Delivery Day!

Last night I put the boys to sleep together in our bed. I loved being sandwiched between my little guys, Micah loves "nuggles" and Cub always wants to sleep really close to me. They are so sweet, I was really being present in the moment, soaking it up and thinking this might be my last night as a mama of just 2... 

With both boys I had 12+ hour labors so I was not expecting things to go so quickly this time...

At 1am, a few painful contractions woke me up, they were mild enough where I was able to snooze in between each one. I tried to lay very still so I would not wake up the boys. I focused on breathing and staying relaxed through the contractions and not tensing up. 

At 3am, things were getting a little more uncomfortable and I was now awake and unable to sleep in between the contractions anymore. I felt like I needed to be up and moving around more in order to stay comfortable so I woke up Hung so he could go lay with the boys in my place. As I was having contractions, I reminded myself that the pain had a purpose and focused on embracing the process vs fighting it. 

At 4am, contractions were becoming more intense and painful. I debated on when I should wake Hung up. I knew that the hospital doors did not open until 5am and if I went in now I would have to go through the ED. At 4:30am, I decided it was time to wake up Hung, I figured by the time we got everything in the car and got to the hospital, the main doors should be open. 

I went to wake him up quietly, told him "I think we should get going". He was still half asleep and apparently he thought I was telling him I was going to work. He then grabbed some clothes and went into the other room. What I didn't know was that he laid back down in bed while I was trying to get our bags and last minute things together. Then he saw a text message on his phone from me that was sent earlier saying "I don't think you will be going into work today". He finally realized that I was not getting ready for work so he came out and said "Oh, are we going to the hospital?" I said "yes!" and then he said he had to use the bathroom...

Here is a screenshot of our texts as he was in the bathroom... I can laugh about it now but in the moment I was like OMG HURRRRRRRRYYYYYY UPPPPPPPPPP I'M GOING TO DIE!!!!

And yes, he did end up taking a shower. You can see the time stamp on the text is 4:56am (baby girl ends up being born at 5:29am)

My contractions are getting really painful at this point, I am not even timing them but I know they are close and intense. He finally gets out of the shower and we grab the bags and head to the garage. FIL mentions something about who is going to watch the kids for his 3pm doctors appointment. Hung realizes he has to put car seats into FILs car for the boys and also that his Jeep is parked directly behind my car which has baby girl's car seat already fastened in. Oh man, seriously, people?!! I am about to give birth!!! 

I have another bad contractions in the driveway as I am waiting for him to back out the car. Wow, all a sudden there is a lot of pressure I am feeling. The next couple contractions are really intense and painful. It reminded me of when we rushed to the hospital when I was in labor with Caleb (I was 8cm by the time I got to the hospital that time). I realized I had hit transition phase and was acting crazy. I was no longer able to stay calm and relaxed. I was screaming, squeezing the life out of Hung's hand, biting the head rest. We get onto the freeway and I am feeling so much pressure, the contractions are so intense that I felt like she was crowning. I kept making sure her head was actually coming out. It was so scary!  I was yelling at Hung to drive faster (he was already driving 90mph)! I seriously thought, this is it, I am going to give birth on the freeway. I then tried to calm myself down, pleaded to God not to deliver this baby in the car, and told baby girl to slow down and stay in. 

