather and the arrival of LV.

Looking at these one day made me think...wow...she's REAL...she's gonna be here soon...

One of LV's most important pending decisions in life.

OR

My Friend Oichee's Baby Shower.