When Ate Miya Met Javi

23 Sept 2014

Joema fetched Miya from our house to go to the hospital on the night of the 23rd. When Miya got to the hospital I was carrying Javi because I just changed his nappy. Miya didn't want to go near us even if I asked her to hug me. She was naninimbang I think.

Even after I gave Miya the baby's "gift" to her she was still hesitant to come near us. I read somewhere that older children will warm up easier to baby siblings when they receive a gift from the baby. Sort of saying that the older child is special to the eyes of the younger one. 

The gift bag contained pink shorts, a doll dressed as a ballerina and Queen Elsa Magiclip collection doll - all favorites of Miya (pink, ballet and Frozen).

Miya only warmed up to Javi when Joema carried him and I tended to Miya.

Finally warming up to the baby. She's asking things about her baby brother.

By the time her Lola Tess arrived, Miya was her usual madaldal self.

Telling her Lola about Javi's gifts for her

She didn't want to leave when it was time for her to go home.

Laughing with Daddy on something about Javi

Although not instantly, thank God Miya warmed up to her brother. It's been over a month since our newest family member arrived. For me and Joema, it's a little of a struggle on how to balance our time between the two children. We don't want Miya to feel left out when we have to take care of Javi, while we also want to spend as much time with Javi as we did with Miya when she was a newborn. Miya is in love with her brother. I see that she's a protective sibling over the younger one. Although she's also struggling with our time being divided between the two of them. I see that she acts up when no one (not intentionally) is looking at her. She tends to act up and whine when she knows all our attention is with Javi. Although she doesn't verbalize that she's jealous, I don't think she already knows the concept of jealousy, these things are my red flags that she wants our attention. She likes to hug and kiss Javi and to touch him. We have to repeatedly remind her to be gentle with her baby brother as she can be brusko at times heheh. Sometimes I catch her doing it intentionally to get our attention. Haaay! I hope we get the hang of this parenting more than one kid sooner rather than later.

Baby Minion's Birth Story

22 Sept 2014

It was our scheduled weekly check-up at our OB. I was exactly 37 weeks pregnant. Before the check-up, I was actually thinking if I should still go to work after our check-up because I wanted to properly hand over my "to-do"things to my colleague. But I was so tired from the previous weekend that I decided to fill the whole day off from work. I was so tired I actually thought I would give birth the night before (Sunday). See, it was my mother's 60th birthday on the 23rd and we celebrated it over the weakend so I was a but exhausted. 

Anyway, as with our usual check-ups even though I won't be going to work I still leave in the morning with Joema. He goes to work and I while away the time in a nearby Starbucks. The perks of having your workplace and OB's clinic within walking distance. After eating breakfast and reading a few chapters of the book I'm reading around 10am, I headed to our OB's clinic. She wasn't there yet when I arrived and I was fourth in line. I texted Joema as a soon as I arrived at the clinic and told him I might be there until lunch time since I was fourth and Dra. wasn't there yet. But as fate would have it, Dra arrived after 10mins and that the first two patients were not yet in the clinic so technically I was already second in line. The first patient was only for blood extraction so that won't take much time so I already texted Joema to come to the clinic quickly. He arrived just in time before we were ushered in inside the ultrasound room for our turn. Dra. checked the baby's weight and she was a bit concerned that the baby's getting too big for me to give birth normally, he was almost 7 lbs based on the ultrasound. Dra. mentioned that if I give birth by the 39th or 39th week, the baby might be too big already. I told her I will give birth that week, I'm pretty sure of it hehe. After the ultrasound, Joema was asked to leave the room and wait at the clinic while Dra. did an internal exam (IE) on me. It turned out I was correct because I was already 4cm dilated. Woopee!!! She told us to have lunch first and then we can proceed to the hospital to be admitted. When I went inside the clinic, Joema immediately asked if we're going to the hospital already, I told him yes and that I was 4cm dilated. He was so sweet, he kept on saying "I love you" to me hehe. I'm glad my husband appreciates the fact that I carried our offspring for 9 months and I was about to give birth to our son right that moment. 

So Joema and I went home first to have lunch even though we already have our hospital bags with us in the car. So we ate lunch first at home, packed a few more items in the hospital. I even took a nap while Joema went to the laundry shop to leave some laundry and had the car washed.

Let's do this!!!

