While this chapter of our lives comes to an end…

And I’m still not ready to say my goodbyes.

When you take the elevator in my building, if you make a right, there are only two apartments – mine and the neighbors.  Mine comes first, and it’s about 15-20 feet from the main elevator, the neighbors’ are at the end of the hall.

Our walls are made of concrete – when my neighbors have their little events, we don’t hear a peep.  When you gather in front of my front door and chat loudly, however, the noise travels through my apartment reaching every bedroom, since all our bedrooms face the living room (video tour here), added to that, the wooden floors are great at making sound travel.

When Lily hears the loud voices echoing through our apartment, she responds the same as any dog:  she barks.  Loudly.

A couple of weeks before I gave birth, I finally decided to attemt to put an end to the loud noise, the last thing I wanted was to have a baby awake all night because of people hanging out by my door.  So on a Tuesday at 11:30pm, I went out and told the group of 10 people hanging out to please be quiet, we were trying to sleep.

The noise got better and for a little while, if there was anything, it would be passing noise, no one was lingering here.

Then it restarted.  To make matters worse, guests started going to the hallway to have lengthy phone calls, right in front of our door.

So sometimes Karl goes out and asks them to please be quiet, we have a newborn baby sleeping.  Sometimes I’m the one who asks.

Yesterday, the neighbor angrily accosted our helper to complain to her that we don’t own the common hallway, and we are bad diplomats for asking people to be quieter.  Because don’t you know such guest was the president of XYZ company?  And another president of ABC company?

Say what?!? 

Am I the only one that expects MORE from people in high positions?  Consideration for others is not something you’re exempt from just because you have money, but if you do have money, I expect you to set the example for everyone else!  And truth be told, let’s be honest, I don’t care if you’re the Queen of England!  It’s the middle of the week, late at night, if you want to be loud, do so in your own apartment where the insulation keeps my baby and my pets from getting aggravated!

It’s going to be really really really hard leaving Manila.  I’m going to leave an amazing group of friends behind, and board that plane with incredible memories.  But this kind of crap?  This sense of entitlement that some have just because they have money?  I won’t miss it at all. 

(Want a more drastic example?   The men who murdered George Anikow were granted bail 3 months ago, despite having coldly murdered the former marine and spouse of a US diplomat – the murder itself happened because rich kids were told what to do and did not like it.  It was all caught on video, but the video, where Anikow is seen running away, then tackled and stabbed by the four men, was not considered to be enough evidence.  And then one wonders how some of the richer folks here get this sense of entitlement.  Well, because they can.)

Stories of crowds and the partying atmosphere might excite some, but actually kept us from going there.  Personally, I hate crowded beaches – I like my space, my quiet, my peace.  To add to that, tickets to Boracay are just as expensive as international tickets, so we chose to go to places like Hong Kong, Taipei, Jakarta, Shanghai, Brunei, Kota Kinabalu, Seoul, Bangkok, (etc, etc) instead.

But splurging for a 5-star stay at the Shangri-la in Boracay sounded like the perfect way to end our time in the Philippines, plus an easy first trip with a newborn!

Ellie did great on her first plane ride, I nursed her on the way up and down, as everyone recommended in order to keep her ears cleared, and she slept the rest of the time.

We got to the resort, and immediately fell in love…

The view from our room didn’t hurt…

We spent the next few days at the private beach in front of our room, the water and sand were gorgeous!

And as Karl and Ellie took a few naps at the beach, I was able to explore the grounds and check out the pool (which oddly enough, was heated, so it was super uncomfortable in this sunny weather…).

I also visited the other private beach, which was much smaller, but being next to the pool, also much busier…

But from there we could see amazing sunsets… (No filters needed – actually, for any of these pictures, everything looks exactly as it did on my camera!)

Traveling with Ellie was great too!  I wore her on my Beco Gemini, which instantly makes her pass out, so we were able to go out to dinner every night, and she was completely oblivious to it!  (I’m getting really good at eating above her head…)

And to add to my joy, Ellie loved being on the beach!

And she loved the water too!

(Except when Karl held her…)

We took advantage of the free shuttle and checked out the “real” Boracay as well…

But around the beach area, and specially the boardwalk, it was all so noisy and crowded, we were relieved we decided not to stay there!

The only hard part of the trip was leaving this behind…

I’m so happy we went to Boracay, and despite the extra expense for the flights and to stay at the Shangri-la, it was absolutely worth it!  The place was paradise, and it was a super easy trip with a newborn too (after all, Ellie wasn’t even 8 weeks!).

We have one more trip scheduled before we leave, spending a weekend in Puerto Galera (which involves a drive + boat), and I ended up scheduling a trip with the girls from MADS back to Siquijor – 6 moms, 7 babies, 1 yaya.  Now THAT should be interesting…  Stay tuned…  I’m also hoping procrastination to pack will give me a chance to finally catch up on all the trips I’ve taken in the last few months and failed to blog about!

