AngelBQ

It’s been a while since I showed myself here and wrote some notes on my life. Work kinda took over and plenty of overtime and what nots.

Last, I wrote something here, it was a bit about makeup and I have sorta grown out of that phase as well after purchase after purchase. I reckon my arsenal of colors can paint me like a thousand variety of looks.

I decided to finally pull out the blogsoftware and actually jot down som events and stuff I want to remember. Face it my memory is not like it was before and that’s why I decided to journal about where I am right now and the small journey that I’ve undertaken. So now as I summoned myself to a contemplating and laid back mood with a cup of homemade chai (tea with spices-ginger, cardamom and cinnamon- and milk, indian style), I will write down what comes to mind.

1. Mom and dad is here watching after my nephew. My sister’s au pair is leaving soon and it will be difficult for her as a single mom to take care of Samuel and work full time as well. I love to have them here and I am often stopping over there with hubby to get a bite and chat about what they’ve been up to.
2. I am more and more exploring the field of kitchenry. That means I am actually spending more time in the kitchen and trying out dishes I have never made before in my life. Most of these dishes are googled up recipes or obtained from videojug.com.
3. I have been hooked on “updates” in facebook. Love going to the news feed. The only thing that bugs me is that there are too many “game feeds” filling up the feeds. At one point I was posting a lot and being active until now where time and energy is scarce.
4. I have been involved in several creative projects. My sister in law opened a souvenir shop and I got to make their logo and shop sign and also decorated the display window. Not completely finished though. I also took pictures in a wedding in Sweden where I was a guest as well.
5. I have been a victim of vicious attacks on the web. Twitter, facebbok and my hotmail were all compromised. I ended up fixing these for now, but still mad at these no good lazy bums that has nothing better to do than being evil elements of the cyber world. My sister’s paypal was also compromised and I closed mine and my husband’s account as a result of that.
6. I had a 2 week vacation. We didn’t travel abroad except for a short trip to Sweden. We dined a lot and went to the movies twice. Something we haven’t done in ages. I discovered this fantastic restaurant which is my favorite ever. More about that later. It’s such a wonderful expereince for the tastebuds and the sight and smell of it just makes my mouth water. Not particularly expensive for an exclusive gourmet place and taste. I have been there three times in less than 2 months. Once with just my hubby. Another time with my sister in laws and last time was with my colleagues.
7. Most significantly….

:::We’re gonna be parents:::

Most of who reads this blog might already seen this on my Facebook or Flickr. This is our baby at twelve months. In a coupple of days, I am 19 weeks or 4 month and three weeks. Almost halfway.

I have been really bad at writing on my written pregnancy journal, so I do feel I need to list down these highlist of my pregnancy so far so I can come back to this if ever I experience this miracle again.

