Nesting Instinct

Before my twin sister gave birth five months ago, she detailed in her blog how she coped with her nesting instinct. Now, I think I'm having the same feeling.

For the past couple of days, I've been waking up at 430am, either due to a nocturnal restroom trip or due to contractions/braxton hicks. This Monday morning is not an exception.

Though I was still groggy with sleep (Leo and I only went to sleep at 1130 last night), my mind started thinking of the things that I need to do today. I originally thought of going to work but my back pains are really bothering me so I don't think I'll be efficient. I'll just wait it out here at home. So my 90 day maternity leave started last Friday and here I am waiting with people texting and asking me if I've given birth already. I've already turned off my phone and just open it from time to time. Instead, I've focused my mind on preparing for the baby's arrival.

My yaya arrived on Saturday night and we went to SM yesterday to buy her 3 sets of uniforms (2 sets of white ones with blue piping and a blue cotton one. Yeah! Looks really spiffy on her). I'm sending her to the village clinic later for some medical tests to ensure that she doesn't have anything that the baby might catch.

Last night, she and I cleaned out the other room and moved some stuff. Since I'll be exclusively breastfeeding, we reaaranged some stuff and moved the crib to our room. We've unpacked the linens and other stuff that have been kept in their boxes since I've gotten them. However, I'm still not yet satisfied with the way things are so I'll probably do another round of cleaning later. And by cleaning, I mean just sitting on a chair and directing Yaya Amy what to do (hehehe). Hey, my doctor did caution me on bending or squatting too much and my back does hurt! :)

I also intend to tackle my long-delayed project of fixing our pictures. It's still there buried in the baul all mixed together. I already took out the pictures frames that we got as wedding gifts and would want to hang them. However, I need our all-around handyman to help me with the hanging as we need to drill holes in the wall. Unfortunately, he's still out of town so I just have to wait. I need a hole drilled in for my bag hanger too. Leo and I tried the 3M hook ones but they won't adhere to the wall. Either the weight of the handbags together are too much or the wallpaper's texture is not smooth enough. Right now, all my handbags are stacked together in the baby's room and it's an irritating sight.

I'll also go to church this evening (of course I'll walk). In my impatience on getting the birth over with, I've forgotten how I should be wording my prayers. I've forgotten that God's will should supercede my wants. So I've just lifted everything to God and asked for His forgiveness for my lapse. I've changed my prayers from "Please let me give birth now!" to "Please give me the strength and patience to get through this and to accept Your will as my own." Somehow, it gave me the peace and strength that I needed to get through the contraction-less hours. It was also the time that my nesting instinct kicked in. Must be God giving me the necessary distraction that I needed. :)

The Waiting Game

I say a prayer
I count the hours
I hear a voice but it's not yours
I count the score
I can't go on playing the waiting game

If you should ever change your mind
I'll be here just call my name
Until then I'll be playing the waiting game
-Swing Out Sister

That song has been playing in my head ever since I came from my doctor. When I started having contractions Thursday evening, I visited my doctor Friday morning at her clinic here at Asian Hospital just to be sure in case we go all the way to Makati Med just to be sent home. I was ecstatic when she told me that I'm already in the early stages of labor and that I'm already 2cm dilated. My cervix is 60% effaced and my mucus plug has already passed. She can still feel my bag of water.

However, the baby's head is not yet engaged and from now on, it's just the matter of waiting for the labor to progress further--meaning for the contractions to become regular and for Basti's head to engage. So she advised for me to walk a lot and wait it out here at home.

Almost 24 hours from being checked, my contractions are still irregular (sometimes 4x in a hour, sometimes none in an hour) and the baby's head is still not yet engaged. My doctor didn't want to tell me how long I still have as it really differs with each woman. One of my officemates was 2cm for a week while one was 2cm for only a day. So I hope the walking will help. Leo walks with me and he carries a watch and a notebook taking note of the length of my contractions in case he needs to immediately whisk me off to the hospital. My in-laws have postponed their usual weekend jaunt to Tagaytay to ensure that I have all the support I need. In fact, Mama wanted to bring me immediately to the hospital when I told her I was dilated but I explained to her that it would take time.

So...wait we shall.

Is This It?

Since a couple of days ago, I've been experiencing dysmenorhea-like symptoms--e.g. pain on my lower abdomen and back and numbing of the thighs. Yesterday morning, I experienced the same thing plus more pain on my upper stomach. When I got home, the pain persisted although they were far apart from each other and the discharge is not pink-tinged as what the birth books say for me to have myself admitted.

My hubby and I slept before midnight and I woke up a couple of hours later when my upper abdomen suddenly became hard and painful. I woke up Leo and we tried to time the contractions but they were around more than 15-30 minutes apart. So we just went back to sleep.

I don't know if this is it as I'm not really screaming when the contractions hit but they can be painful. I'll be visiting my doctor later to check if I'm really in labor or what. I have a feeling though that I'll be giving birth within the next few days.