I had such high hopes for Sonya’s, after all, their rooms are made for relaxation (if you ever go, ask for the Chamomile room below):

And yes, Lily was welcomed too, which was a big plus (wish I could take my little puppy everywhere!).  Sonya’s is such a nice contrast from Manila, and having been there for lunch before, I couldn’t wait to spend the weekend (dogs are welcomed in the restaurant too!).  Who wouldn’t want to relax here?

Entrance to our room:

We had an amazing lunch at Antonio’s (everyone insisted that I’d go, I’m glad I listened!), wish I knew Lily was welcomed there too though.  The atmosphere at Antonio’s was also great!

When we got back to Sonya’s we had a spectacular massage  (HIGHLY recommend their signature massage! One of the best I’ve had!).  We went back to the room to relax and read our kindles, when the super loud music started.

Yep, they forgot to mention they were hosting a wedding at the restaurant that is just a few steps from the rooms.  So we went from hearing the birds outside to feeling like we were in a club, ready for some fist-pumping…  *Sigh* 

I have no idea why with two big restaurants they chose the lower one near the rooms to host the party instead of the upper ones, which would have been far enough that the noise would not be bothering the guests.

It wasn’t even 6pm, and I knew the party would be going on until late, and I didn’t expect the wedding to be quiet (it’s their one day, you know?  I wouldn’t even think of complaining to keep the noise down!), so we decided to cut our losses and leave.  (Karaoke was starting up then, and though Filipinos are amazingly talented, not all of them can sing, and that was clearly obvious by the sounds of it!)

Sonya’s staff was wonderful and totally understood why we were leaving (and apologized as someone should have warned us about the wedding when we made the reservations – if we knew, we wouldn’t have booked it).  They refunded our 50% deposit without hesitation, and we headed in a 3 hour trek with traffic back to Manila.  It was still a nice day so it wasn’t a complete loss, but I was so so so disappointed that my weekend of relaxing in a quiet environment that smells like flowers (because the area really does smell like flowers – such a change from Manila!) was a fail.  And with less than 40 days until we leave the Philippines I wouldn’t get a redo.

I still highly recommend Sonya’s Garden if you want a relaxing weekend away from Manila, just make sure they aren’t hosting any events when you’re there.  We had dinner on our way out, and I was disappointed with the food.  Though the menu is the same, lunch was way better the few times we’ve eaten there, so if you just go for one meal, do lunch, not dinner.  (The food for the guests at the B&B is different though, but we never got to try it.)

Now hoping relaxation will finally happen in a few hours!  Boracay, here we come!

On Wednesday, I jumped on my treadmill, on what will likely be a goodbye run:  looks like it’s getting sold this week.  It has served me well, even if I barely got any use out of it, thanks for injuries and all my pregnancy fatigue.  I should be buying a replacement before heading back to Brazil, unless we’re living close to the beach, then running on the boardwalk will be much more my style!

I’m not going to lie:  the run was not pretty.  I kept the running part at a 11 min/mile pace, and still had to take walk breaks pretty frequently.  At the end, I finished 2.5 miles averaging 12:57 pace, which it’s not *that* bad considering there were lots of walking sprinkled in there.

Friday morning, I met up with a friend who is also trying to get back to running after baby.  I met her by her house in Dasmarinas Village and we went for a jog (for those of you unfamiliar with Manila, the villages are closed residential areas with single family homes, so lots quiet streets for running, less polluted, little cars, no traffic and even a lot of shade!).

I was nervous, I can’t even remember the last time I ran outside!  But when she asked if I wanted to do the 3k route or the 5k one, I said “5k” without hesitation.  Did I have to walk?  Sure, I did.  I actually thought walking was a good think (let’s not do too much too soon and get injured, right?), but we went way past the halfway point before any of us walked.

Since I forgot my GPS at home, I’m oblivious to our pace, which may be for the best!

Sadly, I’m so out of running shape that I’ve been pretty sore the last couple of days.  I’ll be back out on Tuesday for yet another running date! 

We arrived as newlyweds with our pets (Lily was still tiny at 5lbs!) and will be leaving with a 3 month old baby…

I have very mixed feelings about leaving.  6 months ago, I couldn’t wait to get back to DC, the fact that my pregnancy hormones were flying high, also meant that my patience for the Filipino-way (“wait a while, ma’am”) was at a minimum. 

Since then, I have made incredible friends through the MADS playgroup, and know a ton of other moms with babies around the same age as Ellie, and it would have been SO much fun seeing them all growing up together!  Plus, since our baby was born in the Philippines, it now holds a special place in my heart as well. 

We still have a lot to do.  I know I want to do some shopping prior to leaving (sorry, Karl…), and I am off to Divisoria for what will likely be the last time next week.  Hope to add another trip to Greenhills soon too!

