Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It is now Taylor's year, the year 2008, here in Korea. Jeff and I celebrated by dressing up momentarily to take some photos, prepared a bottle of the finest champagne we received as a gift (which turned out to be not champagne at all, but instead, cognac), and we rang in the new year together, watching the countdown on the world clock and KBS1. :)

As Korea rang in the new year with 33 strikes on a very large bell, Jeff, Taylor and I kissed and hugged our way into the new year in the warmth of our house.

Happy 2008, everyone!!! Many blessings to you all!

Love,
Jeff, Rosa, and Taylor

Christmas Day...

What a beautiful Christmas today is...:) Jeff and I are miserably sick with a cold (going on five and six days now), but we have spent a lovely Christmas morning together in our lovely little home - waking up to sneezes and a cup of tasty hot chocolate and some sweet potato pancakes for breakfast. :) Little Taylor liked that. She was so excited for Christmas morning that she woke me up by doing tumbles at 4:30 this morning...(or perhaps it was punching or kicking, but either way, it woke me up).

We actually got out of bed around 7 and opened our stockings to find some wonderful gifts inside and then we opened our presents! What wonderful presents! Lots and lots of chocolates, too!

As sickly as we may feel with our cold, we are having a beautiful Christmas together with our little Taylor in our cozy little home - making trumpet sounds with our noses...hehehe...:)

We do miss being with family this holiday season, but please know we're thinking of you and thank you thank you for the wonderful gifts!

Love,
Jeff, Rosa, and Taylor Ryals

Surprised Taylor?

Funniest thing...

I had already gone to bed when Jeff got home from a night out with the guys. He came in to kiss Taylor and me good night before he came to bed, but I guess his cold lips startled little Taylor because she started moving around in a frenzy...and then I realized...SHE HAD THE HICCUPS! :)

These were Taylor's first hiccups and they were adorable. I had to get out of bed and let Jeff feel her hiccuping in there...so cute. I'm sure she't not too thrilled to have them, and I think they've stopped now, but I just wanted to share...:)

G'night!

Our First 3D Ultrasound!

After a very long and nauseating ride in the back of a van to the off-post hospital (Severence Yonsei Hospital), we finally made it to our appointment to see the doctor. She gave a quick consultation and we were off to the radiology section. Once we arrived there, we waited a bit, but then they called our name and we went to this little curtained-off cubby where I lay down on a tiny cot and waited for the tech. The tech showed up we began the exam.

I was hoping he'd turn the monitor to let me see what he was looking at, but he just made all his measurements and pointed things out to Jeff...so I didn't get to see any of it!!! Booo...yes, I know. So I was pretty sad...but Jeff got to see the little one moving around and all crowded in there. After all was said and done and much prodding was done to my ever-growing belly, he did say it was a little girl (yay!) and that he couldn't get a good face shot because she had her hand covering her face - said she must be shy. hahahaha...:)

We got fininshed and I wiped all the goo off my belly and Jeff and I waited for the printouts. We got a whole bunch of print outs, but the particularly cute ones were ones of little Taylor's foot, her little fist, and part of her face showing behind her little hand/arm. Her mouth is slightly open and you can see a pouty lip. :) Jeff says her mouth and nose looked just like mine when he saw it on the screen. Also, we noticed that her second toe was longer than her big toe, which is also like me! hehe...we're very excited that she might just end up being a little mini-me. :)

When I went back up to see the doc, she said that the tech didn't do a very good job capturing the images for me so she wants me to come back next Monday and she'll do the imaging herself for me and make me a CD with the images on it! :) I'm so excited!!!!! Maybe she'll actually let me see what's going on on the screen. All in all, she said the baby is at a very good size and that she looks very healthy. That was a relief! I'm looking forward to seeing the little one again next week! :) Hopefully, if we get some good images, I'll post one up here of our little baby's face...wheeeeeeeeeeee!

Vacation and Anticipation

Hello, everyone!

Jeff, Taylor, and I got back from a wonderful trip to Hawaii to visit Alisha, Will, and their little one! :) We stuffed ourselves silly, not just on Thanksgiving day, and Taylor enjoyed every immobile minute of it. :9 Yum!

