Visitors

Never experienced staying in the house for too long (approx 2.5 months) in my entire life without going out. My world is just evolving inside the house of the Candazo's where we are temporarily staying. My hubby's in Japan for a business trip for a couple of months or so. It's just me, our baby, my hubby's family and the househelps. I barely go out (just to nearby Mercury drugstore), I mean I can't go out (to stroll around) because I'm still recuperating from surgery. Also the fact that I'm not familiar with Marikina yet. Haven't tried going around the place riding PUVs, always with a car.

But my maternity leave wasn't very boring at all. Thanks to my close friends, families and relatives who paid me some visit even though we we're miles away from them. It relieved me of my loneliness somehow. My very dear uncle from US whom I've not seen for almost 5 years together with his wife visited me. Though for just a couple of hours of conversation over lunch, it made me feel at home again, together with my family and relatives. Not to forget to mention my bestfriends' (Phen and Ileen) visits. A very cheerful chit-chats over what's happening around. It somehow polished my guest-hosting which I've never practiced for so long now since I used to be a guest, always. =)

Away In The Land Of The Rising Sun

It will be a week this Saturday when my husband left for a 2-month business trip. I can still feel how sad we were when we exchanged our poignant goodbyes. Two weeks before his scheduled trip, I was the one who always cry because of sadness since he'll be leaving me and our baby very soon. He told me not to weep since the trip will be for our good financially and he's already ashamed to decline the project offer for the fifth time. But it really broke my heart when I saw him cry the dawn we see him off. We promised each other not to cry on the departure date. He broke it, I consoled him instead.

I'm unhappy knowing that this is our first child and he can't be with her during her first months. Not to mention that I am still recovering from a surgical delivery and I need him badly beside me. But life has to move on for us. I'm just very grateful that I'm very well taken cared of by my in-laws. All the support and care that I can never imagine. For now I have to be contented with the nightly chat with my hubby. I wish I could be there with him, to cook his food, prepare his clothes and simply take care of him.

Four years in relationship and months of marriage, we still hate being away from each other. He had numerous business trips before and every separation is painful. And like his every homecoming, I'm now counting the days of that blissful moment.

Giving Birth

The day was December 27, 2005. It was just a normal day for my routine pre-natal check-up but arrived in the hospital at 3cm already without any pains, symptoms or whatsoever. We were ready though coz we already brought all the things needed in case I'll be induced by my OB because our baby is growing large at 38 weeks. I was prepared by all the nurses, midwives and interns for the labor, checking on all my vital signs, contractions and cleaning my body. I'm keeping myself brave with prayers while I was in the pre-labor room.

My OB came and directed an induced labor by giving Oxytocin to rupture my water bag. I waited in the labor room. An intern named Andrea closely monitored the contractions, baby movements and vital signs. After an hour of being induced, she found out my baby's position was no longer cephalic but oblique, turning I think about 20-30 degrees to my right. It was a crucial moment since she seemed can't contact my OB which was very busy at that time and my bag could rupture anytime. While waiting for about 30 minutes, I prayed very hard for my baby to turn for normal delivery but it never happened. As soon as they got in touch with my OB, I was ordered for stat CS, meaning I can no longer proceed with normal delivery but had to undergo CS operation immediately.

There were many thoughts running inside my mind. I don't want my first childbirth to be a cesarean. I've been tediously preparing my body and myself for the pain of normal delivery. There was a moment in the labor room, though afraid to, I asked God why this happened at the last minute. But still, I told Him I'll surrender everything to His will for me and our baby.

I was immediately brought to the operating room after being cleaned for the second time. The OR's very cold, I'm merely wearing a sheer hospital gown. The anesthesiologist came with his sidekick and I chatted with them to calm myself. The OR team passed the time chatting while waiting for my OB while I'm praying very hard until I drowsed to sleep. The OB came an hour and a half after and the room became very busy.

I still remember all the sequence of events. I was given a spinal block, my lower body became numb and they cleaned it again for the last time, the anesthesiologist was standing beside my head and kept talking to me perhaps to check on my consciousness, equipments were counted twice, my OB ordered the blades (there were two). Though I can barely see my abdomen via the OR lamp's reflection, I didn't do it because of fear. Not until I heard a cry and the first thing I saw was the hairy head of my baby. The OR was filled with my baby's cry until she was brought out to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The last sight I saw on my abdomen was an aluminum bowl full of bloody stuffs. They might be cleaning the mess at that time.

