pregnancy series

Hello everyone! I’m happy to announce that my baby is here! She was born on April 17th morning, all healthy. It was a day before the due date, and the delivery took 12 hours…I will share the birth story sometime when I’m more settled down. We stayed at the hospital for 3 nights after she was born, and I decided to leave one day early. I felt like I had enough of hospital life, and I’m much happier to be back home, with my husband:) Thank you all for prayers and thoughts!

Thank you for those of you who gave me advice on what to bring to the hospital – it was really really helpful! Lots of drinks, lip balm, and socks were my friends while I was suffering with contraction pain.

Now I feel a bit sentimental that my pregnancy is over (you can read my week-by-week journey here), but I’m thinking of continuing the series as mama series on Thursdays perhaps? Any suggestions?

P.S. Hope you enjoyed the guest posts by Anna and Nette! More guest posts coming in the next few weeks…:)

Hello All!
Week 39, oh boy!  Its a strange feeling to look at my bump and think that soon it will be gone.  Some days I waddle downstairs and think that I can’t wait for this thing to be gone and other days like today I think that I am really going to miss this big watermelon.

In the first picture I wanted to see how many items I could get to balance on Kiko.  It was harder than I thought and I only was able to balance 2. 

Below is the stuff that I have packed and ready to go for the hospital.  In the States they recommend having a “Go Bag” but in Japan you dont have to bring anything because it is all provided, even the toothbrush.  But, because I like my own stuff I am bringing my own bag.  This seems particularly important because here in Japan I will be in the Hospital for 4 or 5 days.  I can’t  imagine wearing hospital pj’s for 4 days.  I packed some clothes for the baby, some clothes for myself, reading material and makeup.  What did you guys have packed in your bag? Any recommendations for things to do with my 4 days in the hospital?

xo

38 weeks! I can’t believe I only have 2 weeks or less to go. It could be tonight that baby Sophia Kiko decides to pop out. It’s a weird feeling, exciting, but strange!

My little sister (4 years my younger) and my parents came over to my place, and we snapped these photos right outside of our house. 

The baby moved when my sister touched my belly – she is so active..always kicking, punching and stretching.  Except when Andy touches my belly, then she freezes! I think she is shy.

Look how flat my sister’s belly is! I hope to get back into shape once the baby is born.

And she can fly…like a bird.

I barely made it off the ground. My belly is just too huge.

This blue dress was my recent vintage find from “Sanbiki no Koneko” (three kittens) in Shimokitazawa. I bought it for 600 yen (about 6 bucks). I really liked the bat sleeves, and elastic waist, so I decided to take this home with me.

One problem with the dress was that it was too long for my liking, down to mid calf level. I decided to hem it shorter.  But, having learned the lesson from my hemming experience of this polka dot dress a few weeks ago I decided to readjust my approach to hemming. If you hem a dress or skirt in the traditional way while you are in your third trimester, the center front of the skirt will raise more than expected because of the big belly. So, you must compensate!
So, this time I cut the front center of the dress 3 inches longer than the side and back.

From the side view, you can see that there is a slope – front center is longer than the side and back on dress form. Once the baby is out, I can hem the dress again to even out the front:)

3. What are they like compared to standard tights (eg differences)?   

As I mentioned above, maternity tights has longer and stretchier in the torso in order to cover the big belly!