Introducing the Newest Tsukioka Family Member! (Take 2!)

So as it turns out, there is a new Tsukioka family member to introduce! As my brother, Dwain, said, we have a Japanese hybrid on order. I'm pregnant, and have been now for about 8 weeks. So as of now, Little T (the baby's name as of right now), looks something like this...

Right now it looks like a little alien, but he/she is quickly developing into a more human looking baby. Koichi and I are really excited, but of course we're nervous too. All the big questions are floating around: Will we make good parents? Where are going to get the money for ______ (formulae, diapers, college, etc.)? Will the baby make it through all 9 months? Right now that's the biggest question on my mind.

I happened to have a friend at work, a fellow teacher, who became pregnant nearly the same time that I did. That was really exciting for me because she's already had one baby, so she'd been through this before and knew what to expect so I could ask her all sorts of questions. Just this past week though, she lost the baby. She's doing really well, and I'm encouraged by her resilience, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking, Will that happen to me too? But I'm trying to not think about that too much, because even if it does happen, there's nothing I can do to stop it. I have to trust that God knows what He is doing, even if he takes this little one away from us.

I get a lot of the "So how are you feeling?" question these days. And today seems to be a good day, which would make 3 good days in a row for me, a personal best for the past 2 weeks. At first, I was just tired...all the time. And a little crampy. Now the crampiness is gone, the tiredness seems to be here to stay, and added to that is dizziness and blechy nausea that seems to be with me all the time. But right now is a good day, and I don't feel to nauseous.

Koichi is being an excellent daddy already. He's very concerned about the nutrition level of my diet. He asked his mom to send him a book on pregnancy from Japan so he could understand it more in depth. I was pretty impressed by that. But now he keeps trying to get me to eat liver and sea kelp. I stand firm in my convictions that neither of those are meant to be consumed. He is doing a great job though, and has been very considerate of me and my food cravings so far. Actually, I only had one craving that I know of, I had the strongest desire for fried chicken from KFC. For 2 days that's all I could think about. Koichi let me go and get 1 piece of fried chicken, and that really seemed to satisfy the craving. That was a weird craving for me, because I don't usually like fried chicken all that much. Anyway, I'm looking forward to craving brownies and ice cream....mmmmm, maybe I already am.

Well, that's it for now. I go in to see my OB/GYN in a few weeks for my first Dr.'s appointment. I think Koichi is going to try to go with me even though it's right in the middle of his sleeping time. I'm looking forward to it. I'll let you know what the Dr. says and how things are going a little later on.

(If you would like to make a donation to the Baby Tsukioka fund, checks, money orders and cash can be sent directly to me. Presents of any sort are always welcome.) :O)