Some new developments - little Taylor doesn't like the high-pitched ringing of the hotel morning call; she woke up immediately when the morning call came and started kicking frantically all over the place! She calmed down after about ten minutes, but it definitely made me jump out of bed! I also had my first major leg cramp that woke me up in the middle of the night - I yelped and woke up Jeff, too!

I'm sure everyone will be amused to know that little Taylor is growing now so rapidly that my belly button is progressively getting smaller and preparing to become an outie...please don't become an outie, please don't become an outie...but I think it will become an outie. Oh well, at least right now it's a cute little TINY belly button...

As I enter my third trimester, I am worried about how much bigger I'm going to get, but I am also very excited that we're one trimester closer to meeting our little baby! Jeff still asks when Taylor is going to come out and play, and luckily it will be very soon! :) The time is just flying by and I don't know what it'll be like when little Taylor is no longer a part of me...it already makes me sad to think of it! I'm so excited that she'll soon be a part of our lives, though...SO EXCITED!!!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and expect an interesting post next week after we get our 3D ultrasound!!!!! WE CAN'T WAIT!

24/25-Week Appointment

Little Taylor must have been excited about her visit this morning because she was kicking up a storm when we went in to see the doc. Today's appointment consisted mainly of the doctor checking on how I was doing, checked the height of the uterus, explained our lab results (all great!) and checked the wellness of the baby.

We got to see little Taylor again on the sonagram today. She's definitely putting on some weight because this time you could see that she had put some fat on her little bones! Her heart rate is also holding steady at a rapid 150 beats per minute (although, it was really hard to get because she kept kicking the mic). :) All in all, the appointment went very well. We picked up my "fit to fly" memorandum because we're flying to a mini-vacation with the Shoemates in Hawaii for Thanksgiving. Yay!

Until next time...Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Getting Stronger...

Little Taylor must be growing stronger in there because her kicks are getting much harder! Today, she gave me two strong kick right under the belly button that made me jump. She'd better watch out where she kicks because I'll be pretty upset with her if she kicks my belly button out into an outie from an innie. Yes, yes, I know it will probably come out eventually when she grows much larger in there, but she doesn't need to be kicking it along faster than she needs to...:)

I am finding that I have a lot of energy through the day until mid-afternoon and then I feel a strong urge for a nap. Of course, when I'm at work, I can't just go take a nap, but on the weekends, I'm like a little cat that naps pretty much all day, on and off. Insomnia hasn't been too much of a problem for me yet, so I am thankful. She's pretty cooperative at night, too, so she'll tumble around in the belly for a bit as I get settled in to sleep, but she'll sleep through the night pretty soundly without any kicking. Maybe that's a good sign...:)

Jeff keeps talking to the belly and asks her every day to come out and play. I keep telling him she can't come out yet because she's not big enough, but he wants to see her so badly. :) It's adorable. I know he's going to pinch me for writing that, too...hehe...

Anyhow, will let you know of any updates after our next doc appointment next week. it'll be my 25-week check-up. Wheeee!

Baby Registry

We're in the midst of working through our baby registry, so we've got one started, finally. We registed through BabiesRUs.com and I've included the link on our site's "Favorite Links" tab.

Also, just so everyone isn't too set on the name we have picked for our little girl, please understand that we're still not 100% sure on the sex of the baby, and nor are we 100% set on the full name. I hope you don't feel that we are acting prematurely by naming the baby on the site and adddressing her as such...:) We love the name so far, so it may stick, but we'll let everyone know for certain closer to the birth of the baby.

We finally got a 3D ultrasound scheduled on 5 December! We're extremely excited because we should be able to get a definitive answer on whether or not our little one is really a girl and we should also be able to see her facial features for the first time with some definition. :) How EXCITING! I'll post again once I have my next doctor's appointment (before the ultrasound), but just wanted to let everyone know about our baby registry and some thoughts on our minds.

That's all for now...:)

Jeff's First Kick

Jeff got to feel little Taylor's kick for the first time last night (Halloween night in Korea)! She was being extremely active, so I asked him to come and feel, and I kept talking to her and responding to every movement she made. She continued to kick in that one location, and when Jeff placed his hand on my belly, she paused for a second, and then gave a swift kick, which startled Jeff! :) His response made me burst out laughing, which in turn, must have surprised the little one so she stopped moving for a little bit, but as Jeff and I continued to laugh, she started moving around again, happy as can be.