There is still a lot of sorting to be done (what comes with us?  What goes in the air shipment to DC?  What goes straight to Brazil and we can live without for a whole year?).  We need to sell our car, I need to start going back to the gym if that Marine Corps Marathon goal will become a reality, the pets and baby need their last immunizations (both due in a few weeks), baby still needs to be put on our orders (so she’ll “exist” to the State Department) and once that’s done we can finally book her ticket.

I am going to miss this place, and I am going to miss living in Asia.  I truly hope we come back one day (not necessarily to Manila – I hope we get to live somewhere different, because that’s part of the experience, no?).  I am going to miss exploring new countries and exploring the Philippines beautiful islands.

Now that I have a little over a month to go, I am not ready to leave.  I am so not ready.  And it breaks my heart that Ellie might never get to see the place she was born in.

I’ll be leaving the Philippines in 50 days.  But a little part of my heart will be left behind.

(Yes, folks, it’s official, I will add back the “running” into this running blog, woot!)

But that confirmation was not before I went through almost an hour and a half of this…

And this…

And this…

And some of this…

And a lot of this….

At the end, I wasn’t successful (and both Karl and I were trying from our respective computers), but my friend Angela was in getting me in.  (Thanks, Angela!)

So it’s official:  in two months (!!!), we move back to the States, I will rejoin my running group, and will start training for the marathon.  (It will be my third marathon, my second MCM.)

I’m not going to lie:  I’m really really nervous about it.  I still have strict instructions that I cannot exercise (my body rejected my stitches from childbirth so my recovery has not been easy), so I don’t even know when I’ll be ok to start running again.  And being stuck at 9lbs above my pre-pregnancy weight, which was already 15lbs above my marathon training weight, I know it’ll make things harder.  Plus, the knee pain that showed up in my third trimester is still there…  And my feet are a constant source of issues since I was training for Chicago.

But Karl promised to watch Elena while I go for training runs, and enough of my friends signed up that I’ll have company for training.

I can do this! 

I can do this, right? 

I really hope I can do this.

Wish me luck.

Yes, we have traveled extensively in the Philippines, visiting Bohol, Cebu, Moalboal, Coron, Siquijor, Apo Island, Subic, Mt Pinatubo (still need to blog about these last two…), Batangas, Tagaytay, El Nido…  Considering we’ve had less than two years to travel around here, I think we did pretty well.

But despite El Nido being gorgeous…

The diving in Apo Island…

…and Moalboal being spectacular…

Hiking Mt Pinatubo being an unique experience…

…and Bohol having the famous tarsier monkeys…

No one ever asks me if I’ve been to any of those places.  Nope, they’re only interested in knowing if I have been to the famous white beaches of Boracay…

I was convinced we were going to leave the Philippines without stepping foot there.  I do hear mixed reviews:  I have friends that love it and been multiple times, and others that hated how crowded the beach is (and I am not one for crowded beaches).  And when I’ve been to other white beaches here, like Malcapuya Island during a beach hopping boat trip in Coron…

…I had no immediate desire to go to Boracay, a place I can’t ever find a good fare deal for.

But I still felt like we couldn’t leave the Philippines without checking that box.  Who knows if we will ever be back here?

So in late April, Ellie will be going on her first plane ride, and spending a weekend with us at the most famous beach in the Philippines…  And as it’s our first trip with baby, and our last trip here, we went for a bit of a splurge:  we’ll be hanging out at the Shangri-la!

It wasn’t cheap by any means, but after I found out they offer resident rates, the prices became much more affordable (though still a huge splurge). But after staying put since NYE in Australia, when we usually travel at least once a month, and considering we’re dragging a newborn around for the first time, this sounds like the best way to end our time in the Philippines!  Plus, it will be a great way to travel with baby AND relax (we even splurged for the seaview room, in case we need to be cooped up in the room, at least we have something nice to look at).

Now let’s hope I can make Ellie be just as much as a water baby as her mom…  I don’t know what I’ll do if she doesn’t grow up to love the beach like I do!

So it’s been 2 weeks since Elena was born, and though I don’t plan on doing more of these updates (because no one cares, really), I figured a 2 week update to see where things are headed and how they compare to my last week of pregnancy would be good!

Total weight loss:  18lbs!  Who knew popping a baby would be the best weight loss solution?  Now if only it wasn’t incubating her that made me gain weight in the first place, things would be good.  9 more pounds to go to get to my pre-pregnancy weight, but I have a feeling without exercise it’ll take me a while to get there.  It certainly doesn’t help that my diet has been less than stellar since I came home from the hospital.

