It's a girl

I'll spare you the other many blurry black and white arm/foot/hand pics, and just show what Baby looks like. I just hope Evan hasn't taken all the cute genes, i.e. long eyelashes, big eyes, good hair, etc. ;)
But it does look like she's gonna have a large head like Evan too.

Also, incase you didn't notice the two new photo album links on the right --> Mark took a quick weekend trip to Boston while Evan and I were in Seattle. And I've got a few pics, not as many as Mark's huge album of Boston, from our Seattle trip posted there as well. Enjoy.

Behold, the nasty eye!

I've posted this pic small on purpose. If you'd like to see the nastiness in high def, you may click it to enlarge. But I'm warning you...
This wasn't even at it's worse. I don't think I had the stomach to take a pic of it myself.

Lets Catch Up

We're in Seattle this week/s. Its kind of an annual thing for us now. We always manage to find cheap tix for us to fly to Seattle over Memorial weekend, for the celebrating of birthdays, mothers day, and our anniversary.

We celebrated Mark's birthday back on the 11th. Andrew and Liew came up the weekend before to celebrate with us and to make their monthly temple trip. They surprised Mark by decorating our dinning room and picking up a chocolate and peanut butter birthday cake while we were at the adult session of stake conference at church.
Speaking of stake conference, Elder Scott, an apostle of our church, came to speak. Its rare for a church leader that high up to come visit, especially since our stake is just another stake, but I'm glad he did, cause he gave some really good inspirational talks about being better parents/spouses/people in general.

We celebrated our 4 year anniversary in Seattle. We've come back every year and always spent part of the day doing work in the temple. This time we spent a lot more time then usual and I thought I'd be so tired the rest of the day, but actually it was the best way to spend our anniversary. It just put us in the right frame of mind to remember the covenants we made when we got married, and the rest of the plans that day just seemed to play out perfectly. We didn't do anything extraordinary but it still felt like the perfect day. We went to grab a bite to eat along Lake Washington on a beautiful, sunny and warm Seattle day. Stopped by Frys Electronics store for Mark to get his fix. Went to Ivar's waterfront restaurant in Mukilteo for delicious king crab and seafood dinners and see the sunset. Then stopped by Cold Stone to buy an anniversary raspberry cheesecake ice cream cake. YUMMMMM!!! That's a new tradition I think we'll keep. Then went back in time to put Evan to bed, and played Nintendo Wii! Simple, but a wonderful day.

Segway... we got a Wii!! Finally. Who would have thought that the game section at Hollywood video would be selling it? I'm not a video game player, cause I guess I have bad hand eye coordination. But I can actually kick Mark's trash at tennis! Its the only thing I've got going for me, but I'm hooked. I've been sore ever since we got it. ;)

This past weekend was so busy. I feel bad that we didn't get to visit with some people we wanted to see while we're in Seattle. My brother is in town from UT, and Mark's brother and wife are in town from HI. So, we can't cut out time with family on a weekend they're all in town. I don't remember the last time my whole family has been home having dinner and playing games together. It was nice. Mark's aunt was in town too from Taiwan, visiting with Mark's cousin, so we had a family dinner on that side too. And to top it off, we got both our families and friends together for a big BBQ at Mukilteo beach on Memorial day. Another beautiful sunny day in Seattle too. I like this tradition my parents started, I think we'll keep that too.

Mark flew back to DC on Tuesday, while Evan and I are out here in Seattle for a few more days. Mark's luggage never got on his flight, and his medications for his eye/eczema problems were in there. The airlines gave him $25 to buy toiletries and anything he needed. He finally got his bags the next evening at a different airport. Oh, and the adaptor for the Wii was that suitcase too. Poor Mark had no Wii to play.

Evan has seemed to grow so much on this trip. I know I say he's grown leaps and bounds all the time, but now he says SO much. Don't ask me how many words, I lost count along time ago. He's saying little sentences and gives us directions and asks us questions too! Like where we're going. Where someone went. Asking for help to find things or do something. He went as far as to grab me around the waist while I was playing the piano to help him find his tennis ball in the pile of pillows he made in the living room. He'll play 'where's it?' with my mom, hiding something behind his back and asking her where it is, then showing it to her and saying "there it is!" We were sitting at the dinner table waiting for my sister to come and he calls to her in Cantonese to come eat.
Evan has started to call me Bev too. Except it sounds more like "Bec". He probably learned it from Mark. He'll yell out "Bec" from far away, at home or playground or store. I think he thinks it means "come here", because he sometimes says it to other people too. I've been correcting him to say "mommy" or "ma ma" to get my attention. He's getting better, but sometimes he slips and says "Bec, mommy!"

