Browse Author: beakatude

I could get used to this.

Today I had a brunch date with Ranee and little Sophie who is now 3 months old.  They flew in on Tuesday from NYC and we met up today at Rick and Ann’s Restaurant in Berkeley.  It was so nice to catch up with Ranee and we chatted over pancakes and waffles with a side of bacon and this awesome hash made of sweet potato, beets, onions, and bacon topped with creme fraiche.  Sounds weird but it was so good!

Sophie napped through our meal and then woke in time for a feeding and change outside.  We hung out in the courtyard for another two hours with coffee and Sophie and I got to meet and get to know each other.  She’s so sweet and smiles a lot.  She’s also recently discovered her hands and it’s so cute how she’s enamored by them.

After a while, I had forgotten that it was the middle of the day on a Friday.  I was having brunch and just hanging out without a care in the world…on a Friday!  Oh how nice it would be to be one of those “Ladies Who Lunch”.  I really could get used to this. Ranee just needs to move back to California (*wink wink*) so Kumquat and Sophie can have playdates every Tuesday morning while their Mommies sip coffee. 🙂  One can only dream…

Here a few more photos.

Day Two

Last night I made Kao Thom Gai and we had it for breakfast this morning. Kinda felt like a weekend except Jes had to take a bunch of conference calls for work. See, I can make myself useful when I’m not working!

Later in the morning, I had my routine prenatal visit and then had some time to kill before my lunch date with Jes. So, I walked around Union Square for almost two hours before heading down to the Ferry Plaza. This is the water feature at Justin Herman Plaza with actual water running through it! By the time I got in line for Roli Roti, my hips were killing me.

Lunch was tasty (as usual) and it was such as nice sunny day that I got some gelato for the walk home. At least, I tried to walk home but I was so uncomfortable that I ended up taking Muni instead. At the stop, I found Victor on his way home to pick up his car for a meeting. That was random.

Once I got home, I passed out on the couch for a two hour monster nap. It was totally unintentional but apparently I needed it.

Once I woke up, I tidied up the house a bit and then met up with Teresa who had brought her puppy, Bailey, over to meet Koa. She’s so darn cute but a total spaz. Koa didn’t know what to do with her. She ran circles around us and taking a walk to the park was a little crazy. When we got back to the house, she gobbled up some of Koa’s kibble, took all his toys out of the toy bin, and eventually Koa gave in and shared his tennis ball with her.

So Day Two of my Maternity Leave was pretty random but I got lots of exercise and some tasty eats. Everyone says I should enjoy this time while I can and I think I’m doing a pretty good job of it so far. Too bad my hips are so sore.

Brothers

This week I ordered the MacBook Air for Jes and it arrived yesterday in the mail.  Last night I caught him surfing the internet in “hands-free mode”.  So I snapped a photo and sent it to his brother with this message: “Hands-free with MacBook Air”.  Minutes later, we got a photo back from Jia with this message: “Call.”  I kid you not, it was NOT staged.  Jia happened to look over at Jason and this was the position that he was in at that moment.  They really are brothers…same toy used the same way.  Awesome.

Buzzed

I’m considered “Advanced Maternal Age” (over 35 years old) so I’m supposed to get Antenatal Testing done every week starting at 36 weeks gestation. So, this morning Jes and I made it over to UCSF for my 7:45 am appointment. It was super early b/c I was originally supposed to go into work afterward. Heh heh…not anymore!

Anyway, I went into a dimmed room and sat up on an exam chair that was in the middle of two other women getting the same tests done. The first thing the nurse did was do a quick ultrasound to check on Kumquat. I didn’t really get to see much but everything checked out fine and Kumquat has hair on her head! Yay! She checked all the fluid pockets to make sure she had enough room to grow still and there was plenty despite how tight/crowded it feels to me.

After that, I had a fetal monitor placed on my tummy and then another device that senses uterine contractions. There was a machine with paper running and recording the baby’s heart rate and my contractions at the same time. It’s testing to make sure that baby is ok every time there’s a contraction.

They also wanted to see her heart rate increase every time she moved. Well, she was being lazy this morning so the nurse gave me cold water to drink and a couple Hershey kisses to eat. That kinda got things started but then she came by again with a buzzer. She quickly buzzed my tummy and then Kumquat got pissed! She was squirming and kicking like crazy! Her HR went from a steady 140 bpm all the way up to 170 bpm at one point. I also had quite a few contractions while I was lying there for 20 minutes. I learned that every time my tummy felt rock hard that it was a contraction. I KNEW I was having contractions this weekend!!! That totally confirmed it.

So, that was how I started my first day of my Maternity Leave.  I’m going to have to do this every Tuesday until I go into labor so I’ll get to keep you posted on how she’s progressing.

A New Family Member!!

On Sunday 3/18, we got a new addition to our extended family.  My cousin John and his wife Nuch, who live in London, were expecting just weeks before us and little Natsha arrived two weeks early!  Apparently it took mom only 30 minutes of pushing and baby weighed in at 3 kg (almost 6 1/2 pounds).

Here’s a video of her at 18 hours old:

Boy, our family just keeps growing!  Congratulations, Cousins!

Done for Now

Today was the first day of Spring and my last day of work.  It was actually business as usual with a few “goodbyes” and “good lucks” sprinkled throughout the day.  Luckily, I had enough non-patient time to finish up paperwork and to get everything squared away.  I took one last photo with Teresa before leaving this afternoon as we were finishing up for the day.

March 20, 2012

I also received this sweet little vase of flowers this morning from my current PT partner, Jessie.  As I looked over my desk, it was actually kind of hard to walk away.  But I did and I walked out of the hospital quietly as if it was any other day.  Walking to my car was kind of surreal though.  It was hard to believe that I didn’t have to return to the hospital for another 4 months.

So….what should I do tomorrow?