Exercise: Recovery has been much tougher than I expected.  Had a lot of pain last week, went to the doctor for a check up and had to have some stitches manually removed (because they didn’t dissolve as planned), and left with prescriptions for antibiotics and an ointment for the swelling on the stitches site.  So yeah, recovery has not been easy.  (But I heard that as much as the first couple of weeks can be tough, things do get back to normal quicker than if I needed a c-section, so there’s that. )

Said that, I feel MUCH better today than I did a week ago, so obviously both time and the meds are doing their job.  But since then I’ve been resting and avoiding walks (as they were triggering the pain), exercise will not be in my horizon any time soon.  But hopefully at a month post-partum I can hit the gym again?  I feel gross and definitely miss hitting the weights and the treadmill!  It will probably take me a little longer to be able to run again (have I mentioned I am planning – hoping? – to run the Marine Corps Marathon again this year?), but I think I can hit the weights by early April, hopefully!

Measurements:  There’s still a LONG way to go before I get back to my pre-pregnancy measurements, but amazing how much change can happen in two weeks!  My hips went down 2”, my ribcage went from 34.5” to 32” (this is the only part that is almost back to normal, only another inch and a half to go for my pre-pregnancy measurement!), my waist went from 37.5” to 31.5” – a great 6” decrease(!), but still a far cry from pre-pregnancy 27.5” waist. The widest part of my belly went from 44” to 38.5” and yes, it’ll be a while before it’s back to its original measurements too. 

The only part that didn’t decrease was my now porn-star proportions boobs.  My bust got up to 41.5” during pregnancy.  But see how my ribcage went down 2.5” already?  The boobs only went down 1” – meaning they actually grew 1.5” since giving birth.  They are seriously scary.  I was a 34DD pre-pregnancy, so at this point, I must have run out of the alphabet. 

(And if you think this is a gloating “look at my gigantic tatas” post, you don’t know me at all.  I had really hoped they would not get bigger during this ordeal, as I had enough of a complex with my pre-prego cup size:  do you know how hard it is to find good fitting bras when your ribcage is a normal size but your boobs are not?  Plus, I can’t even imagine how running will feel like now.  Will I topple over?  Stayed tuned…)

Despite the significant reduction in belly/waist size in two weeks, it will be a while before the belly stops jiggling with every step.  Things weren’t very toned before (though boy, did I try!) but they’re definitely way flabbier now. 

Maternity clothes?  Still wearing maternity shorts (yay for no muffin top!) but I fit into most of my t-shirts now (though some are a bit on the tight side on the chest/arms).  It feels so good to be able to change up my wardrobe a bit!

Stretch marks?  My almond oil + Burt’s Bees Belly Butter massaged twice a day WORKED!  Went through the pregnancy without a single stretch mark on my belly!  And don’t go saying that stretch marks are genetic, because not only I have stretch marks on other parts of my body due to weight gain in the past, but I developed new ones on my inner thighs during pregnancy (I was moisturizing my belly religiously and never crossed my mind that other parts of my body might be expanding too…). 

Sleep:  No more pregnancy insomnia!!!  Though my sleep has been in chunks thanks to having to get up to feed the baby multiple times during the night, the sleep I’m getting is some good DEEP sleep that was highly missed in the past 9 months.  So yes, I’m tired, but man, sleep has been a lot better than it was a month ago!

Best moment this week:  Seeing Ellie’s newborn pictures.  True, it took us 4 hours to get a few shots, but tell me if it wasn’t worth it…

Miss Anything?  Definitely don’t miss being pregnant, ha!  But I do miss the freedom of being able to leave the house when I want to and not having my life controlled by someone else’s peeing/pooping/feeding schedule.  But that’s what I signed up for, right?  And I heard it’ll get easier in a few weeks.

Food cravings:  Sadly, I’m craving lots of sweets, and since Karl has been home on sick leave to help me out (it’s great he had enough days to take since he doesn’t get paternity leave, as his help has made a huge difference on my recovery!), we both have been eating crap.  No good.

Belly Button in or out?  My belly button never “popped” (yay!), and now it’s back to its usual very deep self.

Wedding rings on or off?  Wedding ring is back on after over 2 months of being off!  Sadly the diamond of my engagement ring is slightly loose, so have been keeping that off until we can get it fixed back in the US.

Other random updates…  Lucas (the cat) has been staying the hell away from the baby.  He used to sleep in her pack & play (we have been using it in lieu of a crib since we’re moving soon), and every trick I tried failed (cats don’t like stepping on aluminum foil?  Well mine sleeps on it!), but since Ellie got home, he hasn’t gotten near to the pack & play once.  My friends had warned me that their cats had the same reaction, so I’m relieved that it was that easy!

Lily, however, has been going through a really tough time.  She doesn’t get that Ellie is a baby, not a pet, so she’s been acting replaced and depressed.  To make things better for her, we took her to Seafront (where we lived temporarily when we first got to Manila) this weekend, to burn some of her energy off.  It worked!  Though she’s not back to her usual self, she is a bit more hyper now. 

Karl has stepped into fatherhood like a natural.  It is really wonderful to see how much he loves this baby, and how sweet and gentle he is with her.  He sings, talks to her and does most of the diaper changes (at least for now while he’s home).  I knew he was going to love her, but I think just like me, he was taken by surprise at how much you can love this little person you just met.

