The 37th Week Checkup

Peanut was squirming around and hiccuping right before I was called into the ultrasound room. The first thing that showed up on the screen was his thigh bone (right beneath my diaphragm). The doctor measured it and said, "Wow~ either you have a very big baby or your baby has very long legs." Then we located his head and saw the side profile of his face. "Here's an eye," the doctor said, "it looks like his eyes are moving. Maybe he's looking around." The poor little guy looked totally cramped in there, with his face right against the uterine wall and his bottom against the placenta. At one point, Bill and I thought we saw him sucking his thumb, but the doctor thought his hand was just resting close to his mouth.

The doctor estimated his weight to be 3,100 grams (6.83lbs). Doctor Liu and the nurse think he's on the larger side (the nurse said 2,500 gram (5.5 lbs) was the normal weight for newborns), and they advised that I watch my diet for the next 3 weeks.

I finally lost it and had a tizzy fit after we got home from the hospital. Lying on the couch with my head on Bill's thigh, I cried about how I'm tired of being made to feel that my pregnancy is somehow abnormal; as if it's abnormal because I'm doing something wrong or not doing enough. I've been told that my belly is exceptionally big week after week, in the yoga class, in the market, on the street, in cabs, and at work. However, I don't know why my belly is so big, and I do watch what I put into my mouth. I mean, let's look at the facts so far: I don't have gestational diabetes, my weight gain has not been radical, my blood pressure has been stable, and I've kept up with walking to and from work and going to yoga twice a week since I was 12 weeks pregnant. What am I doing wrong here?

What the nurse said stuck in my head and 2,500 grams just sounded awfully small to me, so I called John and asked how much Willy weighed when he was born. John told me that they actually induced labor at 37 weeks because Willy weighed 3,450 grams and they thought John's wife wouldn't be able to give birth if Willy had continued to get bigger. In other words, at 37 weeks, Willy weighed 300 grams more than what Peanut weighs now.

Then I researched online for the ideal birth weight for interracial Asian-Caucasian babies and found this interesting article on Baby Center. If 3,360 grams is the average weight for babies in the Asian-mother Caucasian-father groups in this research, Willy was definitely on the bigger side, and Peanut only has a little bit of room to grow until he reaches 40 weeks.

What I'd be interested to find out about this research is the height and weight of the parents, especially the Asian mothers. As far as Asian chicks go, John's wife and I are both tall (she's a bit taller than I am). I don't think it's that unusual for our babies to be as big as they were/are.

My next appointment is in a week. I'm going to write down everything I eat and the amount of time I spend on doing physical activities throughout the week so we could see how much weight I gain in relation to everything I eat and do.

p.s. Though I'm in my 37th week according to the due date, the doctor in the ultrasound room put 38 week and 3 days pregnant according to his estimation of Peanut's weight.