We got off the freeway and up to the hospital entrance. I told Hung we need to just leave the car there and go up to the maternity floor otherwise he was going to miss the birth if he went to park. We got to the lobby and I had another contraction, Hung pretty much had to carry/drag me to get to the elevators. As we got to the maternity floor, another contraction hit and I was on the floor, Hung held the doors open and called for help. The gal at the front desk called for the charge nurse, they got me into the triage room and onto a stretcher. The charge nurse went to check me and when she did she said "Um, I've got her bag of water here, it's coming out". They pushed the "baby code" and a bunch of nurses rushed in (delivery nurses and NICU team). They were still waiting for the on-call hospital doctor to get there. The charge nurse who was holding my bag of water in was asking someone to put a glove on her other hand. They told me to not push. But I felt another contraction coming and I knew I was not going to be able to stop the force, it was completely out of my control at this point. Hung says baby girl came out in one quick motion, born in the amniotic sac ("en caul" sign of goodluck), which ruptured right after she came out. She just slid out and onto the stretcher, no one was expecting her to come out right then so there wasn't anyone there ready to catch her. In that moment, all the pressure was gone and she was out! The nurse immediately put her on my chest and starting cleaning her off. I was saying "sorry, sorry!" for pushing but they were all ensuring me everything was okay and baby was doing great. The room was still a bit chaotic with nurses putting equipment together, etc. The on-call hospitalist arrived. I was still in shock and everything all had happened so quickly (we arrived at the hospital around 5:20 or so and she was born at 5:29am). What a whirlwind! What an entrance she made into this world (after waiting 5 days past her due date)! It was amazing and crazy, exciting and frightening. But most importantly, she was healthy and finally here in my arms.  

Welcome Lucia Khuyên Nguyễn! Weighing 7lbs3oz and 20inches long (smaller than her 8lbs and 9lbs big brothers) and with lots of dark black hair. Our little baby doll. We are all so smitten and in love with her ♥♥♥

4 Days Past Due...

Today is Hunnie's birthday! I took Cub to preschool, after dropping him off, Micah and I went to Safeway to buy some pineapple (old wives tale that it can help start labor) and I also got to Taco Bell with tons of hot sauce packets. Since yesterday, I noticed baby girl is way more active and moving around a lot. Still no consistent contractions or anything very uncomfortable at all. Feel like I have tried almost every thing! Tonight I am going to put the boys to bed together so Hung and I can have some alone time (midwife's order!) and I have a feeling that might be the thing that starts labor. If not, then I am totally out of ideas! On Thursday, I have a 41-week ultrasound scheduled to make sure everything is okay with baby/placenta/etc so I am really hoping she decides to come before then! 

3 Days Past Due...

Monday now... time to kick things up a notch! Especially after not having an contractions all night last night, like slept like a baby! What the what?!@!! 

Went to the chiropractor this morning and got adjusted, was not able to get a massage in unfortunately. After that met up with Hung and Steph for lunch at Red Robin. Then went to acupuncture. She used some electro machine that hooked up to the needles to elicit a stronger response. I started feeling baby girl move around much more. Got home and we took a family evening walk (I tried "curb-walking") and that also seemed to get more contractions going but they still are not very painful. 

Had contractions during the night and she is still moving a lot but nothing in frequent or regular yet... seriously have tried almost everything. Still choking down my dates and taking my red raspberry leaf tea capsules. Nothing is coaxing her out. I joked that she's already a stubborn Taurus like her dad or she's taking her good ole sweet time like her mama haha!

Love this pic of Cub and my belly, he's so excited about baby sister and he told me last night he cannot wait to hold her all by himself. Gahh so sweet! ♥♥♥

2 Days Past Due...

Last night I slept pretty well again, had a couple contractions and some bad heart burn but nothing too crazy. Decided that we needed to get out of the house so we went to VQ's birthday party at Extreme Arena (nerf gun place) but Cub was not interested in playing so we left there and went to the Valley mall to walk around. I carried baby Micah on my back for some extra weight. After that we got some spicy Thai take-out for dinner. She still seems uber comfy wombside...

1 Day Past Due...

Today we had family over for lunch and Ba Me made banh xeo, yum! Contractions seem more intense but still pretty irregular and infrequent. Thinking maybe things will pick up tonight or tomorrow...

Happy Due Date

Today is baby girl's due date, also Friday the 13th, I don't think she will come today. I'm feeling great! Like no contractions, nothing. Told Hung I don't feel any different than I did a month ago, has not hit me that I will be delivering a baby in the next week or so. 

My last day of work, decided to take the afternoon off. Went to my midwife appt at 12 noon and had Shelley do a "sweep". She said she was able to get me to 2cm dilated, ouch the sweep hurt! She also said things were soft which is a good sign! After my appt, I met Ann and baby Owen for lunch at Piccalo and had some delicious pizza. Then met up with Hunnie to go to Costco for groceries. 