It's amazing that she's already responding to stimuli from inside the womb...I'm just so excited to meet her!

Belly girth is now at a whopping 36.5 inches! Yes, oh my...

Growing belly...

Little Taylor must be going through a growth spurt because in the last few days, my belly has grown quite a bit. See photo.

She has also been very very active...as usual...but she has not taken to not only kicking outward, but downward as well - yes, she pushes happily on my bladder. I'm sure you all wanted to know that.

Also, Jeff has taken a delight in getting me silly (and cute) pregnant belly shirts - like the one I'm wearing in the picture. He also got me a shirt that says "Don't touch my belly!" because I have thus far had some quite random people come up and try to pat my belly. I really don't know why people think they have the right to pat or touch any pregnant woman's belly...

Well, we must get back to settling our new apartment...:)

Little Karate Kid

Assuming for the time being that our little one is going to be our little princess, we've gone ahead and named her Shingil Taylor Ryals - Shingil after our late Halmuni (Grandmother).

Little Taylor, or "Kong-al" ("Little Bean" as Umma is calling her now), is a very active little baby in my belly. She might as well be the next karate kid. She usually wakes up about an hour after I've been awake and moving around, but once she wakes up, she is practicing her kicks and tumbles for about 30 minutes before she decides to calm down and take a nap. She makes me extremely hungry by mid-morning, and I think it's because she gets all of her working out done as soon as she wakes up. After she gets about an hour rest, she is back to her tumbles again...:) She has also taken to stretching out her living space by pushing on one side for a period of time...and then pushing on the other side for a period of time. I guess she's a little more cramped than she'd like to be...as we saw in the ultrasound. :)

Jeff is eagerly awaiting for the moment when he can feel little Taylor kicking with his hand on my belly. Everytime I feel her moving, I tell him to try feeling, but it's like she knows someone else's hand is there, so she stops until the hand is gone. Also, because she is actually moving inside of me, it might be that an outside person may not be able to feel from the outside yet. Either way, we're excited to share that moment when it happens! :)

OK. Time for more organizing for our move...until next time...

Drum roll, please...

We THINK it's a girl! :)

Jeff and I are 95% sure...but the tech wasn't too helpful. It wasn't because she didn't want to tell us or anything, but she was like...oh, I think it might be a girl. Yeah, it kinda looks like a girl. Very unexcited. Kinda disappointing, but before we went in for the ultrasound (a few days before), Jeff studied a bunch of ultrasound images on-line and he's pretty certain it's a little girl! It's a good thing, too, 'cause the only names we really had picked out were girl names! hehehe...

It was amazing to see our little girl's spine, heart pumping away (151 bpm!), little belly, arms and legs, and you could even see tiny facial features! I think she's going to have some high cheek bones! hehehehe...actually her facial shot looked like a little alien head, but she's adorable, nonetheless. The doc said she's already 11 ounces! Once Jeff gets the images scanned, I'll post them here. Don't know how they'll turn out, but it's worth a shot. She looked awful crowded in there, though...I guess that's why she moves around so much...:) Trying to stretch out her living space...

WE'RE SO EXCITED!!! Our little baby girl...Jeff's going to spoil her rotten...I can see it now...;)

Anticipating the Ultrasound

Jeff and I are very eagerly awaiting tomorrow morning's appointment with the ultrasound technician. We are hoping that the little one will cooperate and let us know if the squirminess is a he or a she. :) My belly has grown an inch since last month's measurement...it looks much bigger than just an inch, but who knows.

We will let you know the technician's guess as soon as we find out!

Definitely Belly Movement!!!

Yesterday's sensations were definitely little Ryals making him/herself known. This morning, about an hour after I woke up and wandered around the house getting ready for work, I felt the same sensation so I stopped moving around and placed my hands on my belly...and I could feel the little one's movements with my hands! It went on for about another five minutes or so while stood there just holding my belly...:)

Throughout the day today, too, the flutters continued on and off...what a beautiful and odd feeling!