• The attempts - We both got very excited of the thought of begining to try having a baby (january this year) after being dormant in that area for a while. I had a missed abortion april, 2007, and after that we sort of decided to wait again. I did have some fears of diving into it because of what occured last time and was afraid to get disapppointed, hurt and depressed again. Right after we both decided to go for it, I asked my doctor to refer me to the gynecologist for a checkup and advice. Before that the doctor performed some tests on me because I wanted to rule out hypothyroid since I was having some symptoms and in 2007 after the abortion they did have some abnormal values as far as thyroid production was concerned. My mom was also operated for her thyroid problems, so I might have inherited something from her. This hormonal problem can affect fertilty or maybe cause abortion, so it was important for me to find out. The result was that it was nothing for me to worry about. I checked out fine. Maybe the abortion triggered the values that time. Anyway, the OB gyn. saw my Polycistic ovaries and my myoma and I told her about my irregularities of my period. She prescribed me clomid (medicine to stimulate ovulation), but asked me to try it without first and if it goes a hile and we weren’t succesful, I should start taking it. This time, I started ordering fertility tests to check my fertile days. This caused some frustration, cause when it went to long after normal ovulation and I got negative after negative each day, my spirit sank. I got positive one time, and we were in Germany at that time sharing rooms with plenty of others. Then came my June period and I decided to try clomid. I did take it three days later than I should so I think as a result ovulation came later than it should as well. When it did come late, I was almost at a giving up this moth too state, but kept on testing till it gave a positive sign.
• Getting a positive - Being some days late and displaying some typical pregnancy symptoms (swollen and tender breasts and constantly yawning and sleepy), I was almost certain that we nailed it before I even took the test. 2nd of july, three days before expected period, I got a negative result. I wasn’t dismayed and thought that it might have been too early to have enough HCG or the pregnancy hormone. On the 4th, 1 day before expected period, I got my positive result. It was on a saturday. I took it on my first bathroom trip of the day. I was realy excited and when I saw the plus sign, I was extatic and my heart skipped a beat. This was on a saturday so we were both at home and he was still in the bed when I went to test myself. I went down and handeed the test to him. I don’t remember much as I should have journaled this before, but I know we were both very happy about it and I did shed some tears of joy. He was sleeping, but his eyes got wide and he was stroking my tummy and insured me that this time he now gets the hormonal thing and that he understands it isn’t really “me”, but the hormones and that he would be patient with any outburst I might have.
• First Trimester (symptoms and such) - I was really good in the beginning. Always eating breakfast. Waking up early. Taking walks.I almost did not skip a day with folate. And so forth. This trimester I also got morning or wholeday sickness, but never threw up. If I went hungry, I would feel the urge to throw up, but I never did. I did have some small tantrums, but no biggie. I also felt dizzy at times. Bloated tummy. Had a major tantrum one day. My hormones wnt whack and I just resent that episode. I am happy that it never repated itself. On my 9th week, I had problems with headache. It lasted for almost two weeks. I had to go to the doctor and didn’t go to work for two days. As far as cravings goes, I was obsessed for a period about Philippine food and also fresh cold stuff like sorbets and blended icedrinks or fruity popsicles. I didn’t like fatty or greasy food, and not too particular on sweet stuff. I wanted the healthy stuff. I wanted food with lots of liquid and veggies like sinigang and nilaga.
• First trimester (checkup and ultrasound) - My first routine check up was with my doctor at 11 weeks and some days. Lots of bloodtests and weight check (51 kg). We skipped some parts of the fist routine checkup like measurement of my tummy because it was too early. We made my pregnancy medical journal that I was going to bring for every check up. She scheduled a new appointment on the 16th of october. (not included in the official routine checkups). On the 12th week we were scheduled for a private ultrasound (between the 17th and 19th week we will have the free routine ultrasound). We were so excited for that day. It was going to mark the end of the first trimester and I could confirm that the baby is there and ok. On my first pregnancy, we had a prvate ultrasound on the supposedly 9th week and seing that the baby was only 6 week in length, we kind of knew what was before us. This time I wanted to be assured that this time it’s ok because I haven’t really enjoyed the pregnancy to the fullest not knowing a 100 percent that the baby is developing and is ok. There was a couple of days, I had some abdominal pain or crams that also scared me a bit.Besides the first three months is still risky. So on the 12th week, we were met by a nice female OB gyn. who asked a bit and informed a bit and then straight to the examining chair. I know what you can see in an ultrasound and still it caught us of guard. Seeing a very alive, active baby still shocked us and we were both overwhelmed and happy and it was all so surreal. I had to let some tears flow. There was life in womb, complete in all aspects and it was a miracle and it was amazing. We got some still images in 2d (transparent type in b/w), but really regretted the lack of video since it was the very active 12 month baby that really amazed us. We even joked about it being like his/her daddy (being so active, we kind of sense this would be a boy). By the way, we were right on calculating how far along we are. The baby from the CRL (crown rump length) measurement on the ultrasound was 11 weeks and 6 days.