Although I've questioned God's will for me in some way, I realized that His plan is always perfect. My baby turned oblique at the last minute and had to be delivered surgically because of short cord, meconium (she pooed inside) and she's plainly too big for a normal delivery (at 8.3 lbs).

Giving birth to my baby took me only 6 hours from the time I was admitted to the pre-labor room. I even didn't experience much pains from what I've expected. Perhaps my prayers worked anyhow. What's keeping me strong during the process was I always bear in mind that all the pains I have to undergo in the delivery is nothing compared to all the physical and emotional sufferings Jesus went through the cross for our salvation.

I made it! I'm a certified mother now, ready to raise another child of God.

The Great Wait

Going to the doctor last week for Riza's check, we brought with us the birthing bag that she prepared several weeks ago. We were prepared for any recommendation the doctor might say during her check, either C section or induce labor. There was an atmosphere to joy and nervousness when we went to the doctor. Joy, because we would like to see our baby before Christmas (this will be the greatest gift ever) and nervousness because she might recommend a C section. Then, you might ask what her recommendation? She recommended for us to wait for another week before inducing labor (sigh =I).

One more week to wait for our little bundle of joy to come. But I consider this 1 week the longest wait so far. Knowing the exact date when the baby will be born and waiting for that date is killing me. I'm so excited I can't hardly wait.

Feliz Navidad!

My first Christmas with a husband and a baby on the way. Can't really have our own private noche buena for the first time as a family since we lived together with my hubby's parent's house. Just went along with the flow of their family's Christmas gathering tradition of early dinner and gift giving. I used to celebrate Christmas when I'm here in Manila with all of my noisy but enjoyable relatives til past midnight of eating, fun and merry-making.

I miss going home to Davao for a Christmas vacation.

I miss those fun Christmas celebration with my relatives at Tierra.

I miss those crazy and endless picture taking during Christmas eve with all of my cousins.

I miss feasting on all the food served during noche buena (can't eat much today due to my diabetes).

Though there are some things I miss, I'm still grateful my hubby and baby-inside are together spending Christmas 2005.

Big Baby!

We got the fetal growth monitoring result of our baby during my latest prenatal check-up last Saturday (12/10). She's already 3278 gms (approx 7.2lbs), too big for her gestational age of only 35.4 weeks! The last time we checked on her ultrasonic weight a month ago, she's only 2235 gms (approx 4.9 lbs). If we observe her growth rate, it averages at around 250 gms per week. Come her full term (37 weeks) on December 20, she'll be approximately 3778 gms (8.3 lbs) by then. Whoa! I'm not very certain if I can deliver her out normally the fact that this is my first pregnancy!

We'll be seeing again my OB on Dec 20. By then she can advise us on the best step to do whether to induce my labor or perform CS. She wants to deliver my baby as early as possible so it won't be gaining too much weight. Right now I'm stressing myself with much walking exercise to speed things up normally.

We're wishing our baby comes out before Christmas. It would be such a perfect gift for us =). Notwithstanding the fact that my husband wants to spend more time with her since he ‘s already scheduled for a 3-month business trip January next year.

Fruitcake

My mother-in-law missed the fruitcake-making class of Chef Annie because it was cancelled for some reasons. Since she really need to dispatch her kilos of glazed fruits and not to mention her desire to learn how to bake fruitcake, we gathered the guts to bake one two days ago. She searched for Heny Sison's fruitcake recipe on her clearbook files containing cut-outs from magazines and newspapers. Though she already had this tons of recipe books whether bought or given to her from US, I admire her passion of collecting more recipes on prints and even on product labels!

We gathered the fruits and nuts ingredients on the first day and geez, they almost weigh 2 kilos already! The instructions said that these need to be soaked in dark rum overnight. No wonder that those glazed fruits and nuts in the fruitcake have an alcoholic smell and taste of the rum. (Others used scotch whisky but we religiously followed the instructions coz it's our first time to bake this fruitcake.)

On the actual day we baked the fruitcake, we encountered a lot of blunders. We failed to read the last part of the instruction which we thought are only tips after it has been baked so we almost forgot to place a pan of hot water to avoid the cake from cracking while baking. Due to the various times we opened and closed the oven, the oven thermometer was accidentally dunked into the hot water. What we got was a busted thermometer and an uneven baking temperature! The 90-min baking time was shortened to 60 mins coz when we tried to check it out, it's already done a quarter before its alloted time. Whew! We almost missed placing the glazed fruits & nuts toppings!

