Guess the Body Part

Our little Johan is moving less these past few days. Probably because there’s not much space inside my tummy to move around. But, just the other night as I was preparing to sleep I felt my tummy bunch up in the middle and it became really pointy. Then something long and thin reflected on the left side of my tummy. My husband came to the bed and we inspected it. We exchanged guesses me guessing that it was probably Johan’s arm but hubby said it could be his leg. Well, whatever it is, it sure made us both excited and more anxious to meet this little man. I’ll be 40 weeks tomorrow according to Babystrology on my side bar and we are hoping that Johan comes out soon so I won’t have to be induced by my OB next week.

So excited!!

Photo above courtesy of Corrine’s Blog.

Where is home?

A friend texted me last week when I told her of my lab tests and she replied back with: “I pray that you will have a safe delivery and when Johan is born, that you and he will be able to leave the hospital together and make your way home.”

But, where exactly is home?

I know I’ve been very vocal about wanting our own place. But, that longing has doubled up now that I’ll be giving birth anytime soon. Hubby and I had a long talk about this a few months ago and it has been decided that we will move to their house in Cavite after I give birth. Then, recent issues had me stressed out and I told him I do not want to move there anymore instead I want us to find a place to rent. I’ve been crying over it for days (blame it partly on the hormones for this huge outburst of emotion and really my reasons are quite reasonable). I just don’t want to discuss it further here.

So, we had another long, serious talk about it. We weighed the pros and cons and he told me to just try it out first in Cavite. If it doesn’t work out and if my reasons proved to be true then we’ll be moving out. If I don’t love my husband enough I would have stood my ground and firmly tell him no. But, I do and I know he’s already stressed out (surely more than I am) so I gave in. Temporarily. At least.

Our Love Story is Featured in A Match Made In Heaven

I’m so kilig as of the moment and I feel like we’re celebrities. Hehe. Thanks so much, Sis Mei for featuring our love story.


Please click on the image to view our story.

False Alarm (again?)

Right now, I’m feeling very mild contractions, I guess. It’s pretty hard to be a first-time expectant mom as I really don’t have any idea if what I’m feeling are really contractions or if these may be something that has been brought about by me trying to feel everything. OA lang, in short.

I’m just bothered by some spotting but I’m still observing myself and decided to wait a little bit more before I call my OB. It’s just a little spotting anyway and from what I read it’s a sign of false labor unless there’s blood or if my water bag broke. According to What to Expect When You’re Expecting, it is just the way my body prepares for true labor.


I sure hope my body’s preparing already. I will be seeing my mom tomorrow and we plan to do some serious walking at the mall and hopefully by Saturday, true labor comes full blast. I’ll be 39 weeks by tomorrow so it’s not so bad to give birth over the weekend.

I’ll keep you posted.

Impatience is Getting to Me

I’m already on my 38th week and really I am just praying that I give birth this coming weekend. I don’t know if it’s normal to feel cranky and weepy at this stage of my pregnancy but lately I’ve been feeling really sad and disappointed for not giving birth last weekend after I felt that I was having labor pains early Friday morning until the morning of Saturday. When we came in for our weekly check up and my OB did an internal exam it showed that my cervix is still closed.


I was really disappointed and by Sunday afternoon, I felt the bouts of depression(?) kicking in. I was feeling overly tired these last few days. Moving around has been doubly difficult, the pain in my lower back has multiplied, my GERD (reflux) came back and this makes it very hard to sleep as the acid from my stomach moves up to my esophagus and I recently developed a cold which I felt would lead to cough as my throat is mildly hurting now. I am feeling down and I just want this pregnancy to be over.

I don’t know if I’m even allowed to have this feeling but it sent me to tears on Sunday night when Johan moved inside my tummy. It’s as if he can feel that I’m tired of carrying him around all the time. I’m not tired of carrying him, I’m just tired. Generally tired.

Earning Money Online

I’ve always been searching for ways to earn money online. I am registered to various Pay to Click websites and I’ve been earning a bit from these.  I haven’t transferred my balances yet to my paypal account because I haven’t reached the minimum amount for pay out but I am sharing you the links to two of the websites here. Just click on the banners to learn more and to register.

At neobux, you can earn simply by viewing all the advertisements we display.

At Readbud, you only have check for available Articles, then read and rate them to earn. You also get to choose 50 topics that interest you and you will receive articles based on the topics that you have chosen. 