I also took a page from my sister's pregnancy experience and had a small bet with my team. At first, I only asked my team to guess the baby's weight without going over and the one who guesses the correct answer will get a prize from me (probably a few slices of Polly's chocolate cake). But when I asked the other members of the team, they started betting. The weights some gave were quite astonishing (8.0??? 8.1???!!!). The lightest was probably at 6.5 but most of them were in the 7 lbs scale. Now, even my whole team is looking forward to the baby so they'll know who will win the pot. :)

I really hope this is it. I can't bear the suspense any longer.

Favourite TV Ads

While channel surfing this afternoon, Ang Pinaka was featuring the favourite countdowns of 2008 and there was one countdown which made me go into youtube and search for TV commercials.

The following are my favourites and for some reason, made me cry. Must be the pregnancy hormones:

9 MONTHS!

This is it. I'm on my 37th week already and I can give birth ANYTIME. I just had my check-up this morning with my OB. Sadly though, I'm still not yet dilated and my stomach is still "high". I JUST WANT TO GET THIS OVER WITH!!! Aaaargh!!!! According to the IE, the baby is pressing against my bladder and hip bone (I could definitely confirm that when I have to go to the rest room almost every hour) and his head is still not yet engaged. My cervix has also not yet softened. All the while, I thought I'm dilated already as I felt really strong pains during the new year's eve celebration. It turns out it was just my baby moving around as he was annoyed with all the noise.

Last night, I got paranoid and thought I have pre-eclampsia as I was nauseous the whole afternoon and there was pain in my upper abdomen. Turns out it was just indigestion as my BP is still normal (100/60) and there is no trace of protein or glucose in my urine. However, I did gain 4 lbs in the last 2 weeks due to all the Christmas eating that I did totaling my pregnancy weight gain to 13 lbs. Not bad. At least I'm not nagmamanas. My feet and hands are still ok (although I can barely wear my wedding band now).

Leo has already installed the baby's car seat in the backseat of our car and we've packed our bags (3 bags all in all!) for the hospital stay. I'm having second thoughts why I'm giving birth at Makati Med when Asian Hospital is closer. But well, I've decided on Makati Med so I'll stick to that. Besides, I'll have more visitors there. :)

I really want to give birth by next week but it looks like it's not meant to be. I don't mind going to work but I hate going to work with interrupted sleep. I mean I wake up 3-4x during the night and I wake up woozy and cranky. I won't also have a ride going to work next week as my mother-in-law, who usually brings and fetches me from work, will have a minor operation at St. Luke's next week (please pray for her quick recovery). The driver is also not available as he's out of town and won't be back until end of January, I think. I'm still persuading my husband to bring me to work everyday at least only for next week (it's easier to find a ride going home than going to work).

If I won't give birth by the 2nd week of January, I'll start my maternity on January 19 to get ready for my due date on January 24. So that means I'll only be in the office for the first two weeks of January. I think I can survive that.

Wish me luck and please keep me, my baby and my mother-in-law in your prayers.

Miguel telling a story about his "balel"

Miguel is telling my dad and Tita Rosa about his "balel". He's so funny!

Christmas Day at Balayan

We spent Christmas Day here at home where Leo's relatives came over for lunch.

Mandaluyong Friends

On Dec 27, I went to Mandaluyong to distribute gifts and meet up with old friends. I first visited Willie and Tina to see my inaanak, Elisha. Afterwhich, I dropped off my gift at Kuya Emil and Ate Marie's house (Kuya Emil is one of the principal sponsors at my wedding). For my last stop, I went over to 9 de Pebrero to see Tita Lita and her family and the Juyad family--my VSM family.

Christmas Eve at Dita

Leo and I celebrated Christmas Eve at Dita with Daddy, Cheryll and family, BJ and family, Tito Noel, KC, Tita Rosa, Kiko and Mamu

WTF???!!!

I heard about this a few days ago but this was the first time I read the whole accounting from the point of the view of the 18 year old daughter of the victim. I should be posting pictures and stories from the festivities since last week but I just have to post this:

http://vicissitude-decidido.blogspot.com/2008/12/world-is-fucked-up.html

An apology is definitely not enough. She's right in saying that all the while we all thought that golfers are decent people as after all, it's a gentleman's game. But my father-in-law, who's an avid golfer and one of the most easy-going people I know, says that he has witnessed people losing their temper in the golf course.

I hate it when people use the phrase, "di ba nila ako kilala??". The point that the DAR secretary did not do anything while he watched his sons and their goons beat up a couple of defenseless people makes me burn with anger. And he had the gall to say "hindi kagustuhan ng bawat isa ito". What???!!! Though my favourite blogger, Professional Heckler joked about it, it's still very unbelievable. If he didn't want it to happen, why did he not stop the beating?