But who would've thought these fruitcakes were baked by inexperienced and meager bakers like us? hehehe =) We let this cool off overnight and brushed it with dark rum the following day before storing it. This can last for 8 months or so. And the taste... it's not just an ordinary fruitcake! Really yummy, luscious and I love the smell. We're very happy of the results.

Some people hate fruitcakes. Perhaps its because of the low quality and commercialized fruitcakes they've tasted. For me, I've found this recipe that I learn to like and can fiddle with the variations of fruits, nuts, spices and rum used. Through practice, I can someday be known to make the best fruitcake in the clan. =)

Banana Cake

I used to eat banana cake since I was in elementary but it's only now that I was able to obtain hands-on knowledge on how to bake it. My mother in law had this favorite banana cake recipe of hers given by her home-economics-teacher sister ages ago. It's written in a notebook including all the other recipes her sister kept during her bachelor days. We decided to bake it due to the plenty over-ripe bananas piled on the dining table.

I thought that most cakes are complicated to bake due to so many considerations on temperature, beating time, ingredients/pans used, etc. Count the banana cake off. It's like making a pancake where we just mixed all the ingredients, baked it then viola! A delectable banana cake! Now I know why banana cakes have these streaks of brown hair-like texture. It's the fiber in the banana.


Next time we'll create more variations by adding chocolate chips, walnuts, pineapple and even carrots! Coz baking it is truly a piece of cake. =)

Baby Showers

After a long argument and preparation with my bestfriend Phen on having a baby shower or not before our baby will be born, we decided to celebrate it over dinner with very closed friends only. Yesterday, (12/3/2005), my hubby and I met with 2 very dear friends at Megamall (sad to say one wasn't able to come, they're supposed to be 3). But we proceeded anyway coz I might not be able to attend if it would be rescheduled once more.

We feasted over an eat-all-you-can buffet, chit-chat on the latest happennings and had some good laughs. The night went well. We talked interminably as well as enjoyed taking pictures , we weren't able to keep track of the time. A 3-hour get-together is indeed very short for us coz we barely see each other now. We had a whole day spent merry-making when I lived in Las Pinas before, just within the vicinity where they also lived. Now I'm already in Marikina, can't go out with them that much and I missed the malls down south.

After the simple gift giving and favors, the ceremonial baby shower ended. But it was not more of the "tagged occassion" we're up to but with the bonding and special moments we shared in our friendship.

I somehow felt this superstitious feelings before on baby showers and buying baby stuffs. But I brushed it off by thinking that this little angel I'm carrying and I have already gone through so much sacrifices and trials but we remained strong, still holding on this 34th week. God gave her to us as a gift and blessing to shower happiness in our lives and we believe He won't take her away from us. =)

Weekend Irony

I had my trip to my endocrinologist and OB-Gyne last Saturday (11/26/2005) for my routine check-up both for my Gestational Diabetes and prenatal. My hubby and I arrived very early at the hospital to avoid the long queue of patients because it’s a weekend. Though I was in the top 3 on their list, I was still served very late. I don’t understand why doctors can afford to let their patients wait too long. I’m paying too high for their PFs but they rob away from me my precious and productive time.

Anyway, I was very much happy with the results coz I’ll need insulin shots no more. My GDM was treated by the strict diet I’m following and daily monitoring of my blood sugar. Though it raised a concern since I lost 5 lbs in just two weeks (the fact that I’m pregnant), I was assured by my OB that there’s nothing much to worry about the weight loss. However, I still need to balance everything on what I eat, blood sugar level and weight gain which is too hard to juggle but I take it as a challenge.

Although it was a satisfactory trip at hospital, I thought I would be more delighted coz we’ll be visiting my family in Las Pinas after a month of not seeing them. I was wrong indeed!

If I was robbed away of my precious time at the hospital but was pleased with the results, at this point, I was very glad I got the chance to be with my family, but lost my sentimental and very expensive diamond ring instead. Someone took it away from my closet including some cash from my piggybank. =(

Experienced life’s paradox. I believe God design it that way for us to pursue His will and listen to His message for us. Though right now I still don’t know the implication of what had happened, I’m trying to comfort myself by counting and thanking Him for all the blessings I have. As the saying goes “It is the fire of suffering that brings forth the gold of godliness.” God used this circumstance to further develop my character and He has a purpose why I’m bombarded with a bunch of problems. His will be done on us.