• First trimester (sharing the news) - In the first trimester we started very early to share the good news with first of all my colleague, Hind, as soon as I saw the result. I also told Marit and Shamaila at work. There were only a few of my colleagues at work this time since it was summer break. I wanted them to understand why I had to take nap in betweens and why I would maybe act other than how I normally would act. Then we told my two sister in laws, Helan and Hawin. When my family stayed over one weekend, I also told them. I had to share with my husband’s brother and his wife when they stayed over because it would be hard to hide it with me not being able to carry my husband’s little nephew. We later told Helat too, my husband’s elder sister. When we were at Heggedal where my sis in laws lived before, my brother in law, Beyar told me his wife dreamed about me being pregnant and asked if I had a baby on the tummy. He was shocked and so happy, when he said yes. Although he did ask that question, he really didn’t expect me to answer that. My mother in law and father in law was also there so we told them too. After the ultrasound, I told many of my friends through flickr first and then facebook and also through texts. I told my colleagues by sedning them all a common mail with pictures from the ultrasound and I was greeted with many warm words when I went to work the day after. I was overwhelmed with the many joyful responses we received in the internet and on my phone and I feel so blessed to have friends and families that surrounds us with so much love. I feel that this baby was longed for in so many ways and by so many people. We were really touched. My friend Arin got to know it because of this dinner we were in and she asks me every time we meet each other if I am pregnant. This time I also said no, because we haven’t had the ultrasound yet. Then we were talking about our trip to Sweden where we were going right after the ultrasound and my hubby asked when are we leaving that day, and I said as long as we finished the ultrasound, and then I went uh oh, what did I just spill out. It was too late. Although she was engaged in another conversation her observant ear caught that and she turned right at me and with much excitement uttered “ultrasound, what ultrasound, you are pregnant”. We had a good laugh about the incident and a few days later we got the news that she also was pregnant. I think she’s 2-3 weeks behind me. Everyone have been incredible. Hubby’s family is always making dure that I am ok and not carrying heavy stuff and not doing heavy chores and so forth. They don’t let me help with stuff. They just want me to relax all the time. My colleagues and my family has also been mindful of how my condition is and always helpful. My mom and dad alswas asks me to come over and ask what kind of food I want.
• Second trimester - My habits went downhill here. My bloated tummy always filled with air every night (despite avoiding food that cause gas like broccoli, beans and cauliflower), made it hard for me to sleep. I sleep very late, go to work late and don’t get to eat breakfast. I also skipped taking walks since the lack of sleep made me not have more energy when I came home from work. My household chores don’t get done on a regular basis (my helpful sister in law and my mom did help me at some point and I am so thankful). It came to the point that I had to go to the doctor again and get a sick leave to get some added rest. He took some bloodtest and ruled out infection. The doctor also used a doppler to listen tot he heart. It took a while for him to find it, but he said it sounded normal. I, on the other hand, didn’t hear it as well. Maybe because I was not used to it like him. I didn’t know what to listen to. He asked me to get this medicine called minifom that targets the problem locally and not getting absorbed anyway so that the baby won’t take it in. On the16th week, I started feeling the baby’s movement from the inside on the lower part. Actually it was on that doctor’s visit while on the bus that I felt it on the belt part of the jeans. It startled me, but when I knew what it was it brought a smile to my face. On the 17th week, I noticed that my baby bump really blew up compared to the past weeks. And it was a ump there even just after I woke up with no bloated tummy. This trimester I am also feeling pelvic pains. My employer got me this support cushion to put on my office chair to prevent it from getting worse. It was purchased also for other coming moms in the office (so far none), so I don’t take it with me home. I also am feeling pains in my groin, when I for example stand up too fast. It has something to do with the uterus expanding and is quite normal. There was a point where I had intense apetite and was hungry all the time. I had to run out of the office at around 4 pm and have a meal outside. I didn’t eat much at home this period as I couldn’t wait till the time I would arrive home (it takes one hour to get home) and also the prep time and cooking time. Now that hunger has subsided, and meals are a bit irregular at this point. We’re awaiting our routine ultrasound on the hospital where we are giving birth 3 days from now on the 14th of october. I hope our baby will cooperate and show us if it’s a boy or a girl. We can’t wait to see our baby again, especially after that happy first encounter. My sister will be joining us this time. On the 28th of october, I am having my 3rd routine checkup and this time I opted for having it with a midwife. Also, this pregnanyc is made more fun because many of my close friends are also pregnant at this moment and I am also excited for them. It’s nice that there are many familiar 2010 babies.

So that’s what I can remember for now. I’ll pop back with some tummy pics and share new images from the upcoming ultrasound. I can’t hardly wait. Here are some more images from our first ultrasound.