Starting losing some plug that evening but not many contractions, pretty infrequent and not very painful. Slept pretty well too!

Awaiting Baby Girl | Maternity Pics

I was not sure if these pics were going to happen since Hung has been out of town for work and would not be returning until I was 39-weeks pregnant. We were hoping to venture out last weekend but the wind was crazy wicked and I was feeling less than motivated about getting all dressed up. Hunnie was also not crazy about going to do pics and kept saying he didn't want me to be disappointed if they didn't happen before baby arrived. On Monday it stormed and rained like crazy and took a couple days for everything to dry up. I was really stressing about getting these pictures and was not sure if we should chance waiting for the weekend again. So happy that today the sun came out and the weather was perfect. Came home from work and we all got dressed up and headed out to a nearby lake to take some quick pics. I absolutely LOOOOOVE how they turned out. Hung did a great job and always nails the family pic with our tripod. SOOOO HAPPY we have these memories of our family of 4 before we become a party of 5! Now I'm ready for this baby girl to make her debut!

Love Micah's little silly face here, so him! Aw and sweet big bro Cub!

This perfectly sums up papa and his lil bear cubs ♥

Those sweet smiles ♥♥♥

Ooo love this little guy's sweet kisses

LOVE this family pic Hunnie captured ♥♥♥♥

39-Week Comparison

As requested by fellow super mama Steph...

comparison pic of my 39-week bumps (L to R: Caleb, Micah, Baby Girl)

Found out my midwife Shelley (who delivered Micah) is on-call for births this weekend (Sat/Sun/Mon) so I think I may opt for a sweep at tomorrow's appt to get things going. I do not feel like anything is really happening at all. Baby girl is just way to comfy in there. 

I was worried about getting things going too early but I recalculated due date based off conception (Aug 22) and apparently I had miscalculated back in September and based off that date, due date would be Sat May 14, so not far from our adjusted due date of May 13 which is TOMORROW. I now realize why the due date got changed from May 17 to May 13 based off her size at the 10-week ultrasound (May 17 was based off LMP). 

Going to try to head out this evening and do some quick maternity pics with the boys!

39 Weeks!

How far along: 39 weeks! (original due date is a week from today Tuesday 5/17 papabear's bday! adjust due date is this Friday 5/13 which is nephew Taylor's bday... lots of May babies, we'll see when she decides to make her debut!)
Weight gain: Still holding steady at about 25lb weight gain
How big is baby:  The app says small pumpkin LOL
Maternity clothes: Living in my maternity tees and rediscovered my comfy stretchy nightgown which I have been sleeping in

Pregnancy Symptoms: Checked on Friday and still 1cm, thick but soft. Hung is back home now and since then nothing has really been happening. Some contractions here and there but nothing exciting. Started up red raspberry leaf again and trying to eat lots of dates. 

This week: Is my last full week of work (5 dayssss omg) and I'm definitely feeling tired. Thankfully have 2 days at Holy Family this week so that should be quiet and nice. 
Movement: I think things are getting snug because she's not moving quite as much as she has before. 
Food Cravings: Not much actually, last night Ba Me made thit kho (pork) and I was so nauseous all night, ended up just having a strawberry smoothie for dinner. Not much space for food anymore. I only eat so that I don't end up feeling too sick. 
Belly button in or out: Outtie is big and protruding, Hung was totally grossed out by it and said it looked like a navel orange butt LOL

What I miss: Having energy to do stuff and wanting to do more than laying around in bed like a beached whale 

What I'm looking forward to: meeting baby girl! On Friday I asked Cub "guess what tomorrow is?" (we were going to kids fishing day) and he said "baby sister is coming?!!" he's so excited, it's so sweet and cute!

38 Weeks

Hung is away again this week and I am one exhausted prego mama. The belly looks huge when there is not a shirt covering it! LOL

How we take a walk...

