January 27: Thirteenth Maternity Checkup @W36

Euen started to lay low in her movements this week. This is because she's growing fast in my tummy and her swimming-pool-world inside is beginning to be small for her. She can't toss and turn as much, at this point. Blood pressure normal and my weight has been constant for three weeks now. Though it looks like there is an extra large watermelon, still growing, inside my shirt. Had another nonstress test today, to record Euen 's movements, even those that I've been barely feeling. No contractions yet.

My OB, Tita Cel, is out of the country for a week. I need to cross my fingers that Euen will not want to come out, until she comes back. The D-day is set! Two more weeks to go!

In other news, after trying on the baby wrap with brown bear, Denden needed a model, smaller than brown bear, for the car seat. I was surprised to see Amy the bear, strapped on it last night.

A few days more and Denden will install it in the car.

Baby Company Baby Fair

SM held it's Baby Company Grand Baby Fair last weekend. At first I didn't want to go because I do not have a list of things to buy at this point, (plus the traffic and difficulty parking in Megamall.) But we decided to drop by early Sunday morning with MamaCherub since we're going to Marikina anyway.

Just bought a tummy binder, dropins and some consumable baby supplies stocks: baby laundry detergent, baby soap, paper stem cotton buds. All items are indeed on sale. The least is 20% off. And there were a lot of freebies! We got two swag bags with lots of free stuff.

My favorite of all, is this four-small-shelved-wooden-white-drawer, with animal drawings. Priced 1.3K, that is 70% off. Sooooo cute.

Happy Foods

I didn't have any food craving during the past nine months of my pregnancy. Pregnant or not, these are two of my many happy foods.

The first one is homemade cheese pimiento by Auntie Debot. Every year, after Christmas, she makes her cheese pimiento from the leftover queso de bola. Other ingredients include butter, pickles, bell peppers and cheddar cheese. And she always saves some for us. Yummy!


My second happy food are the 365 Chocolate Chip Cookies that I always ask as pasalubong from Shashing in Singapore. These are healthy cookies as they contain soy milk. It is best served when frozen. Of course, I eat moderately. One cookie is equal to one carb choice. I usually take one as snack whenever there's stock and when I reward myself for ther other times that I don't eat sweets/deserts. Or, when I'm happy or simply, when I want to be happy.

Chinese New Year 2012

A few months back, one of the soon-to-be-grandpa's told us that his first granddaghter will be born on the Chinese Year of the Dragon. Papa Rene said this is a very good and lucky animal sign.

Last Monday, January 24, 2012, was the Chinese New Year . (And for the first time, this day was declared a holiday.)

I know it was too early but I hoped that the Chinese New Year will pass and Euen will still be inside my tummy. Now, she will be officially born in the year of the Water Dragon.

And you know who is else born in the year of the Dragon, Water Dragon to be exact? This only happens every sixty years. And who's turning sixty this year? The other soon-to-be-grandpa, Papa Chime.

Xīn Nián Kuài Lè Everyone!

Photo credit here.

January 20: Twelfth Maternity Checkup @W35

During our last check-up, Euen had a BioPhysical Profile Ultrasound and she aced it, her BPP Score is 8/8: Normal Infant; Low risk for chronic asphyxia. Heart rate: 153bpm. Her estimated weight is 2966 grams, that is about 6.5lbs! No wonder my tummy is so big. She is one week advanced based on her size and weight. Our "chosen" birth date for Euen is okay with Tita Cel as well.

Today, I'm on the 252nd day of my pregnancy. On my ninth and last month and technically on my 36th week. Yes, I am counting the days and the "sleepless" nights of tossing and turning. I know soon enough, Euen will not only be inside my tummy.

Photo credit here.

Putting up the Nursery: Part 4

Denden and I are both engineers, thus, we aren't good in art. Everything has to be plain and simple: measured, or symmetric. We then assigned the task of decorating the stickers for the nursery and the blue bathroom to the soon-to-be-titas, Shashing and MamaCherub.

Well, they did the alphabet in one line. Their explanation, it's supposed to be a train. They also arranged the numbers in a pyramid and because they didn't want to confuse Euen in the order.

When Denden looked at the room, he asked, "Talaga bang hindi sunod- sunod yung ABC?" He sang the alphabet: A B C D E J G F I M K H L N O P... Look closely in the picture. We all had a nice laugh while Shashing explained that they didn't notice their mistake. We pictured Euen singing the alphabet song that way and laughed even more because it will all be blamed to the tita's.

Yes, we arranged it in the correct order afterwards.

More for the Baby

We sorted all the preloved baby clothes for Euen and separated them into categories: newborn up to six months, six months to one year, twelve to eighteen months, and two years above. We sorted and packed for each category and stored clothes for those greater than six months.

After sorting, all those left for Euen to use from newborn up to six months are these: 12 pajamas, 12 body suits, 6 dresses, 12 shirts with sleeves, 9 sleeveless tops, 13 onesies, 3 skirts, 5 undies, 30 bibs, 41 socks, 7 booties, 12 mittens and 12 hats. Yey! Yes, they are now washed, ironed and arranged in Euen's closet. To think that we only bought a handful.

In other news, we searched on how to use the baby wrap. The makers of the wrap, Parents of Invention, had discontinued making their products already but we found their website and an instructional video on how to use the Ultimate Baby Wrap. It can be used from birth up to three, has five possible positions. Said to be safe and simple since it has no buckles or straps. It is also comfortable since it is made of cotton/spandex.

