pregnancy series

You might think why I jumped from 13 weeks to 16 weeks in a week? Some readers kindly pointed out to me after my last post that how they count pregnancy in the U.S. is actually the same as Japan: count from the last period, not from the actual conception day. Sorry for confusion, but now I’m 16 week pregnant!

By the way though, this whole confusion started because the doctors here say Japanese women are pregnant for 10 months, as opposed to 9 months in the U.S. I have no idea where the extra 1 month came from. That is why I thought Japanese are counting extra 2 weeks before the conception, but I still didn’t understand where the rest of 2 weeks came from to make Japanese women pregnant for 10 months. Anyone has any idea?

I didn’t get to take a photo of my growing belly this week. Sorry. But it hasn’t grown that much from the last week, as you can see from yesterday’s Halloween post.

I’ve felt pretty good through out the week. I switched my breakfast from white rice to oatmeal, and I think it is helping a lot to digest and clean out my stomach.
I also tried not to be stressed out about the work out too much. Before, I felt like I MUST work out at least 5 times a week to stay in shape. It got me stressed out because some days I just don’t have time to squeeze in even a quick work out or felt too tired to move. So those days, I decided to forget about it and relaxed, instead of being frustrated.

Oh by the way, I felt the baby’s very first move! He kicked me. It happened while Andy and I were watching Dexter, and it was like, either water boiling, or popcorn popping. I stopped the show and felt my belly again and he was definitely kicking! It was such a precious feeling. He hasn’t kicked me since..I can’t wait to feel that again.

So instead of my belly pictures, here is some photos of my first baby project.
It is a case/cover for Boshi Techo in Japanese. It literally means “mother and child journal”. When you become pregnant, you go to a city hall to get this journal along with a discount tickets for doctor’s visits. Pregnancy is not covered by insurance here. Your doctor or yourself write down everything you need to know about the pregnancy and baby to this journal – result of blood test, weight change, vaccines that the baby receives etc.

Please excuse my terrible sewing.. I really struggled sewing this project, and it wasn’t all that much fun. I used oilcloth I bought from a fabric shop, Yuzawaya. It was my first time sewing oilcloth, and what a pain in the butt it was to sew! It sticks to sewing machine, so I sandwiched the fabric with toilet paper to avoid sticking. It made a huge mess on my sewing table, and after I completed the cover, I had to wash the whole thing to remove the toiled papers I used. I wanted to insert a zipper all around this case, but it didn’t go all that well. The zipper was too short. So after my attempt to install the zipper, I had to take it apart, which left with these terrible needle spots..

At the end, I ended up putting a heart shaped button I bought from etsy and an elastic band to tie around. I hope you don’t magnify the pictures and yell at me for a bad sewing!

No pattern was used for this project. I cut the fabric as I went so the journal fits.

13 weeks now!
I’m counting my pregnancy in American calender here. In Japanese calender, I was 15 weeks when these photo were taken, which was last week. Why 2 weeks difference in American and Japanese pregnancy calenders? That’s because Japanese doctors count the week you start your last period (before you actually get pregnant) as week 1, not counting from the day of actual conception. So Japanese week 1 and 2, you are not pregnant, but for some reasons that’s how they count. Very strange.

Although it’s not really showing in the pictures, and I might be just too self conscious, but last week I started to feel like my belly is getting bigger. I can’t stop touching my belly and look in sideways when I stand in front of a mirror. I gained another 1 kilo in a week, and I don’t know how that was possible, since I ate right and worked out regularly. I was a bit overwhelmed with my changing body..

But the bright side is, I got to go to a maternity fair hosted by a Japanese magazine, called “Nin Sugu“. My friend works for the magazine, so she let us, another friend of mine and her husband in. It was a lot of fun, and we got the photo taken professionally for free (below)!

We got a lot of samples from the fair – diapers, pacifier, caffeine free tea, body oil to prevent stretch marks etc..
There was a booth where your husband can experience what it feels like to be a pregnant. They put you the body (see below) that weighs 5 kilo or so and have you walk around. My husband tried it and it was so funny! I tried it myself too, just to see how it feels like to be 9 month pregnant. and oh boy – it was heavy! I’m whining about my body weight already, but it’s a whole different story if you are 9 months pregnant!

I’m pregnant! My husband and I are so excited for our first baby! I’m due next April.
Since I saw the maternity series of Bleubird Vintage blog, I really wanted to document it in a similar way. So each week I will document my growing belly or write something pregnancy/baby/sewing related:)

So far, I haven’t had any morning sickness (I got lucky!), gained 2 pounds, and my belly looks pretty normal except after I eat, then my stomach sticks out a bit too much.
I can’t wait for next week<3