Our Little House

Giving birth is such as miraculous process. I'm trying to remember every single details of this amazing motherhood journey but seems like my memory of that particular day is fading really fast. So here I'm writing more details about Grace's birth story, hoping that I will have something to help me remember this life milestone in the future ... On Wednesday morning as usual my Mom and I went for a long 3 miles walk around lake Elizabeth before heading to WholeFoods to buy pineapples. One of my friends in Singapore told me that eating pineapple really helps her start her labor (She gave birth at around 40 week-ish). I'm not too convinced at first. Also, I have been avoiding uncooked pineapple almost my entire life because I have ulcers problem. But I've tried everything else ... what would I lose trying out another "weird" suggestion? So that afternoon I ate the entire small box of cut pineapples with sambal rujak. I waited, as if something was supposed ...

This is a very late post - but as you can guess, the baby is finally here! She was born at exactly 41 weeks gestational age, which is June 16th for her. So we're late by a week. I was pretty stressed up waiting for her to be born. I did everything that I could - long walk everyday, going up and down the stairs exercise everyday, doing house chores, lifting boxes, nothing could trigger my water bag to break. What really helped me was eating a bunch of Pineapples! Anyways ... daddy posted an announcement on his Facebook which I will also share here: " We are overjoyed by the grace of God to welcome baby Grace Louisa Kurniawan at 2:24 AM on June 16, 2016. She is 19.5 inches and weighing at 6 pounds 13 ounces. The baby and the mommy are healthy. She is gorgeous! We are thankful to have friends who are always there for us. Thank you so much for your support and prayers!" And here she is... our "Grace"

Dear Baby, Today we had our 39 weeks and 6 days check-up. Doctor said everything looks good. The swelling on mommy's feet is very minimal. Mommy's blood pressure is good too. But ... the cervix hasn't dilate yet :( Your head is definitely lower than a week ago, but we need you to make more effort. Tomorrow was supposed to be your due date, but looking at the state of the cervix this afternoon, slim chance we are going to make it. It's ok if you don't make it exactly on the due date - only 5% of babies do. But please don't take too long even though mommy's belly is very comfy. Doctor asked mommy and daddy to settle for a plan - since we can't let you stay longer than 42 weeks. As of now, we are scheduled to meet with the doctor again a week from now. If there is some small improvement but we are still going too slow, she will perform a membrane sweep to help kick start the labor. If that doesn't help, we are scheduled for an induction on June 19...

Just want to share with you a few of my favorite purchases so far as we are waiting for our baby girl. Hopefully if you are also preparing for your newborn baby, this list could help you decide on brands or product that you might end up buying :) Aden+Anais organic swaddle in collaboration with the honest company. Quite a few of my coworker are actually expecting around the same time with me. My senior manager gave birth earlier this year and she has been a source of information for me as well as the other new moms in our office. She shared how swaddling really help soothe a fuzzy baby and highly recommended this muslin swaddles. Additionally, I've read and heard so many good review about Aden+Anais muslin swaddle online. I first saw this pack of organic swaddles on Zulily during a promotion back at March but I passed because I still wasn't sure if I want the organic kind. I soon regret that decision because it was super hard to find a good discount for this product anywher...

Sharing a lighter pregnancy post today :) Back in April, our friends throw us a "half" surprise baby shower. Why half surprise? I kinda knew they were planning a baby shower because one friend asked for my input especially regarding who to invite. She also asked me about the settings of the baby shower - whether I want it to be a formal sitting lunch / dinner with the girls or a casual one with couples. But that's the extend of my knowledge about the shower, she is very quiet about the rest of the detail. So a few weeks passed and there were nothing =P A day before the baby shower, turned out somebody accidentally asked my husband whether husbands are welcome to join the event. So he knew when exactly is the baby shower! But he kept the secret from me. The next day was Sunday. As I was getting dressed to go to the Church, hubby asked me if I want to wear a dress instead. I told him no, because according to the weather forecast, it was going to be pretty windy that d...

