My first flight

Emiko was quiet for the whole 2h flight apart from a brief nappy change on the toilets which temperature was closer to the one of a cold chamber than a place for living beings...

The first name conundrum

Now we know whether it is a boy or a girl!

The GI Joe's would say "knowing is half the battle", but the half that's left is a tricky one.  

It is likely to be a Japanese name and that's all we'll say about it. You'll find out more towards the end of September...

Mummy's jumpin' around!

The sonographer told Yumi to go for a walk and "move" to try to get the Baby to (back)flip so we could see his/her spine and diaphragm.


This is what happened... :)

And the baby is a....

Yes, you all wonder. 


So did we. We thought it'd be a girl. Even the poll result showed it was a baby girl! So...


Well, it took some time...and efforts to find out: 3 scans, 2 trips to the toilets, 2 drinks (a caramel frapuccino and a sprite to be precise) and a couple of walks (including jumps, running up and downstairs) were necessary for baby to move around and show the sonographer that he/she was fine. The heart, vessels, bladder, spine and bones are all growing as expected! Woo Hoo! 


That was a relief for the parents to be.


And that is how baby looked like:

As you can clearly see, it's a baby .... (delivering a left hook)!

Boy or Girl? Video!

Action!

Mummy and Papa are getting a new place

We found a flat! 


That's official!


We thought it'd be too much for Uncle Nico so we looked and found a new place. 2 miles away from Clapham Junction.

It is a 2 bedrooms flat located near East Putney tube station. There's a communal garden and enough space for Baby to run around. We look forward to moving in...especially that all our friends will be there to help us! 


We'll move on the 16th June!

First trip to the museum

Today we met some friends at the museum (the Natural History Museum in South Kensington) and got the chance to do really cool stuff like....


...Measuring Yumi's belly

...Showing Baby how slugs looked like 65 million years ago 

...And smiling in front of rhinos, elephants and seals

My papa is the best!

• He makes nutritious and delicious meals for my mommy and me.
• He doesn't mind that I get in his way when he hugs mommy.
• He makes sure mommy gets in and out of bed safely during her middle of the night toilet runs.
• He rubs mommy's feet when they are sore.
• He speaks French to me everyday.
• He has already bought me a cute moses basket and re-usable nappies.
• He always remembers to buy mommy and me yummy fruit when he goes to the supermarket.

booom boooom boooom

Today Yumi went to the hospital for her 16 week check.  She told Thomas there was no need for him to attend as it was just to go over blood test results and to check on her general health.


Test results all fine.  Now time to listen to Baby's heartbeat for the first time...What?!  But Thomas isn't here!


The midwife tells Yumi it may take up to 10 minutes to find the hearbeat.  As soon as the monitor touches her tummy the heartbeat is heard.  It sounds like someone tapping on a microphone.  Then something is being dragged across the microphone. It's baby moving! A lot!


Yumi hesitantly calls Thomas.  Although disappointed he missed hearing Baby's heartbeat for the first time, he is happy that Baby is doing well.  That's all the really matters.

Code name "Goku"

By now Baby is 6cm long, which is about the size of the Goku figurine that stands   next to all the stuffed animals on our shelf. From time to time Baby is referred to as Goku, but we should probably wait to know if it's a boy or a girl before calling Baby names...

Boy or Girl?

We'll know the answer in week 20. 10th May to be exact.


In the meantime, what do you think?
Is it a boy?
Is it a girl?

Vote there  ---------------------------------------------->

First scan

14th of March. First scan.

We cycled to the hospital as it is the best way to:
a) get to the the appointment on time
b) not sit on a bus during morning rush hour
c) make it to work within 20minutes and 15minutes, Thomas and Yumi respectively
d) get some exercise (especially if Yumi is not pregnant as her trousers are a bit tighter than usual)


We got to the hospital "Yumi's style" (30 minutes early) so we had plenty of time to lock our bicycles and walk 50 meters to the hospital. We even had the time to buy some Ibuprofen for Thomas at Boots. 


Once in the room it's "lay here" (for Yumi) and "sit there" (for Thomas). You are allowed to take photos but you can't film in the room. It is the policy at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

Anecdote: Although Yumi tested positive on both home pregnancy tests neither the GP nor the midwife had confirmed that she really was pregnant. Add this to the fact that she had no morning sickness whatsoever and Yumi thought, "I hope I'm actually pregnant. I'd be funny to get in the ultrasound room and for there not to be a baby". 


The thought lingered in their minds as they entered the ultrasound room.  

There's no spoiler alert: as soon as the ultrasound was placed on Yumi's belly, voila! It's crystal clear: there's a baby in there!

We counted and it comes with all the options: 2 arms, 2 legs, 2 feet, 2 hands, a spine, a skull and even a brain. Yumi and Thomas were happy to know that everything that was supposed to be there was there. The bladder is working fine and the heart is beating.

Yumi and baby, for the first time on paper.

First pictures...

...of the parents to be:

Yes, the pee stick is in daddy's mouth...

Pregnant?

It was checked and re-checked and it's pretty clear:


1 bar = not pregnant
2 bars = 9 months 'till you change nappies

Having experience in reading pregnancy tests is not necessary here. Only an average eyesight is!

Yumi's pregnant!!

One late January evening as they were getting into bed, Yumi asked Thomas to rub her tummy.  This didn't seem unusual as she asked him to do so whenever she had a tummy ache.  


As Thomas was rubbing her tummy, Yumi asked, "Do you feel anything?"  


Thomas replied, "Non," hoping that Yumi would feel better (and mostly because he really couldn't feel anything). 


"Well, you will in few months..." 


And that was how Thomas found out that Yumi was pregnant.