I also had my first back muscle cramp today. While I was sitting at work, a tiny little area on the left-middle of my back got all knotted up and was a little painful, but after I stood up and walked around a little bit, it was much better. I guess it's about that time when I need to start moving around every hour or so to keep the blood flowing properly instead of sitting at my desk the majority of the day. Lesson learned. :)

First Movement?

I think I felt the little one move today!!! I was sitting at work around 3pm and suddenly I felt a little flutter in my tummy. At first I thought maybe I had some gas bubbles (I know, disturbing), but then I didn't feel any pressure in my intestines as I normally would if I had gas bubbles. So, out of curiosity, I sat really still land thought about the baby swimming around...and then I felt it again!!! The little flutters...like a little foot or arm was stretching out to touch the walls around it...it continued a few more times and then it stopped. I haven't felt any more since the afternoon, but could this have been the first fetal movement??? How wonderful...:)

Second Dr. Appointment

Today's appointment was not as exciting as we both expected it to be. We were both hoping to find out the sex of the baby, but we didn't even get to see the baby today. Sad. But, we did get to hear the baby's heartbeat - beating at a rapid 156 beats per minute! Trust me, I have no caffeine in my system!!!

I did get some blood drawn for cystic fibrosis, down syndrome, and neural tube defect tests. All in all, it was an uneventful appointment, but it was really nice to hear the baby's heart beating so strong and healthy.

Our next appointment is the 2nd trimester ultrasound appointment and Dr. Han said that the technician will be able to tell us the sex of the baby at that time. 15 OCT 07 - can't wait! Dr. Han also told us that I should be able to feel the little one move in the next couple weeks!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!

Anticipation

It's funny the things you anticipate when you're pregnant. I'm almost finished with week 18 now, and the one major thing I'm looking forward to is feeling the first fetal movement. I read everywhere that it's hard for first-time mothers to tell the first movements because it often feels like gas bubbles or just an overturning stomach, but I just wish there would be a definite way to tell if it was the baby moving or just dinner moving around...hehehe...

Sometimes I sit really still with my hands on my peh and my eyes closed and think about the baby swimming around in there...imagining him/her reaching out and touching the walls and feeling around him/her. It makes me smile.

I sang to the baby today on my lunch break. Jeff and I are really looking forward to our next appointment this Friday. I'm hoping that this doctor will let us know the gender...if she can. If the baby will let us know. :) We really want to know so we can starting imagining the little one as a he or a she and address it as such.

How exciting!

16 Weeks

I'm starting my week 16 and have thus far had a relatively easy pregnancy. I've definitely had a few days of morning sickness where I spent more time saying hello to the bowl than I would have liked, but I have to think I've been lucky after some of the horror stories I've heard about morning sickness. Sleepiness is inevitable; I'm just glad I don't seem to have much trouble sleeping at night. As for rollercoaster emotions - not bad, actually. I've only just gotten more teary-eyed than usual watching shows like extreme home makeover and such. I do have a little bit of joint pain, a bit of indigestion, and a few dull headaches here and there, but nothing to really make me feel immobile. Thank goodness. Jeff and I just got back from a quick vacation in the Philippines, so I'll post some family pics here, soon. The pictures are the first shots of the little one starting to show in my belly. I'm really looking forward to my next appointment at the end of this month!

First Doctor's Appointment

Dear Baby,

This was our first visit to the doctor when we were 12 weeks and three days pregnant.This was the first time I realized you were real...

Heard your strong heartbeat
Beating so fast
We saw you, too
Kicking and waving your arms and legs
It was the first moment
That I truly knew I was pregnant...
That you were really inside me.
Moving and living...
Amazing.

Love,
Mom

Improvement

Dear Baby,

I think there might be a little improvement on the cold this morning. I feel a little better than I have the past couple days when I woke up. Maybe I'll do the exercise video. I'm not sure yet. I sometimes wonder if you can feel my sneezing. I think you are still only six weeks along, which means you're only actually four weeks. I think your heart will start beating today. How very exciting! Your little poppy-seed sized heart will start fluttering. Sometimes I think I can feel you inside of me already, but I know you're not exactly moving yet. My little M&M sized baby. I hope you grow strong and happy. :) I look forward to the day I get to hold you in my arms. You're going to be the most beautiful baby in the world. :) I know it.

