18 weeks pregnancy update for Shu and Paul

Dear Friends and Loved Ones!

As of today Shu and I are celebrating 18-weeks of pregnancy. We feel extremely blessed and grateful to experience firsthand the miracle of life forming inside Shu. Thanks for your continued support and prayers for Shu and baby's well-being. As of last Wed, 12/8 Shu has completed the major court case she started on 10/18. The case spanned just about 7.5 weeks with Shu's legal team coming out victorious. Congrats to Shu and baby for winning both their first jury trial!

During our 1st trimester screening tests our baby was given a 1 in 320 risk of Down Syndrome. Last week we received results of our 2nd trimester screening test with an updated Down Syndrome risk of 1 in 200. This was low enough that after consultation with our parents and the genetic counselor today we decided to forgo performing amniocentesis, which would have a minuscule risk of complications or miscarriage. (We are blessed that Shu's current risk assessment for abnormal chromosomes is actually now statistically equivalent to a woman 5 years younger than her age.)

After meeting with the genetic counselor this morning, the doctor performed the 2nd trimester ultrasound. This was an extremely thorough check-up with the doctor snapping dozens of photos of all the major body parts and organs, including head, chest, heart, limbs, kidneys, bladder, spine, and even lips! Based on her examination the baby seems perfectly healthy. See attached for a few photos from the ultrasound. One shows the baby with raised hand showing all five fingers very clearly - yeah five! Shu says it's "as if to say 'Hi mom!'" but I think it's more likely, 'Where's my racquet???'"

Shu's Christmas wishlist mostly consists of maternity clothes as she's ever expanding and has begun to taste the comforts of maternity-specific clothing.

Thanks again for your continued prayers and well-wishes.

Love and hugs,
Paul and Shu

Pookie Cub is 14 weeks incubating!

Dear Friends,

Today we celebrate 14 weeks that our little "Pookie Cub" is in development! He is now about 3-1/2 inches long and can even form facial expressions and suck his thumb! (See below for more description of the 14th week.)

Mom is still experiencing moderate queasiness though she's now in recess from her gruelling court schedule until the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Shu also went to her second routine visit to her primary Obstetrician today. We received a good report on the baby's progress and even measured the heart rate at a normal 160 bpm.

Thanks so much for your continued prayers for baby and mom's healthy progress!

Love and hugs!
Paul and Shu

Praises as we enter 2nd Trimester!

Dear Family, Friends, and Prayer Warriors!

Shu and I would like to thank those of you who have been diligently praying for us as we learned on Oct 2nd that we are pregnant. And we are now so thrilled and grateful to let you all know that as of today we have officially entered our 2nd trimester of pregnancy!

We went in for the first ultrasound on Oct 14th at which time we learned we were 8 weeks, 6 days pregnant and the baby was already 20.2mm (0.80 inches) long. (See pics attached.) The risk of pregnancy complications is greatest in the 1st trimester, but we went in last Thursday (Nov 11) to complete the 1st trimester screening which includes a blood draw and special ultrasound. Based on this screening and ultrasound we are happy to report that the baby has been developing right on target and has grown 3x in length, measuring in at 63.6mm (2.5 inches) long. And more good news is that the screening tests have indicated extremely low risk of Downs Syndrome (1 in 320) or Trisomy 18 (1 in 11,000).

As I mentioned we have just completed our 13th week of pregnancy and are now officially starting the 2nd trimester. Many of you know that Shu is in the final few weeks of a court case in which she must live out of an SF hotel, wake up super early, and be in court every day from 8a - 2p. The past couple weeks have been a little difficult as she's felt queasy not just in the evenings but even in the mornings. But thankfully she has been well enough not to have to miss a single day of court so far. We hear that the 2nd trimester is supposed to be better as far as morning sickness goes. So we're really hoping to experience that asap!

Thank you for celebrating this joyous news with us and please, please continue to be in prayer for healthy mom and baby. Now that we have emerged from the risky 1st trimester this news is no longer secret. So please feel free to share as you wish.

Love and hugs,
Paul and Shu

Top Secret: First ultrasound!

Shu and I just finished at our first doctor visit. The doc is super nice and confirmed with ultrasound that baby looks good so far and is around 8 weeks along. She gave us a due date of 5/19/2011. She said the highest risk of miscarriage will be over in approximately 3 weeks. So *please* be in prayer for baby & mommy's health especially over the next 3 weeks. And please do not announce any news to others about the pregnancy until we get past these few weeks and will let more people know.

We feel so blessed by God to be given this opportunity! Thanks for your prayers, love, and support.

Love and Blessings,
Shu and Paul