I keep taking pictures of the two of them together.  It’s so sweet!

And I’ve been doing ok.  Aside from the tough recovery, I have been doing my best to get out of the house, get to the MADS coffee mornings for some girly chat with other moms, I’ve had a few friends visiting and gotten out of the house a few times. 

Some days when she cries to eat yet another time (“she just ate!  She can’t possibly be hungry!”) I think “now this is how my life will be like, every.single.day” but I’m so in love with this baby (and she is so freaking cute), that I still think it’s worth it.  Though this conversation did happen last night:

Karl: “So having a baby really is just like having a boss.”

Me: “Yeah, like having a boss that beats you!”

But even though it’s only been 2 weeks, I can no longer imagine how life was like without her (though maybe that is because I’m too sleep deprived to even think).  I’m still in awe that this little baby came from inside me (even though I have the stitches to prove it!).

The earliest bump picture I have is at 14 weeks, when I finally started showing (or so I thought, ha!).  At 21 weeks,  I started posting my pregnancy updates here – if you click on the respective picture, you’ll get taken to the that page.

Week 26-28 were definitely my favorites bump-wise, when I had a cute bump and felt attractive (I was no longer in the dreaded “fat or pregnant” stage but not yet in the “hugely pregnant and uncomfortable” stage either).  I definitely “popped” at 30-31 weeks.

Now scroll down for an ever-growing bump!

I begged them not to call my doctor until they knew it was the real thing because I didn’t want to bother her this late at night only to be sent home.  The staff replied that Dr. Henson has very clear instructions to call her right away if any of her patients show up at L&D, regardless of the time of day and reason.  I started feeling bad that I was wasting everyone’s time.

They set me up in the birthing room (wish I had taken a picture, that room was huge and super nice), and hooked me up to the fetal monitor to check baby’s heart rate (which was reassuring to hear), and to monitor my contractions.  The monitor showed how frequent and strong they were (at least I felt good to know that I wasn’t imagining things and wasn’t just a wimp!).

At 2am the OBGYN on duty came in and went to check if I have had any progress.  Then he says “you’re 1-2cm dilated” and I almost cried.  At that point I had been having strong painful contractions every 1 to 3 minutes for 7 hours!  And NO progress?  I was the same thing as I’d been for 2 weeks?  I asked if I was going to be sent home, he replied he would call my doctor and check with her.

About 15 minutes later he comes back and says I’m being admitted.  Though I haven’t had any progress, Dr. Henson is convinced I’m in active labor due to the frequency and strength of the contractions.  They ask if I want anything for the pain, and I said yes (I had no plans on doing a natural labor, I did hope to labor at home as long as possible though).  They gave me a shot of demerol which did absolutely nothing to ease the pain. 

They unhooked the monitors so I could go to the bathroom and get some sleep (HA!  As if!).  Karl was already taking naps on the couch (I wanted nothing to do with him, not in a mean way, but in a “nobody touch me, just leave me alone so I can deal with this pain”).

The intensity of the contractions started getting worse and worse, and I couldn’t even get out of bed by myself and had to ask Karl to help me walk to the bathroom, even to sit on the toilet and get up from it.  I couldn’t time the contractions (since no electronics were allowed in room), but they were definitely longer than before, and were less than a minute apart.  I’d have a contraction during the 10 feet walk from the bed to the toilet then a few while peeing, then again before I even reached the sink to wash my hands, and before I had a chance to dry them, another one would hit.  The worse part is that I kept having to pee (and more and more bloody mucous would come out each time I wiped).

It was after getting checked the first time that I started feeling the contractions on my pelvis as well.  Before the pain was on my back, my insides, the outer part of my belly, and radiating down my thighs, but now it was like my pelvis was trying to separate from my body too, as if someone was stabbing me with a huge kitchen knife each time, from inside.  I had a feeling I was having some progress at this point.

An hour after being first checked, the doctor came back in (I know the times as there was a clock facing my bed).  He checks me and says “You are 4cm!”  (So I dilated 2cm in one hour after so long with no progress.)  I was soooo relieved!  “The anesthesiologist has already been notified, and him and Dr. Henson will be on their way.”

I should add that my doctor does NOT recommend getting an epidural before you’re 5cm dilated, as it considerably slows down labor, so I never asked for one before then.  They had my birth plan and knew I wanted one as soon as it was possible.  (The epidural really did slow things down for me, as I went from contractions every few seconds to about every 3-5 minutes.)

Another hour went by and the anesthesiologist came in and injected me with the nectar of the gods, err, the epidural.  I had a few contractions during that time, but I had to lean over while he did his thing and not move a muscle.  I felt NO pain as the epidural was inserted, except for a little prick when he numbed the area.  My eyes were closed, and at some point I felt someone gently rubbing my arm.  When he was done and my contraction was done, I finally opened my eyes and Dr. Henson had arrived – I didn’t hear her come in, and had no clue she was already there.