What’s Next?

Now that my pregnancy is coming to a close, what with more or less 2 weeks before Labor Day, I can’t stop myself from wondering what comes next. I know that this pregnancy has never been a “walk in the park” but still I think it is fairly easy compared to motherhood – I only have to follow my doctor’s orders, take my prenatal vitamins and asthma maintenance medications, take the much required bed rest, stop working. But, when it comes to motherhood, saying that I’m scared is an understatement.

I’m worried that I won’t have the patience to take care of my son, especially during the night when I would be already so tired to comfort him or feed him. I’m worried that I won’t have enough milk for him – I seriously want to exclusively breastfeed Johan after reading up on all the pros of bfeeding. I’m worried that I won’t be able to provide him with everything he will be needing. I’m worried that I’d be the first to break down should my son get sick and I won’t be able to assist him to the hospital – I’m pretty sure I’ll be the first to cry if ever he’ll need to be pricked by needles. Most of all, I’m worried that I won’t be a good enough mother to him.

I know that I sometimes go overboard with worrying. Hubby does remind me numerous times that not everything in this world will go according to plan. But, this is just how I am. I worry even at the most mundane of things and I only want the best for those around me.


Nevertheless, I also know that I have a great support group to back me up should the “lowliest of motherhood times” come knocking at my door. There’s always my husband who will remind me that I am doing a great job at being a mother no matter what, my mom who will send me messages of support and advice, my also-mom-cousins who will share with me their own experiences as mothers, my aunts who will keep telling me that there’s nothing impossible with prayers and there’s also my e-group NewlyWedsatWork to answer my questions or even just to share how I am having a bad day.

I won the Pic of the Week at MomCenter!

For everyone who voted for me, many many thanks! According to Momcenter, all winners will be notified via email at the end of this month. I wonder what I won, I hope it’ll be something good and useful for Johan! I’m excited!

Pregnancy Update – 37 weeks and 4 days

• Mild contractions (Braxton Hicks) are getting frequent. Usually, they happen very early in the morning around 4am.
• I am super, super tired all the time and I think I am at my ugliest at this entire pregnancy.
• My blood pressure has returned to my norm of 100/70.
• I only gained one pound since my last check up two weeks ago, I’m now 137 lbs.
• Our check up will be weekly now.
• Johan’s approximate weight is now 6.8 lbs (I don’t know if it’s just me or is it really huge for a baby still inside the tummy?)
• I was asked by my OB to do some tests last Saturday – urinalysis, CBC, activated PTT and Prothombin time – which yielded questionable results.
• I was asked to return to the hospital yesterday, Monday, for more tests and to discuss the results of last Saturday’s lab tests. They found bacteria in my urine so I gave another sample to be cultured. As for the blood tests, they found that the percentage of my blood clotting is below normal. The normal is 75%, mine is only 54%. That means, there is a chance that I might lose blood when I give birth. My OB asked that I do two more blood tests, blood clotting time and bleeding time. All the results will be discussed on our next check up on Saturday.
• I was already given admission orders by my OB.
• I’ve been having dreams about Johan lately. I can see his face clearly, he’s “maputi” and he’s chinito like his mom but he got the thick hair and the long lashes of his dad.
• I can’t wait to see our little one soon. I am kinda praying I give birth this coming Saturday, September 18. That way, all my family members and relatives can visit us at the hospital because it’s a weekend.

37 Weeks and a Day

My baby officially is full termed – as what I’ve read about in pregnancy articles and books. 37 weeks is considered full term. I know I haven’t been posting as often as I used to. This must be due to the feeling of overly tired everyday and I wake up late every morning so breakfast and lunch are usually taken as one. But, today it’s different.

It’s only 5 in the morning and I’m already up and about. I woke up around 4:30 with a sharp pain at my back. I didn’t know if it was labor pains already so I got up and waited for contractions to begin. There were mild contractions but not nearly as frequent as those of true labor pains – again from what I’ve heard or read.

So, I just went downstairs and prepared myself some breakfast of fried rice, eggs and longganisa. The pain on my lower back is still there although not as sharp as earlier. I can still feel some contractions – these may just be Braxton Hicks but we’ll know later when we come in for our check up.

Well, my water bag didn’t break yet so this may just be a false alarm.