Papabear is away this week and my boys have been begging to go on their evening walks. Well they both want to ride in the stroller and not actually walk. So what's a mama to do? Well Cub gets the stroller and Micah gets to ride on mama's back. It's been awhile since I have worn him and he's definitely a little big for the Ergo but he seemed to like and let mama carry him there like a champ. A baby in the front and a baby in the back! Love my little pack of kids so much ♥♥♥

Enjoying these moments

It is really hard to believe I am only weeks away to meeting this baby girl. It's really been bittersweet here towards the end. Everyone says "you must be so ready!" and "I bet you can't wait to be done?" and really I'm not...I mean I am, and I'm not. I could be pregnant another 2-3 months and be okay with it, just feeling the kicks and life growing inside of me, taking some more time to soak up being with my 2 boys, still have Micah as my littlest baby. At the same time, I am so excited to meet our new baby girl, see what she looks like, see how big brothers love on her, snuggle a little newborn again. It is a lot of mixed emotions. I remember feeling really torn towards the end of my pregnancy with Micah, especially since Caleb was my first and only for so long. But now I cannot imagine life without him and how much fun the brothers have playing with one another. I know that baby girl will complete our family and bring us so much love and joy. More than we can imagine. I just can't help but feel like time is going so fast and it was not that long ago that baby Micah was a little tiny one and now he's almost 2 and running around, talking, with such a big personality. And it is so much fun to watch each one of my kiddos growing up, exploring and learning about the world around them. I would not trade it for all the riches in the world. And I feel so blessed by this journey of motherhood. 

36 + 37 Week Bump

How far along: 37 weeks (actually journaling in real time for once!) 
Weight gain: I am still around the 25lbs mark for gains with this pregnancy, I get full really quickly nowadays.
How big is baby:  The app says honeydew melon
Maternity clothes: Still just making do with what I have since I'm sooooo close to the end. Kinda crazy that this will be my last time wearing maternity clothes, which is the reason why I have not bought any new stuff. 

Pregnancy Symptoms: On Sunday I started having some painful contractions, they were irregular though. Shelley checked me on Tuesday and I am only 1cm and still thick so nothing is progressing too quickly to labor+delivery which is good since papabear is in Cincinnati for work this week. 

This week: Papabear is away and I have been solo mama on top of working, thankful that this week and next are just 4-day work weeks for me. On Friday I caught Micah's sore throat and was miserable but thankfully for lots of naps (thanks papabear), lemon/ginger tea, zicam and Vit D I was feeling much better by Sunday when Hunnie flew out for work. I have been sleeping with both boys in our bed and it has actually been really nice and sweet. Micah loves to be snuggled (he calls it "nuggles") at bedtime and it just fills my heart so full of love to be there laying sandwiched in between my two sweet boys. I have also been laying and relaxing in the tub with them which Caleb loves to be smashed on the side next to me and my huge belly and Micah like to sit in between my legs with his arms on my knees, it's so cute!
Movement: Baby girl has been moving so much, Caleb was finally able to really see her pushing out on my belly and he thought it was so cool!
Food Cravings: Still craving lots of sweets. 
Belly button in or out: Still weird giant bubble that Cub likes to poke at

What I miss: On Saturday I really missed my mama bc I was sick and that always makes me feel like a little kid. I miss my BFF Jess even though I am so blessed we get to talk everyday. I miss hubs since he's away for work this week. I sometimes also miss having a drink, like last Friday we went on date dinner after work and I was really craving a drink haha. 

What I'm looking forward to: I am excited to meet baby girl and excited to see how big brothers Caleb and Micah react to her! I know Caleb is going to be such a loving a sweet big bro, I wonder how Micah will be because I think he loves being the baby and he might have a hard time with us giving baby girl attention, he already does not like it sometimes when we are giving Nam attention so it should be interesting. I keep pointing at my belly and saying "baby" and he points and says "baby" and kisses the belly but then the other day at Petsmart, every time he saw a picture of a cat he would call that a "baby" too LOL!

Third Trimester Bumps

Week 29 | Week 30
Week 31 | Week 35

Wow the bump has really been growing these past few weeks! Morning sickness has been much better since I started getting acupuncture once a week. The weather is warming up and the boys have been loving being outside. Excited to spend the summer home with them and new baby girl!