Continue below...

Lets Catch Up cont.

I mentioned in a previous post that I was learning how to crochet. And I'm proud to say that I stuck with it and I finished my first project a week ago. Mark will tell you that I have a hard time finishing crafty projects. I've got a closet full of half done projects/ideas.
I'll post a pic of my first shawl. It turned out well for a first try. The only problem is that because I chose a pattern that stretched easily horizontally, than vertically, my shawl is a little wider than I would like. It's ok, lesson learned and it still looks fine. I'm currently finishing up a yellow and white baby hat. Its hard to discribe... so I'll have to post that pic when I'm done. Lets just say its cute!

I don't know if I'll give this baby hat away or keep it for a future baby. Even though it's yellow and white, I think it looks better on a girl than a boy.

So, now I will make the offical blog annoucement that we're expecting! Due November 2nd, with a 60% chance it's a girl. We don't know yet offically cause its still alittle early to tell and Baby's legs were in the way.
The reason why we have a good guess, and why we've waited SO long to say anything about being pregnant (almost half way there), and why Mark mentioned in a previous post that we were going through "health issues", is because there was a chance that this pregnancy could have turn for the worse.

I've been debating for a while whether I wanted to post about such personal matters. I could hold off making the announcement till we were certain things were normal but then I thought it would have been odd to suddenly post that we had a baby.

We did tell family and a few friends we were expecting, thinking that since everything with my first pregnancy went by the book, that we didn't have anything to fear about telling everyone right away. Maybe that jinxed it for us too.

Without getting into too much detail, I'll explain what happened... a little over a month ago, out of the blue, the pregnancy started showing signs that it was going to miscarry. But not all the signs were there, I was not in pain, running a fever, or anything that I physically felt was wrong. It was enough to send me into panic mode because I was flying home from Seattle alone with Evan, and I couldn't contact Mark because he was on his flight back from Japan. I called my uncle, who's an OBGYN, about whether I should cancel my flight or not. He calmed my fears and said that whatever is happening has already started, and all I can do is bedrest and take it easy. So I might as well get on this flight, go home, see Mark, and see my own doctor asap. The next day my doctor took an ultrasound and found the baby alive and well, but recommended that I take things easy until we knew what the problem was. We set up an appointment for me to see an ultrasound technician to get a better idea of what was going on a week later. I had another sign of miscarriage a few days before meeting with the technician, and I really took it easy after that.

After my appointment with the ultrasound technician, I was diagnosed with placenta previa, and my doctor put me on "strict bedrest" until things got better. With a husband in bed with his eyes itchy/in pain and kept shut, and a very active 2 yr old, "strict bedrest" was impossible. I did my best to do just the bare necessities of things that needed to be done day to day and take it easy, but I'm sure my doctor would have shaken her head. I needed to be on my back because while standing or just sitting gravity was working against me getting better.

Placenta previa occurs 1 out of 250 pregnancies. Its when the placenta, what feeds and filters food and oxygen to the umbilical cord to the baby, grows and develops close to/partially over/completely over the cervix, where the baby is to exit. So, any physical or strenuous activity could pull the placenta right off the uterin wall causing baby to lose its lifeline to food and oxygen. Our placenta was completely covering the cervix, and thats what was causing bleeding. Because this was discovered early on, there was a good chance that things would resolve itself as the baby grew that the placenta would move out of the way; and I wouldn't be on bedrest for the entire pregnancy or have to deliver by c-section.

I have to say thank you so much to Liew and Michelle for being so great and taking care of Evan for me when they visited us/we visited them. I think I needed someone to step in there and make me take it easy cause I have a hard time asking for help and not being able to do anything.

It was an emotionally tough time for me. I felt alone with my problems and Mark's eye problems; that I was being the good wife and mother and taking care of things around me but no one was taking care of me. And the thought that I could loose this pregancy scared me and it would be the worst failure I ever experienced in my life, even though it was out of my control. And what if the baby did loose partial food and oxygen, would it develope problems later? To top it off, Mother's Day was shot.