4pm - Pre-labor Room

We left for the hospital around 3pm and was admitted at the pre-labor room around 4pm. When the resident OB did that IE at the pre-labor room I was already 4cm dilated. Although she mentioned that the contractions are irregular and not that strong. Which was true since I don't feel any pain at all at that time. After they did all the initial screening, Joema was asked to get a room for us while they ready me to be transferred to the labor room. I told the resident OB and nurse that I want Joema to be with me inside the labor room but they kept on telling me that it was still to be cleared with our OB. Anyways, I just told Joema to go to the labor room after he gets our room.

6pm - Labor Room

I thought it was only 5pm by the time I was transferred to the labor room. It turned out the clock in my cubicle in the labor from was one hour late. Gosh hahaha! They only found out after the epidural was administered to me. When I was transferred to the labor room, an IE was done again and I was already 5cm dilated. So that was 5pm labor room time but 6pm real time. Joema was not yet around then, I had to remind the nurse who administered my IVs to let Joema inside the labor room once he arrived. They tracked him down and apparently he was still at the admission office waiting for our room. He was able to go to the labor room at 6pm (labor room time, 7pm real time). Another IE was done to me before he arrived and I was already 6cm dilated then. 

See it was really after 6pm when I thought it was only around 5pm haha! Hardly feeling any pain at this point. The number in orange shows my heart rate while the green one shows the level of contractions.

Smiling through a contraction.

The resident OB asked me if I want the epidural already administered. I asked her if there's a limit or time as to when I should have the epidural administered because I wasn't feeling any pain at that time. She mentioned it really depends on my threshold for pain but that at the latest not until I was 8cm dilated. After a few minutes I asked them if I could have my epidural because I didn't want to go through another IE without it. Did I mention that IEs are hell? I hated it, so I told the resident OB I want my epidural before the next IE. The anaesthesiologist arrived a few minutes after that which was also about time because I already started feeling some cramps in my abdomen. The drug they administered via IV to help the contractions progress was already working. At 7:30pm (real time) epidural was administered to me. After this time, they found out the clock in our cubicle was one hour late so they corrected it hahaha. I requested for the magic button that I can just press to administer the epidural every 15minutes. But it was only given to me after the first shot ran out. I was feeling the cramping sensation almost every 5minutes by this time. When I got the button I pressed it every 15minutes or so to ease the pain. 

So the next IE was done I think around 9pm and I was still 6cm dilated by then. Our OB also arrived by then. The next IE was done around 10:30pm, the resident OB who was doing the IE and while doing the IE I think poked my water bag by mistake so it broke. I mentioned in a previous post that I had a  lot of amniotic fluid, so when my water broke at the labor room amniotic fluid was gushing out of me. The resident OB whose hand was still inside me (TMI I know!) was wet all over hahaha. My bed was soaking and my back was almost wet from the amniotic fluid. The nurses had to change my beddings after that. Anyway, the resident OB said I was 8-9cm dilated by then. I thought I could give birth any time then. 

On a side note, Joema who was with me at the labor room was texting our friends on the updates. There's an inside joke within our group that Sept 22 is a no-no date for a birthday hehe. So they were betting and teasing Joema that the baby will come out on the 22nd. I really thought I could give birth after a few minutes when my water bag broke. So after that I only pressed the button for the epidural every 30minutes to an hour thinking that I woul give birth soon. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.  The IE was done to me every hour. By 11pm, I was 9cm dilated and the resident OB asked me to practice pushing because although my contractions are regular the baby wasn't going down th birth canal. The resident OB had to teach me how to push again because I already forgot hahaha (inhale and then hold your breath and push for 10 counts). Pushing helped and it was also a great relief for me to get through the wave of contractions. 

23 September 2014

I think around 12midnight after another IE was done, I was almost fully dilated as the resident OB put it. 

Sleeping through contractions. This time around I think the monitor wasn't correctly reflecting the contractions. Medyo nagalaw yung belt na nakakabit sa tummy ko to monitor the contractions kaya di na nagreregister ng tama yung level sa monitor, the highest point it got to was around 40 when I felt the cramps. 

By 1am I was fully dilated but the position of baby is +2. Also around this time I can really feel the contractions (like painful cramps although still manageable). This was a bit new to me because with Miya I didn't feel as much pain. This time around I felt that I wanted to pushy the baby out already so I asked the resident OB what we were waiting for. They did another IE around 1:15am and said that the position of the baby is +1 I think. See the position of the baby on the birth canal is +2, +1, 0 -1, -2. They were waiting for baby to come down to the lowest position.  

Not smiling anymore hahaha! I wanted to give birth na at this time. 

By 2am they did another IE and voila…baby was ready to come out. 

Being wheeled to the delivery room. See the clock - 2:10am. 