♥️♥️♥️

Three babies have grown in here. I have been feeling a bit emotional about this probably being the last baby I will carry and grow. Have been incredibly blessed by this gift of carrying life, it truly is an amazing experience. 

Family Babymoon

         

Took the boys to Silver Mountain for a little quick getaway. It was Caleb's second time going and Micah's first time. The last time we were here was about 2 years ago when baby Micah was in my belly (7-months pregnant) and this time we have baby girl riding in the tummy! The boys both loved floating in the lazy river and hanging out in the hot tub and going down the little slides. Next time we visit here, we'll be outnumbered!

Baby Girl Face

Today we had another ultrasound to check and make sure everything was looking good. First time we got a really good 3D look at baby girl's face. So cute! She has the boys' noses and our big lips. Love that we can already see the resemblance! So cool! Cannot wait to see this sweet face in person!

Papa Picks out a Dress

We were at Nordstroms and Hung spotted this little white dress and just had to buy it for baby girl, already getting spoiled by her papabear! This will be perfect for her baptism. 

Hello 3rd trimester!

How far along: 28 weeks (retrojournaling and currently 32 weeks along) I have been even worst with journaling this time around than last time. With a 4yo and a 1.5yo keeping me busy, along with working 4 days a week, there is almost no time but I have tried my best to semi-document this pregnancy. Sometime I have lost track of how many weeks along I am! Thank goodness for iphone pics and an app to tell me what week I am on. 
Weight gain: I have gained about 25lbs so far with this pregnancy, I think I have gained a little less with this one than with the boys. Probably because of the very frequent nausea I've had. I get full pretty quickly and haven't craved the fatty foods I did with the boys either. 
How big is baby:  The app says large jicama
Maternity clothes: The GapBody maternity shirts are still my fave. And also the black camis from Costco, stretch long enough to cover the belly and super soft and comfy. Finally bought a pair of maternity work pants from Old Navy this week and wish I had got them sooner! They are soooooo much more comfortable than turning down the waistband of my non-maternity work pants. Aside from that, really have not bought much maternity clothes this time around which is nice. 

Pregnancy Symptoms: Lots of Braxton-Hicks. I have started acupuncture again (with different person than who I went to in the beginning of this pregnancy, no having to endure K-pop during my sessions), also doing chiropractic adjustments and massage therapy too to get aligned and centered for labor and delivery. I also attempted to start Red Raspberry Leaf tea but it gave me such horrible stomach pains that I had to stop. 

This week: I called out Friday and spent the day with the boys, Cub had a horrible runny nose so we hung out in bed and watched movies. I was exhausted this week and just needed a day to rest. Working 5 days has been kicking my butt, have not worked that schedule since before Caleb was born!
Movement: Lots and lots of moving, baby girl is very strong, feel like she's trying to punch and kick her way out. 
Food Cravings: I have been craving fruit and sweets, donuts, cupcakes. Much different than how I was with the boys. Hopefully this girl is sweet!
Belly button in or out: Weird giant bubble outtie belly button, pregnancy has made my belly button so strange LOL

What I miss: Planning out meals, hard to predict what I will want to eat and what will not make me nauseated. Sleeping through the night without having to get up to go pee x2. Warm weather but it's coming soon and happy to have another spring/summer baby, will not be returning to work until after Labor Day! 

What I'm looking forward to: This pregnancy has been made extra fun because Ann and Lily have also been pregnant (Ann just had her baby on 3/14, Lily is due month after us) so it will be fun to see our babies growing and reaching milestones around the same time. In July, Hung will be going to Seattle for work and me and baby girl will be coming along to see our Seattle friends and family!

2nd Trimester Bumps

Still lots of nausea but I love seeing how this baby bump grows and transforms. It truly is amazing. Craving fruit and donuts, lots of sweets. 

I started feeling kicks/punches around 15/16 weeks this time. Hunnie felt kicks for the first time at 21 weeks.