I'm glad that the worse of Evan's problems during that time was just a runny nose and cough for a few days. It was kind of nice to have him sit in with my 10/11 yr old Sunday school class instead of going to nursery.

I'm glad I typed up a very well written letter to convinced my doctor to let me go to FL to visit Michelle and Jason and Elias. It was a nice distraction and great to be around friends again. I'm sure I looked weird being pushed around in a wheel chair at the airport, because I didn't look like anything was wrong.

A few days before coming out to Seattle, I had another appointment to see the ultrasound technician. And we found out that the placenta previa resoved itself. My doctor said its amazing, because she's never seen or heard of placenta previa resolving itself so quickly. I'm so glad this cloud has passed, but maybe I shouldn't have told Mark anything about not needing to be on bedrest anymore, since now his eyes are better?

My doctor still recommends that I take it easy since its hard to tell if the placenta will reattached itself where it wasn't before. I've got another appointment when I get back to DC, and then we'll know for sure if its a boy or girl too.

The Eye

***CAUTION -- this story may not be for the weak in stomach***
So now that my eye is finally getting better, let me tell you the complete story. You may need to grab a drink and a comfortable chair, because it's a long one. I'll tell it in journal form to give you an idea of how long this problem has lasted!

February 14/15 - Well, we tried to leave for Hawaii on the 14th, but because of the snow, yada yada yada, we didn't fly out until the 15th, but it was a long couple days because the flights were really early and of course, we are always up late packing. Thus began the eye rubbing. While in Hawaii, my eyes were getting more and more itchy, as was my elbows and legs, as it usually does when I experience super warm, humid weather after being in the cold for so long. This time, though, my eyes were non stop itchy, starting to get flaky eyelids. I thought, well, just put some ointment on it and it'll be fine. Should go away by the time we get home.

March 16/17 (I think) - Eyes were getting considerably worse, now it seemed to be getting rather red and puffy. But only in my left eye. So put some Burts Bees Ointment on it and felt okay, drove up to NYC with Jerin, Wami, and Taisei, and felt fine for the most part. Just kept putting that stuff on, and felt like it was going to get better.

End of March - Saw the eye doctor, since I needed a new contact lens prescription anyway, and she recommended using Vigamox, an antibiotic eye drop usually used to treat bacterial conjunctivitis, or pink eye, and also Erithromycin on the eyelid to heal/prevent infection. The eyelid doesn't get any better, now it looks like a cyst of some sort has developed, almost looking like an open sore. But not bad just yet, I just thought it gets worse before it gets better. Little did I know.

April 7 - Eye doctor says the pink eye is gone, but now the 'secondary infection' of the eyelid was getting uncontrollable. She recommends that I see a dermatologist, but I was leaving for Japan the next day so was unable to do so. Gives me Bacitracin, a more stronger and general antibiotic, for my eyelid and sent me on my way.

April 8-16 - Eyelid gets significantly worse, since in Japan, I am out and about the whole time, and unable to clean around the eyelid, so it gets more and more infected, and the little open sore begins to overtake the eye.

End of April - Tried Neosporin, thought it looked like it was getting better, but it actually wasn't. Flew out to Jacksonville to see Jason & Michelle & Elias, and the heat and humidity there made the eyes worse, and actually started to spread to the other eye. Rest of my body starts to get itchy as well - elbows, legs, chin, neck.

Early May - Realizing that I didn't want a gimpy eye for my birthday, I finally call to see a dermatologist, and he recommends taking Doxycycline (a tetracycline) antibiotic and then using Bactroban ointment on the eye. Takes a viral and bacterial sample for testing to see if it was positive for any of those. Sends me on my way within few minutes. Efficient, I thought, typical of a former Navy O-6. Also told me I have eczema, which is why my eyes, elbows, legs, were rashing up whenever I go from dry to humid weather. This was the cause of all my problems.

May 10 - Early morning, I thought, hmm, should my face be feeling fat everytime I take the antibiotic? I look up symptoms for allergic reaction, and face swelling is a symptom, but I'm not getting anaphylactic shock or tongue swelling, etc etc. This is eight days into taking the ten day prescription. I've been home all week. Call the doctor, he calls back and tells me to stop immediately, that it could've gotten worse. Also says that both tests came back negative for bacteria and virus. So I realized that everytime I took an antibiotic, I took an allergy pill at the same time, so as my allergic reaction began, the allergy pill would also kick in; that morning, I guess it was just slower to kick in, and I was in a world of hurt.