Denden tried two positions with our brown bear. Practicing.

I Won't Give Up

New song I like by Jason Mraz: I Won't Give Up.
Video here.

When I look into your eyes
It's like watching the night sky
Or a beautiful sunrise
Well there's so much they hold
And just like them old stars
I see that you've come so far
To be right where you are
How old is your soul?

I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up

And when you're needing your space
To do some navigating
I'll be here patiently waiting
To see what you find

'Cause even the stars they burn
Some even fall to the earth
We've got a lot to learn
God knows we're worth it
No, I won't give up
I don't wanna be someone who walks away so easily
I'm here to stay and make the difference that I can make

Our differences they do a lot to teach us how to use the tools and gifts
We got yeah we got a lot at stake
And in the end, you're still my friend at least we didn't tend
For us to work we didn't break, we didn't burn
We had to learn, how to bend without the world caving in
I had to learn what I got, and what I'm not
And who I am

I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up
I'm still looking up

I won't give up on us
God knows I'm tough, he knows
We got a lot to learn
God knows we're worth it

I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up

January 14: Eleventh Maternity Checkup @W34

We missed our maternity checkup last week thus, this is eleventh maternity checkup.

Since it was W34 already, Dra. Evangelista ordered for a nonstress test. Basically, it is a procedure to evaluate your baby's condition, ordered for high-risk pregnancies. Fetal heartbeat is monitored in a given period of time, recording the times when the baby is both resting and moving. Generally, baby's heart rate should go up when the baby's moving. There is also a range to measure baby's movement, or contraction if any. At this point of my pregnancy, baby should be actively moving but not to the point of a contraction.

The procedure was new to me but I've been reading up and I was looking forward to good results. My tummy was strapped to a monitor and I was asked to press a button every time I feel Euen move. It took about thirty minutes and it was painless.

Tita Cel was happy with the results. It was normal.
Next week is an ultrasound week. Yey!

Short talk with Ikoy.
Ikoy: Nuni, malapit na ang birthday ko! Pagkatapos ba ng birthday ko, lalabas na si Baby Euen?
Me: Oo!
He's as excited for Euen's arrival as much as he is for his birthday.

Hand Me Downs

As I'm nearing towards the end of my pregnancy and as we await for the day that Euen finally arrives, we received a lot more of hand-me-down-baby-sutff, from relatives and relatives' friends (a.k.a. sisters' friends). The first picture is a very cute and colorful zero to three month, strawberry and stripped set from Baby Katka and Tita Aves, Shashings' bestfriend. Of course, the cute elephant bib is probably because Shashing likes elephants.

I have read somewhere that you shouldn't buy too much baby clothes, since babies would just outgrow them.

Since my bestfriend already gave me a whole wardrobe up to twenty four months (thanks to Ate Annika and Kuya Alfons), I was able to stop myself from shopping and just bought these few items: 2 sleeveless onesies, 2 sleeved onesies, 2 newborn pajamas and 2 pairs of mittens. Euen received advanced Christmas gifts also, she had a few pairs of socks. Thanks to the Santos family, our neighbor who's very thoughtful, and to Tita Michelle, my cousin.

Then came hand-me-down clothes from newborn up to three months from Tita Aa and Kuya Caleb. Yes, the colors are blue and brown but they are still soooo cute, especially the onesies and body suits. More socks, mittens and hats as well.

A couple of months ago, Tita Ina, Denden's cousin from the US, left me a message at Facebook congratulating us and asking for Euen's gender. She was hoping it was a girl so that she can send us all the baby stuff of her daughter, Justine. Baby stuff not only meant clothes but a lot more of baby things that we didn't have to buy.
1. Boppy Pillow for nursing.
2. A diaper bag. Good to have an extra.
3. Select a Show Soother, a soother with various sound choices with a projector.
4. A pile of bibs, from the smallest, cutest bibs up to toddler bibs.
5. More than 50 pairs of colorful socks. For newborn up to two years.
6. More baby accessories, hats, mittens, headbands.
7. A whole clothesline, from newborn to toddler: dresses, shirts, jeans, skirts, shorts, leggings.
8. Toys: teethers and Freddie the Firefly
9. Four pairs of the tiniest and cutest shoes you'll ever see.
10. Baby Wrap
11. Baby Monitor
12. And my most favorite of all, a portable playard, Pack 'n Play!

With all the clothes, I don't think we'll need to buy clothes for Euen until she's two years old. With all the baby stuff and baby gadgets we received, we are so blessed to have relatives and friends who'd graciously share their preloved baby stuff.

From the bottom of our hearts and my tummy, Denden, Euen and I are very grateful.

Excited for Euen

Happy New Year! Here's my first blog entry for 2012, my surprise baby shower party.

My sisters and my bestfriend planned for my "surprise" baby shower a few days after Christmas. It was actually a surprise, except for some clues that left me wondering a bit. But I am very thankful for the gesture. While Shashing kept me busy that forced them to get a foot spa while I get a pedicure, MamaCherub made the colorful banner.

Euen received her first cake. A baby shower cake made of diapers and lots and lots of baby stuff. A labor of love, by my bestest best friend and Euen's soon be Ninang Mama Bing. There were a lot of surprises when we "sliced" the cake piece by piece. More baby essentials that she put inside. A work of art filled with love.

Friends and family came. Everyone had their chance at the Pinoy Henyo-Baby Shower mode. Fun. Fun. Fun. It's still a few more weeks before baby Euen finally comes out, but she can definitely feel the love of the people around her.

Thanks everyone!