Please Vote for Me

 

I recently joined the Pic of the Week contest at Momcenter and my picture was accepted for this week. Votes will be tallied starting today until Friday only so please vote for me. :)

How to vote:

1. Click on this link: MomCenter Pic of the Week
2. Point your mouse over the Vote Now button and click on Pregnant Moms
3. My entry is shirleymae08 – a picture of a pregnant me holding alphabet blocks spelling out Johan’s name. Just enter your email address and the verification code. Tick mark the I accept all terms and conditions box.
4. Click Submit my Vote

Thanks, thanks everyone!

Some Things I Miss

I woke up to an overcast sky and felt very nostalgic very early in the morning.

• I miss my friend Cherry. We used to work together in Alabang until I resigned and moved to another company. We still hung out even after my resignation but when I got married and moved to Manila we saw each other less. “Bru, I miss our movie and Starbucks dates. Our daily laugh trips over RX’s Top Ten and the Boys’ Night Out kalokohan.”
• I miss walking along Madrigal Business Park and Ayala Ave. at night. I used to work on the night shift and even though scary at times I find it peaceful to walk at night – less people, less vehicles, less pollution.
• I miss being able to scour the streets of Divisoria and going to Quiapo Church on a first friday. This huge baby bump is the reason why I can’t go anymore. :)
• Of course, it is exciting that Johan is going to arrive soon, but there are times like these that I miss being single and just make plans for myself. This feeling doesn’t linger anyway and goes away as fast as it came.

On Traditions

Later today, I will meet up with my mom, my niece Cassandra and some of my aunts and uncle. They are too kind to meet up somewhere closer to me so I won’t have a hard time commuting. I was inspired to write this post since I’ll be seeing my family today and our family is pretty serious when it comes to traditions. I’m listing down some things that our family has been doing for years and these are what I want to pass on to my son as well.

• Celebrate birthdays – even in the simplest of ways. A birthday greeting in the morning, a hug and a kiss will surely make your day even without the huge birthday cake.
• Almost monthly family reunions – our family gets together quite a lot all throughout the year. We always, always find reasons to get together – be it a town fiesta, an all in one birthday celebration, christenings. Even a non-event day like today.
• Annual summer outings
• November 1 at the Golden Haven and Manila Memorial Park. We do this every year to visit our uncle and our grandparents who already passed away. This is also the time when we finalize the plans for Christmas and talk about what each family’s color designation would be.
• Christmas Eve the way we celebrate it at home. We usually watch some shows until midnight. Mama will be busy preparing the usual noche buena feast – beef caldereta, spaghetti, lumpiang shanghai, she’ll be cutting the ham already and storing it inside the fridge for frying later. Papa will be making the hot chocolate and will be slicing his favorite keso de bola. By 12 midnight, everyone should be awake, christmas carols will be blasting from the radio, we’ll greet merry christmas and happy birthday, jesus then we’ll exchange gifts and then we’ll eat. Sometimes, our parents will hide money at the garden while we kids stay inside the room until they call us out to find the treasures.
• Christmas morning and lunch with the Tan Family. It wouldn’t seem like Christmas without the traditional “aguinaldo”, giving out of gifts by all of the working “pamangkins”, shower of coins and candies, parlor games and the annual family picture.
• Christmas dinner with the Yboa Clan.It won't be the same without Tita Menia's (Papa's sister) infamous Morcon, Beef Kaldereta, Callos and Pancit. Sometimes there will also be some treats from the province - prawns, crabs and some local delicacies.

‘Tis the season…

It’s the start of the “ber” months and the Christmas season for us Filipinos officially starts today. I even heard some Christmas carols being played on the radio already. I’m excited for this year’s Christmas because this will be the first one that we get to celebrate it as a family – Hubby, me and little Johan Matthew. I want to start a tradition very similar to what I grew up with – Mama’s homecooked dishes, Papa’s favorite Keso de Bola and Hershey’s Hot Chocolate, annual Family Picture, exchange gifts when the clock strikes twelve. But our own family tradition might have to wait until we move in to our own home. It saddens me to think of spending Christmas Eve again with hubby’s family. They treat it as they would a normal day and would just have dinner at around 8pm and sleep the night away. It’s way, way different to what I’m accustomed to. Hopefully, we spend this year’s Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family instead of hubby’s.