The took me to the delivery room and the medical team prepped. I think I was there for only a few minutes before baby came out, 5-10minutes for them to prep and then it was show time. I only pushed maybe three big pushes through one contraction and then he was there. He was crying and our OB put him on top of my tummy. I had the overwhelming sensation to cry when I saw him, all the bed rest and difficulties we had to endure when I was pregnant all came back to me. but I held back my tears as I thought I might embarrass myself if I cried like a baby (pun intended).       

Can you see him?

There he is!

He was sobrang likot while Dra. was trying to put him on top of my tummy that Dra. had to tell him, "Wag ka malikot!"  LOL

thie

As with Miya, Joema got to cut the cord

With Miya before, I held her only for a few minutes then she was taken from me and was cleaned inside the lamaze room by the pedia team while I was closed up by the OB team. This time around, baby was with me the entire time we were at the delivery room right after his birth until I was led to the recovery room. That was awesome! Unfortunately, since he was with me the entire time and was not cleaned up in the delivery room, Joema didn't have the chance to have a photo with him just the two of them before baby was led to the nursery.

Unang Yakap. I finally got to hold him. 

Yep, he's a Medical City baby alright.

So happy to finally hold him and see him!

First photo with Mommy and Daddy

By the way, we didn't use the lamaze room in Medical City this time around because it was under renovation. Our OB assured us that Joema can still be with me in the labor room and delivery room which turned out to be right. This was one of my worries before giving birth. But as I've said our OB assured us that the hospital now allows one companion inside. In fact, our OB was the one who took the initiative to push this policy - one companion when giving birth. She said the hospital required so many things for this policy, good thing that the World Health Organization required this in all hospitals all over the world (according to our OB). Hence, this is now practiced in Medical City - even if you don't get the lamaze room.

A Month Ago

...I gave birth to this wonderful boy. Will be back with more stories. 

A Letter To My Firstborn

My dearest Miya,

In a matter of days, our family of three will become four. Baby Minion will soon come to our little family. On one hand, I am saddened that you will no longer be our only child. I cherish moments we have together just the two of us. You taught me to be a mother. You have loved me unconditionally despite the mistakes I’ve made with you. They say mothers love unconditionally but I say kids love their mothers unconditionally and we learn from you. I will never forget the first time I held you in my arms. You were crying your lungs out the moment you were out of my womb. It was one of the most unforgettable moments of my life. From then on, you have brought so much joy not only to me but to Daddy as well. We love you so much, Anak!

The past few months have been hard for the two of us. I was always tired and was quite easily upset when you don’t follow your elders. I was always yelling at you when we’re at home together. And for that I am sorry. I am sorry that I didn’t have enough energy to play with you. I am sorry that I didn’t have enough patience to talk to you when you’re throwing a tantrum. I know you have already forgiven me. You always do. You always tell me you love me. You always hug and kiss me. Thank you, Anak!

I’m writing this in my office and I can’t help but cry and excuse myself to the bathroom (or else Mommy’s officemate will think something is wrong with me hehe). I’m getting really emotional thinking about you with the coming of our baby. I’m worried how you will react to Baby Minion when he comes out. We have talked to you a lot about him. But I’m worried how you will now learn how to share Mommy with another baby. Don’t worry because Mommy’s love for you will never diminish. Last night, I woke up with cramps and couldn’t go back to sleep. I held you in my arms while you were sleeping as I haven’t done that in a long time – I have a hard time finding the right position when sleeping. And you have been really understanding to agree to our current set-up, you hug Mommy while sleeping instead of Mommy hugging you.  I love you so much, Anak!

You know I can’t help but cry because Mommy regrets not spending as much time with you these last few months. My excuse is I get tired easily when I’m with you. You are our little energizer bunny, you never run out of energy and I just can’t keep up with you. Mommy needs the rest for the baby as well. So instead of spending time with you, I’d sleep at home or stay longer in the office for some “me” time. I’m sorry, Anak!

When Baby Minion comes out, I promise to spend more time with you. I will be on maternity leave for 12 weeks so we’ll get to spend as much time together the three of us. Don’t worry, Baby Minion will usually be asleep so while he’s asleep we can play as much as we want to. I promise I won’t say no when you ask me to play with you or read something to you.

I love you my dearest Miya!

Tali, Batangas 2014

24-25 May

I had a very busy summer this year. Aside from Puerto Galera, we also went to Tali, Batangas with our Flyfish friends.

We passed by Tagaytay on the way to Tali and had lunch at Leslie’s.