Love,
Mom

Cold

Dear Baby,

I often wondered what it would feel like to be pregnant with you, but now that I am pregnant, I can't seem to feel any of the symptoms. It's because of this cold that I have. I think it's either suppressing the symptoms or I'm just not noticing because of how miserable I am with these cold symptoms. I don't think I'm running a high enough fever to call for going to the hospital, but I did call them today because I was worried about you. They just told me to take some tylenol and rest. I think resting this afternoon helped a little, but I'm still feeling pretty crappy. I wonder if I should go get checked for an infection or something, but I don't think it is because I am still snotting clear...mostly. Just a little yellowish. Should I be concerned? My throat does hurt quite a bit...does that mean I might have strep throat? I sure hope not. I want you to be a healthy baby, so I'm being careful not to eat anything wrong or do anything wrong, but I worry I might hurt you somehow. I know I read all these things saying this is safe and this is safe, but then there are those other articles that say practically everything is dangerous for the baby. Could it be that the mold is keeping me sick? I don't think so, but what if? I just don't want to worry about harming you, Baby. I guess it's inevitable. I hope you're okay, Baby. I hope I dream of you.

Love,
Mom

Nausea

I think I'm feeling my first bouts of nausea. This morning I've felt a bit queasy, but not too bad. I think I'm coming down with a cold, too...which wouldn't be a very good thing. I have a slightly sore throat and a runny nose. I wonder if it's from the fan at night. I would be fine with it running as long as it doesn't blow in my face, but it blows in my face and I don't like it.

We did go to church today. It was a little uncomfortable; I think I still am so used to the structured service that a protestant service that is pretty much non-denominational made me uncomfortable. I just had a hard time getting a lot out of the church service. Perhaps we can go to a Catholic service next week.

We'll see.

Symptoms

I keep thinking my symptoms of morning sickness are going to kick in, but I've been holding up very well. I hope that I can get through this without the violent vomitting; I really don't think I could handle that. I would like to think that I would just progressively get larger in the tummy and nowhere else, too. But that's not likely unless I work out every day. I'll try logging what I do daily for exercise. I don't think I want to try and log everything I eat, though...that would just take too much time. :)

We're headed to the gym...I think I'll hop on an elliptical machine for about 45 minutes. We'll see how I feel...

Happy

It's just very exciting to think that I have a little life growing inside of me. I'm so excited and just happy thinking about it. I don't know what to say to it exactly yet, but I'm sure with time, I'll have lots to say and think about with it. I do wish I knew the gender, though, so I don't have to keep calling my baby "it."

So happy...

the first posting

hello, blogging world. i've started many-a-blogs trying to think of various different topics to write about, but this has got to be the most important: my marriage, my husbad, and my newly discovered baby in my belly. :)

on tuesday, july 3rd, jeff and i decided to take a pregnancy test because i was late, and it came up positive! i was still not a believer, so later that day after dinner, i took a second pregnancy test...and it was also positive! we then called both our parents to tell them the news. i think secretly i was still quite in disbelief, but on wednesday when we went to the waterpark (4th of july!), i stayed careful and quiet.

today, thursday, the 5th of july, i went to the tmc to get an official test to find out if i was really pregnant or not. i gave my sample to the lab and told her i'd wait for the results. she told me to check with the front desk to find out the results in about 15-20 minutes. as the time ticked by, my heart started racing and i wondered what the results would be. when the clock hit 15 minutes, i went up to the front desk and asked for the results. the only think the desk clerk told me was that i needed to see the doctor. i knew that was a good indication that i was pregnant, but i did everything not to show how excited i really was. i sat back down with a grin and waited for the doc. when the doc called my name, it was the doctor i had just spoken with regarding fertility and she was surprised to see me. i thought she had already seen the results, but apparently she hadn't because she asked what i was there for. after explained that i thought i was pregnant, she was really excited and checked the results. when the screen came up, there was a large print of "POSITIVE" next to the HCG hormone in my lab results. she turned to me and said CONGRATULATIONS! i was sooooooooooooo excited!!!

now i have to make my first prenatal appointment to find out exactly when i got pregnant so i can start dating my pregnancy. my due date is 4 march 08!

I'M SO EXCITED!!! i can't wait to hear its first heartbeat.

i'm pregnant!