She checked me then and I was 6cm dilated (another 2cm in an hour!).  They gave me oxygen, and turned off the lights to the room so I could get some sleep since it was going to be a long day.  It realized then that I was going to have my baby that day (I was still not excited/nervous, I just wanted the whole thing to be over).

I was so against pitocin, after watching “The Business of Being Born” but when Dr. Henson said she was going to give me a light dose of oxytocin to counterbalance the epidural slowing down progress, I remember thinking I no longer cared and that I trusted my doctor so I just nodded.

The amazing epidural kicked in and I no longer felt like my baby was trying to kill me.  I should add that I heard many people complain how the epidural paralyzes them, but that never happened to me.  Dr. Henson will only work with one anesthesiologist at Makati Med because he is one of the best, and he really is.  I could still feel all my contractions and my belly tightening, and my legs were numb, but not immobile.  I could move them, I could lift my butt , scoot down, etc.  I just had absolutely no pain whatsoever.  Around this time, Dr. Henson broke my water to help baby drop (baby was still very high up).

I tried to sleep but started feeling very nauseous.  After another hour, Dr Henson returned to the room and I complained about the nausea and that maybe the drugs weren’t agreeing with me.  Her face lit up and she got all excited and said “actually that can be a sign of full dilation.  I bet you’re fully dilated already!” and she checked and was right – I was fully dilated!  This would be over soon!

The baby was still high up, so the doctor told me we could push now, but it would be a waste of time, I would be there for hours pushing, eventually my body would get tired, the pushes wouldn’t be as effective and I might end up with a c-section (which I didn’t want).  The baby’s heart rate was ok, there were no signs of distress, so she said that we were in no hurry, to take our time and allow the baby to drop on her own and she would be back in an hour.

She came in shortly before then, checked and said “baby is at zero station, she is starting to drop.  But let’s wait a little longer.”  She had me practice a push to see if I could handle it, and if I could do it ok.  She told me to bend my legs, hold the back of my thighs, take a deep breath, hold it for 10 counts while pushing as if I was trying to take a big poop (which I probably did, and it’s true what they say, at that point you really don’t care), while I was doing that, Karl had to put his hands against my upper back to lift my upper body from the bed.  The goal is three pushes per contraction, so we did those, and she said I was pushing great, I could do it, and we would wait another hour to see if baby had progressed.

Another hour or so she came back, and a bunch of other folks came along, people started turning machines on, moving equipment around and I remember thinking “I guess I will have this baby today, maybe even by this afternoon?”  I had NO idea that all the action meant I was having this baby NOW.  I was still very nauseous and still very much out of it, going with the flow, but not really there if that makes any sense.

She set up her spot and told Karl to take his spot behind me to help (I should add that I didn’t want Karl to see the baby crown, as I do want to leave some things a mystery, you know?).  She explained that one of the nurses was going to help me push and bring the baby down.  This tiny little but super damn strong Filipina nurse stood on a stool and stayed to the left of my stomach.  With each 10 count push, she would literally put all her body weight against my belly pushing the baby down.  It was an excruciating pain, and even though I couldn’t feel anything else, there’s no epidural that works against tiny strong Filipinas.  I mean, in between contractions I actually tried to talk her out of using so much force and letting me be.  (Karl thought that was hilarious, that in the midst of it all I was trying to reason with her.  She kept going “sorry, ma’am” each time I tried asking her to stop.)

I pushed for about 30 minutes, but that was only 9 or 12 pushes, it was only long, because we had to wait for the contractions to come, and again, they were still really far apart because of the epidural.

At the end of a set, the doctor looked at me, did an ok sign (you know making an “o” with her thumb and index finger) and said “the baby’s head is here, you’re like this!”

So I pushed three more times and she said “open your eyes, look at your baby!”  I honestly though she wanted me to see the baby’s head coming out or the baby crowning, which terrified me, so I hesitantly opened my eyes, and there was a whole baby, head to toes.  I had NO idea I had just pushed the baby out, or that I was done pushing until I saw the baby. 

I was so out of it, that the first words out of my mouth was “Oh my god, it’s a baby, a real baby!” (yes, I sounded super smart).  I started tearing up while the baby let out a huge cry and they put her on my chest. 

She was bloody and covered with vernix but I couldn’t stop kissing and kissing her whole head going “my baby, my baby, she’s so pretty, oh my gosh my baby!”  Karl was on my left and kept kissing her head as well.  Neither of us could care less about all the blood she came covered with!  And yes, THIS was the moment when it hit me I had a baby.  It never hit me during labor, I really just was going through the process, either dealing with the pain or following instructions from the people around me.

She was born on March 5th, Tuesday, at 8:47am, after more than 12 hours of labor, but every minute of pain and nausea was completely worth it in order to have her in my life!