Then we stopped by the Mahogany Market to buy steak for our dinner later that evening. After that we we’re on our way to Tali. In case you don’t know, Tali is a private subdivision just after Punta Fuego. You need to rent a house inside the subdivision for you to get inside. Most of the houses for rent are posted in the internet. We got ours from sulit. Here’s a link of the house we rented out. Here’s their flicker account for more pics and their bloggeraccount for the rules and guidelines. I’m a bit disappointed with the house because the rooms are not that big and the bath room upstairs is a half-bath (no shower area). But those are definitely not deal breakers. There were 4 rooms, all airconditioned. Even the living room on the second floor is airconditioned. Although it may get too hot in their dining area because they only have a small stand fan there. We preferred to eat outside in the veranda for dinner when we stayed there. By the way, we were 4 families who used the place with one yaya each, so that’s 12 adults with 8 kids all below 5 years old. The yayas slept in the living room, the housekeeper provided us mattresses for the yayas. We paid P17,000 for the whole house so that came down to P4,250 for each family which was more than okay considering the house is beachfront and you can bring your own food and cook your food at the same time. They have a well equipped kitchen.

We and Mands’ family brought inflatable pool for the kids to enjoy since we’ve foreseen it would be too hot to go to the beach when we arrive. The little kids enjoyed the pool.

Then we all went to swim at the beach.

I was 19 weeks and 5 days preggo in this photo

Miya with Ninang Janice

Ang saya-saya namin sa tubig di ba? 

Miya didn't want to walk along the sand and asked her Daddy to carry her

Tatanggi ba naman si Daddy?

When the kids got tired, we all washed up and they whiled away the time drawing. While the daddies cooked the steak over the grill for dinner.

Dinner time! Happy bellies!

The kids were all exhausted that after dinner we all settled down and let the kids sleep. Even the adults slept na rin. The next day after breakfast, we hit the beach again!

Hopefully next summer we can do this again!

This Preggo Momma Goes Out with Friends

22 August 2014

When I'm at work, I rarely go out of the building for lunch because I try to limit my walking within the building. I get tired easily nowadays and I don't really want to endanger myself and the baby by walking around a lot (I've been on bedrest too many times I think). So this rare Friday I was able to go out for lunch with friends and then in the evening went on KTV night with another group of friends. Yes, it's that rare that it's a bloggable moment!

Lunch At Abe

Happy birthday, my friend! Thanks for the lunch treat!

KTV at Music Match

Wacky!

Buntis Serye @ 35 Weeks

That’s exactly 35 weeks and 2 days today. I can give birth in two weeks. And that’s based on my 37^th week hehe. I don’t think I’ll be able to wait until the 40^th week to give birth. My tummy’s been really really heavy these past few days. I’ve been having contractions, I think. I’ve been on Duvadilan three times a day since August.

Last Monday was our latest checkup with our OB. We were able to discuss our birth plan with her. Joema was late in coming to our checkup. Good thing, our OB was okay to wait for him to discuss the birth plan. Bad news is Medical City’s Lamaze room is under renovation so I can’t deliver the baby there unlike with Miya. Good news is Medical City is not allowing companions to be inside the delivery room during the birth. But still, I have to wait on my own at the labor room for my labor to progress although Joema can visit and stay for a few minutes but not throughout my labor. With Miya even though we weren’t talking much while I was in the Lamaze room (either I was sleeping or he was sleeping or watching TV hehe), atleast I know he was just there inside the same room as me. Oh well! I’m praying my labor won’t take hours. I told Joema I will wait as long as I can tolerate the pain before we go to the hospital so that we won’t have to wait that long in the hospital.

My OB’s a bit worried with the water in my uterus. She said my water level is upper normal. So she discussed with me a few scenarios in case my water bag breaks before my term (37^th week). She said this might be because of my gestational diabetes (GDM). As for that, I’ve still been monitoring my blood sugar. It’s sometimes really frustrating because there are times that my blood sugar is too low resulting to my nausea and vomiting. I’ve had vomiting episodes four times in my last trimester. For the first two, me and my OB theorized it must be the water I’ve been drinking at the office because I noticed I get nauseated after drinking that water. But even after drinking only mineral water, I got nauseated and vomited for two consecutive days last week. My OB theorized it must be because I had very low blood sugar. So she told me to get my blood sugar level when I feel nauseated and then immediately drink Coke if that’s the case. She says Coke will bring up my blood sugar level. Well, last week I felt nauseated again, and then I tested my blood sugar. True enough it was very low at 69, the glucometer was beeping already. Haaay so frustrating really! There are times when I think I followed my diet to a T but my blood sugar level is higher than the limit imposed by my endocrinologist. This really frustrates me because then I think I didn’t even eat anything that’s not supposed to be eaten, I should’ve just eaten dessert for my last meal to warrant the high blood sugar. But well, a mother’s got to do what a mother’s got to do. I just think about how many more weeks I have to endure this diet and then I can eat my cake (and ice cream and donut and chocolates, etc harharhar).