Not sure if I have mentioned this before in this blog, but I have a very low pain tolerance level. Well, I guess all of you should have kinda know since I wrote the TB test post :) I really hate injection and I know I would have to get a lot of shots and blood checks if I am pregnant. So, I was actually super scared of getting pregnant. To my surprise though, as soon as I found out that I'm pregnant, I was not worrying about the number of shots I would get or the blood checks. Most of the time in my early pregnancy, I worried about my baby's development and really looked forward to pass the 12 weeks milestone. Why? Because that's when the chance of miscarriage decrease significantly. Also, that is when embryo graduate to become a fetus. So to sum up what my first trimester experience felt like, it felt like I was on a race. I was just super focused on getting through the first trimester and didn't have time to worry about the shots/injection/blood tests or the upcomi...

We waited for another 3.5 weeks before we could meet with my OB and truly confirmed the pregnancy. It was the longest 3.5 weeks ever in my life! Have you ever heard about how your mom pregnancy experience might affect yours? Well, actually I heard both ways - some people believe it might, some people don't. In my case, it doesn't - at all. I'm actually super scared of getting pregnant because my mom had very difficult pregnancies for the three of us. She told me how she had severe morning sickness and had to stay in bed up to 6 months when she carried us girls and 4 months when she carried my brother. However, I did notice some physical changes. The most apparent change was with my energy level. I noticed how I got sleepy all the time. My husband and I carpooled together to work everyday. During those weeks, I usually sleep on our way home. Once we're home, I found it so hard to do normal activities, all I wanted was to lie on the sofa and sleep. I did not really ex...

The next day was Saturday. When we woke up, the first thing we did was trying another test pack. I was curious to find out if a different brand of test pack will give me a different result. But nope, it was still a clear positive. So off we go to Kaiser Santa Clara to get the blood work done. We came pretty early in the morning but we found out early morning on the weekend was actually the worst time to go to that lab. It was jam-packed. We took a number, waited for a while before we were called by administration, and waited some more before our number was called by the system to line up in front of the lab. All those time, my brain was busy entertaining all the "what if?" questions. I actually did a bit more research online about the possibility of getting a "false positive" test pack result, and became a little bit worried. As I mentioned in the last post, for the test pack to show positive result, it needs to detect enough hCG hormone (the pregnancy hormone...

Last summer we went on our first Europe trip. We visited three countries - France, Switzerland, and Italy. We have decided to stop any "prevention" during the trip, but thank God I didn't get pregnant there at Europe because I ate so many cold cuts (deli meats) and other foods that are bad for babies. It was a fun trip but also super exhausting. Some random pictures from the trip: Our first dinner at Venice - Bancogiro Selfie with the Iron Lady of Paris :) Beautiful Luzern When we were back, I was so stressed out at work trying to keep myself up to date after traveling for 20 plus days. We also still had some summer projects that have been extended until September. Additionally, a new career path opened up and I had to make a hard decision on where I want to grow more in my career. One night, I started having menstrual-like cramping at night. It was pretty bad actually. The pain literally woke me up from my sleep. This happened for 2-3 days straight. Th...

Hello everyone! I finally have time to update this blog. I stopped writing a few years back because something really sad happened, and I found it really hard to continue writing. But anyway ... things are getting better. In fact, very exciting things have been happening to us in the past 3 years. The newest and greatest news from us: WE ARE EXPECTING! So we have been married for a while, but because of so many reasons, we postponed having a child. Summer last year, we finally made up our mind and decided that we were ready ... and all praise to God, He instantly bestowed this great gift and honor to us to become a parent :) I'm on my 36 weeks now - the final stretch. I just started my maternity leave yesterday, and now preparing myself mentally to become a mom. Therefore, expect to hear tidbits about my pregnancy and maternity journey showing up more in this blog :)