I remember at some point that night thinking that I was afraid I might not immediately bond with the baby.  I had such a miserable pregnancy, specially towards the end, and labor was excruciating painful, then I was still nauseous once the pain went away, and I was so detached from the whole thing, that I thought I’d be one of those people that feel detached from the baby once she finally came along (it’s very common not to immediately bond, though everyone bonds with their baby a few days later, some just don’t get that immediate magical feeling at birth).

But the minute I saw her and said my ridiculous “it’s a real baby” statement, I was instantly in love.  I already loved her more than anything in this world.  I can’t believe how lucky I am to have little Elena in my life!

When the cord stopped pulsating, the doctor asked Karl to cut the umbilical cord, shortly after I delivered the placenta, she showed it to us and it was disgusting, I cannot believe people eat that thing.

They finally took the baby to get tested/weighed and cleaned up (they only wiped her down, didn’t bathe her), and Karl finally remembered he had a camera in his pocket this whole time (!!!) after the nurse asked him if he wanted to take a picture, and he took a few, including this one of her pouting.  She got a 9/9 on her apgar score.

Then the doctor started stitching me up.  I had been very clear that unless it was necessary, I didn’t want an episiotomy, I wanted to tear naturally.  Of course, deep down I was hoping I wouldn’t tear at all, but it took her 40 minutes to stitch me up, so I knew it was bad.  I asked her not to tell me how many stitches, I would rather not know.  She told me that it wasn’t too bad, it was only a second degree tear.  (Once the epidural wore off, I realized how much BS that is, it was pretty bad!  My poor hooha!)

The nurse brought the baby back to me and asked if I wanted to try to get her to latch.  I did, and she wouldn’t latch right away just kind of head butt me. 

(By the way, a week ago I’d be horrified of the thought of popping out a boob in front of a bunch of people and having a male nurse touching my breast helping me out.  You do lose all your dignity during childbirth, and at that point I didn’t give a crap who saw my humongous post-pregnancy boobs, I could care less that it was a male nurse helping me, and was actually grateful for his kindness and help.)

After a good half hour she finally latched and nursed a bit, and since then she’s been nursing like a champ!

While waiting for our room to be ready, we took a couple more pictures…  This was my first picture with the baby, and proof that the make up I put on for my last pregnancy picture was long gone…

At this point Karl complained that he had yet to hold the baby, ooops!

Eventually we moved up to our recovery room, and I was hooked to the bed with a catheter for 2 days (I asked for the second day since I was in way too much pain from the stitches).  I was bleeding like a pig, and despite the puppy pad under me, I got my share of bloody bed sheets, which was quite embarrassing, I felt horrible for the nurses.  (And gosh, you bleed a whole lot postpartum!  And if you’re wondering, it has nothing to do with the tearing, but it’s your uterus contracting to get rid of the extra fluids – so whether you tear, don’t tear, have a c-section or a vaginal delivery, there will be blood.  And lots and lots of it.) 

I even got a sponge bath the second day, which felt amazing, and like a spa experience, as the nurse scrubbed and massaged me with a warm wet washcloth using my own toiletries.  After over 24 hours not showering and bleeding so much, it felt amazing!  (I have no clue if all sponge baths are this nice, or only here in the Philippines.)

It took us two days to settle on a name, and I’m still getting used to calling her something other than “baby.”  Elena passed all her tests and is a super healthy baby.  I couldn’t sleep in the hospital, as there were always people coming in and out to check on me and the baby, and the adrenaline was running in my system.  I got 7 hours of sleep in 3 days and I wasn’t even tired!  Karl slept a lot since he can sleep anywhere, and would literally close his eyes in mid-conversation, while I was super energetic non-stop. Ellie stayed with us in the room (we didn’t send her to the nursery), and except for nighttime, I kept her in my arms the whole time, I couldn’t let go!  The last night, I ended up holding her all night as well instead of putting her in the bassinet. 

We had a ton of visitors, which was great, as I was cooped up in that little room for so long, so it made the time much more interesting.

On Friday we finally left the hospital and came home, and I’ve been loving the time at home with her, despite being very much sleep deprived (the exhaustion did catch up with me the minute we arrived at home, so I’ve taken many naps, and yes, many naps with baby!).  Karl stayed with us in the hospital, and is taking two weeks off to stay with us at home as well, so it’s been great having him around.

Lily and Lucas are hesitant about the baby, and Lily is definitely hurt, as if she’s been replaced (she has not, I love her just the same, but she’s keeping her distance a bit, but hoping she’ll warm up soon).

I should finish this by adding that I had heard a lot of complaints about the nurses in Manila, that they’re not very competent, don’t know to wash their hands, etc.  We stayed in the hospital from Tuesday through Friday, and my experience was the absolute opposite.  The nurses were spectacular, always washed their hands (they would put their things down in the room, go to our bathroom to wash, and come back out), very knowledgeable and patient.  At no point did I feel that my health or my baby’s health couldn’t be trusted in their hands – far from it, I trusted them completely, and anytime they didn’t know an answer, they would call the pediatrician or OBGYN on call to check.  And they were also incredibly nice, always attentive and you could tell they genuinely like their job and interacting with patients.  I’m planning on getting them a basket of goodies to thank them for the hard work.