My nose is beginning to get big. It’s a good thing I only have a few more weeks to go. Unlike with Miya then when I think my nose got bigger earlier on in my pregnancy. My skin was also got so much darker with Miya. So I don’t think the saying that when you have boys, you get these all sorts of things is definitely not true.

In preparing for the baby:

• wash the clothes that we already have – need to ask our Yaya to wash all of the baby’s new born clothes. What’s washed are only his clothes that we’re  bringing to the hospital. I want to buy a new dresser for the baby before I ask yaya to wash all his clothes
• buy a new dresser
• wash and clean the crib/playpen – done!
• rearrange our bedroom with the crib – done. But I think we can still do a better job rearranging our bedroom. We need to get more stuff out of there for more space for the baby.
• general cleaning of our bedroom – done!
• get on rehiring our previous Yaya – she already started. Our house now is so much cleaner and organized!
• pack our hospital bags – done! The only things left to pack are our documents and the camera.

We’ve finally decided on the name for our baby! For the nickname, we’re still undecided hahaha! But I think I’ll win on this front. We’ve asked Miya to tell it to her grandparents and her Ninongs and Ninangs already whom we saw over the weekend.

On to my weekly preggy photos:

33 weeks (taken 25 August_ - wearing a Uniqlo jersey dress (non-maternity) and grey cardigan

33 weeks and 1 day (taken 26 August) - wearing a maternity top and black cardigan paired with black maternity pants (not seen)

33 weeks and 3 days (taken 28 August) - wearing a knit dress (non-maternity)

Left: 21 weeks and 3 days (taken 5 June)
Right: 34 weeks (taken 1 September)
wearing a jersey dress (non-maternity)

34 weeks and 2 days (taken 3 September) - wearing And Apparel jersey dress (non-maternity). See my nose? It looks like a tomato in this photo hahaha!

34 weeks and 6 days (taken 7 September) - wearing the same Uniqlo jersey dress on the first picture

Miya's Makeover

18 May 2014

Remember this post? It all happened this one fine Sunday afternoon.

We went to Megamall to have Miya’s teeth fixed, have her first ever hair cut in a kiddie salon and have her ID photo taken for school. We went back to the pedia-dentist who put the sealant on her two right lower molars. 

While waiting for our turn at the dentist

This is so we could have her two left molars fixed and also put a filling on her two front teeth. Unfortunately, when we got there Miya didn't like to sit on her own on the dentist chair (unlike before). So she sat on my lap which was a bit difficult because I already had a baby bump then (19 weeks). The first plan was to put sealant only on the two right molars. But when it was done so quickly with Miya being so patient, I asked the dentist to proceed with her two front teeth as well (para isang puntahan na lang). We didn’t do the crown for the teeth anymore but instead go fillings (or pasta). Although, the dentist warned us that with this remedy, it’s more possible that the teeth will chip again if Miya bites on something hard. We were at the dentist chair for like one and half hours. At the last half hour, Miya was starting to get fussy. She was starting to wriggle on my lap and we had to tell her to stop moving. When the dentist was finally done, I heaved a big sigh of relief. Buti na lang natapos din!

And then afterwards, as if I’m really testing my 3-year old’s patience we went to the kiddie salon just in front of the dentist to get her haircut. 

This was at the kiddie salon. Miya showing her fixed two front teeth, no more bungi!

Ayun she didn’t want to sit on the “car” so I told her to sit again on my lap while Manong did her haircut. Before we went to the mall, I was already psyching her that she gets to sit on a car while her hair is being cut and then afterwards we can play again inside the playarea where there were lots of balls. But still she didn’t want to sit on the car when we got there even if I reminded her that she’ll get a reward and get to play. 

They let her watch Frozen while her hair was cut by Manong

Almost there

Ganda ng bob ni Manong. Parang gusto ko rin magpagupit sa kanya. 

After her haircut when we were walking away from the salon and down to the escalators, she saw the playarea and wanted to play! I told her she can’t because she didn’t do her part of the deal which was to sit on the car for her haircut. I told her she can get a toy instead as a reward for her patience during our dental visit. But first, we had to have her photo taken. Good thing she was more cooperative at the photo center. She sat on her own on the stool and got her photo take. Here's her ID photo again.