and i am a...

wow, i'm just 3 days away from the halfway mark! we're almost there! ;) i'm really getting bigger!

i actually am the size of a beany baby now according to the sonographers who checked on me last wednesday. the two of them were really working as a team to take all my measurements. i'm such a mover according to them. teehee. well, if you were having a serene moment, would you like to be poked?! my folks even find it cute that i kept on moving my arms as if i was punching someone, haha.

it was funny when one of the sonographers would always say "freeze" so many times just so they'd get the correct scans and measurements of my head, brain, heart (all 4 chambers of it and was beating 149 bpm that time), other internal organs like my bladder, kidneys, lungs, etc (which were all just black and white pictures that my folks were not really able to decipher). they even measured my waistline, my arms, legs. they looked at my little tiny pair of feet, toes and fingers (well, mom's dream of me having more than 5 toes on each feet ain't gonna happen :D). based on my measurements, i really was 19 weeks old then. hence, my due date is still sep 3.

it looks like i have more than 5 in this pic, hmmm
when it came to my, ahem, private part, the sonographer asked what my folks' guesses were of my gender. they both told the sonographers that i'm a boy (truth is they don't really know what they were looking at on the monitor, haha)... any guesses? ... i'll tell yah later! :)

i know, i look cute!
oh, there's one more thing that they found out. the placenta was on the anterior. which means that it was on the side of mom's belly and kinda acts like a cushion and barrier for me. so that's the reason why she doesn't feel me all the time! anyway, they told mom that she'll soon feel my kicks stronger in a few weeks. also, they saw me having hiccups! and i don't know why they find it fascinating and cute too, hmmmm.

we also had an appointment with dr. bouchard last friday. and as usual, my parents just asked questions (they always prepare a list of questions - which they never run out of - before they visit her clinic). and then she told them that everything was looking great based on the ultrasound and that mom's weight gain is on the expected normal side. before we left, she listened to my heartbeat again. that time it was 162 bpm. she assured them that it's still on the perfect range and varying bpm is what they want. next thing to do is to enroll in childbirth lamaze class! (and probably prenatal yoga class for mom as she suggested?).

anyway, since my parents already know what i am, dad was finally able to look at the baby name book that they bought from the booksale (he was trying to keep himself from reading it til they learn about my gender). not only that, he borrowed 3 more books about baby names from the library. he contemplated on all of these books (and yeah, he also surfed the web), just to find THE perfect name. and after a long list of names, they finally trimmed it down to i think 10 sets of names (still!). but they were already falling for one, they just haven't finalized that yet.

they still call me kiko (is your guess getting stronger now?). dad doesn't want to call me KIKAY coz he doesn't want me to become one when i get older, haha. he was so protective that he was laughingly telling my mom and their friends that he's going to buy a shotgun, haha. tito mon, tita she, tita hiyas and tito ed (they all have little boys), were teasing him about their little boys courting me someday. and dad would just jokingly tell them, "ilayu-layo lang ang mga anak nyo ha, at baka loloko-loko e magkalimutan tayo na magkakaibigan tayo". hahaha.

so yes, i am a healthy baby girl... G.I.R.L.... got that? the sonographer said, she's 99.9% sure and would bet all her money on that! so my mom's dream was right then. i forgot to mention in my story of my mom's dream that i was in a pink swaddling blanket. and pink is still for girls right? :) now, she's all the more excited to shop for me. those cute little dresses, shoes and girl accessories are just sooo irresistable according to her. and yep, she now has found a great reason to buy that cute pink and brown graco crib for me (which dad doesn't want still since he wants the crib to be used by the next siblings.. and what if the next one's a brother right?). well, at least they can plan on the nursery now.

alrighty then! till my next update!