May 12-14 - Thought hmm, should my eye be dried under a fan and allowed to crust up/scab so it can heal, or should it be moist all the time? Tried both. This weekend we tried the crust up thing, but then I couldn't open my eye at all. So was at home all weekend in bed. Right eye keeps getting worse. Getting rashes around it, and the eye doctor yet again gave me Vigamox because it looks like I have pink eye in that eye as well. Did it for both eyes. Eek. Oh and by the way, Evan got us all sick with the cold over the weekend.

May 15 - Realized hmm, maybe since there's no bacteria, no virus, that maybe the Bactroban wouldn't be effective since there's no bacteria to kill! Tried going without anything, and seemed to be healing better. Sat under a fan all day (been doing this fan thing for a few weeks now, so lame), so it was nice and dry. Seemed to be getting better. Tried sleeping without a fan at night, couldn't sleep at all, so tried with.

May 16 - Woke up with the eyelids bleeding and oozing. It didn't work. I'm guessing I wasn't supposed to keep it dry, but when it was wet, it never stopped oozing! My supervisor at work had given me a name of another dermatologist a few days back, called them and got an appointment with the Physicians Assistant there that afternoon. Went there, and she instantly gave me a handful of new prescriptions to take. Told me that with eczema, can't have the skin too dry (so no fan), and needs to be well moisturized. Prescribed some Keflex antibiotics, Desonide topical ointment for the eyes, Predisone to cool the eczema, and another allergy antihistimine to let me sleep at night without scratching too much. She also noted that this should go away by Sunday, if not a marked improvement. I'll see it when I believe it.

May 18 - Right eye is pretty much all better. Left eye is still a little pink, but much, much better than before. Went into work for a good five hours or so. Eyes still get a little dry, but as long as I keep it cool and wet, it feels pretty good.

May 20 - So now you're up to date. The problem with the Desonide is the side effect - itching. So I would rub my eyes while sleeping, so it hasn't been the most effective, but I can't complain. It's much better than it was back in April! Still itchy, but at least I can go back to Seattle looking semi-decent. It was a tough time for me in April/May, because anything we did to try and make the eye better, it seemed to work one day, and get worse the other. It was depressing, because on the internet, it said if I had something like flaky eyelids, I would have it for the rest of my life, and would be treating these types of problems all the time. Good thing it's just eczema, and I can treat it easier. But through those times, it was hard because physically I felt fine, I felt I didn't need to take a "sick day", but in doing so--in going to work, I was exposing my wound to germs, etc etc, the environment that made the eye worse. Was home for two weeks. Some nights I couldn't take it anymore and would go into work late in the night for a few hours just to catch up on e-mails, etc. After the PA prescribed the new stuff, and it started working instantly after that, it was a new beginning. Things became more optimistic. I didn't have to sleep all day, and didn't have to wipe the ooze dripping off my eye all the time anymore!

FYI May 20 is also the day I went into the Missionary Training Center...NINE years ago. Wow, how time flies. Ohhh yeah it's time for church. Better hop in the shower. Will beef up the story later when I have more time, but wanted to give you the skinny up front!

I have some pictures as well, if you'd like to see some. I don't have any of when it was super bad, when it was all crusty that I couldn't open my eyes. That was the worst.

Jacksonville, FL

Sorry for the delay. I don't know why we had SO much trouble uploading these pics to picasa. But here's pics from our trip to FL. Jason managed to get Mark to be a guest speaker at his training meeting, and so Evan and I tagged along for some fun in the sun. It was nice to get away from the killer amounts of tree pollen in DC.
Thanks so much to Michelle for being such a great hostess and taking such great care of us and for introducing us to mochiko chicken. We're hooked. Mark's gotten pretty good at making it at home now. Thanks Michelle for getting my husband into the kitchen! ;)

JAX

Apologize for the Slight Delay

So we're a little behind on our blogging. But rest assured, once we battle through each of our 'little' health issues, we will be up and running once again! If only Evan could blog. We've given up on Lucy. -- Mark