The food at Makati Med was also surprisingly good and I was very well fed, didn’t need any of the snacks we brought (though I did snack on chocolate I received from Sara – I’m not superhuman after all!).  I had heard it’s super oily and unhealthy, but my doctor had me on a high fiber diet, and the food was great – so if you’re there for whatever reason and like me you dislike Pinoy food, ask for a high fiber diet as well!

Despite my personal struggle with labor, my birth experience was incredible, and I don’t think I would have gotten care similar to that in the US.  My doctor was always available by cellphone (no answering service!), I knew she would be the one who would deliver my baby (no multiple doctor practice), she is as friendly as one can be, but takes absolute charge of the room when it matters, and you could tell she is highly respected in the hospital.  As I mentioned, the nurses were also spectacular.  And everyone else from the cleaning staff that came to the room every day, to the guy who delivered my food, were friendly and amazingly nice.

My OBGYN and Ellie’s pediatrician also stopped by every single morning we were in the hospital to check on me/her (when in the US your actual pediatrician would make the rounds at a hospital prior to going to her office – even when she has office hours in the next town over?).

I am so so so glad I made the right decision and delivered in Manila and didn’t medevac to the US or Singapore!  I spent so much time debating where to go to, that now I look back and see how silly it was.  Home was not just the best place, but the best care, surpassing all my expectations!

On Monday morning I went to the doctor to get my membranes stripped for the 3rd time.  I was hoping there had been some changes since my 39 week appointment, but sadly, I was still 1 to 2 centimeters dilated, 60% effaced, baby still at -2 station. 

For those of you unfamiliar with pregnancy terms, for a baby to be born by a vaginal delivery, you need to be 10cm dilated (that’s how open your cervix is so baby can come out), 100% effaced (meaning how thin your cervix is getting in order to allow full dilation), +3 station (it goes from -3 to +3, meaning if baby is high or has dropped).  So basically, I was barely dilated, walking around for 2 weeks with no change, and the baby was still very high.

I made an appointment to go back on Thursday, and the doctor was going to do an ultrasound to check if everything was ok to let me go overdue, and we talked about an induction when I reached 41 weeks.  I left feeling deflated, and as I was on my way out and told the secretary “see you on Thursday” she smiled and said “No…  I’m not going to see you on Thursday…” (Great intuition, no?)

I met a friend at Jamba Juice in the Fort after my appointment, talked about how little had happened, walked to her place with her since I wanted to get things moving, and as I was walking back to High St at almost 1pm, I texted Karl “This time I didn’t even have cramping afterwards ” 

At 2:15pm I sent Karl a text “Spotting and a bit of cramping now.  So at least the strip did *something*” 

At this point, every time I went to pee, I also had to wipe a lot of bloody cervical mucous.  The “bloody show” as they call it, can be a sign that labor is starting, but because I had the membrane strip, I was associating it with that, since that can cause spotting and cramping.  (The bloody cervical mucous never stopped, and lasted until my very last trip to the bathroom the next day.)

Twenty minutes later I wrote “Cramps come and go.  Don’t get excited though.  Decided to time them and they last 10 seconds each.  Def not labor.”

Karl had a facial after work, which I told him to go to.  At 6:45pm I texted “No labor.  Contractions stopped.”

Karl got home around 7pm, by that point things had started up again and they were coming strong, by 7:50 the contractions were lasting about 25 seconds, anywhere from 1.5 minutes to 2.5 minutes apart, and I couldn’t talk, walk or do anything during them. 

I had bought fondue cheese earlier that day, and since I didn’t meet my friend for dinner as planned because of the pain, I decided that it was a good day to make fondue, because if I was in labor we might not get a chance to eat it later.  So I cut up the baguette, cut up and boiled potatoes, prepared the cheese, and we sat on the couch to eat.  It took forever to get things ready, because I kept having to stop to deal with the contractions, the same thing happened while eating dinner.  At this point it was around 9pm.  The contractions were just as frequent but still not lasting more than 35 seconds.

At 10:30pm the pain was getting worse and more intense, I went with Karl to walk Lily, and when we got back I started talking about going to the hospital.  I couldn’t deal with the pain, and all the online tips we found (massaging back, counter pressure, being on all 4’s, sitting on the exercise ball, taking a hot bath, etc, etc) didn’t do crap to ease them.  Trying to do anything actually made the pain worse.

Karl was hesitant to go to the hospital and being sent back home, since everything we read said to not go to the hospital until your contractions are 5 minutes apart, 1 minute long, lasting for at least an hour.  At that point, they had been anywhere from 1.5 to 3 minutes apart for about 4 hours, but aside from one contraction that lasted 3 minutes (!!!), they never lasted more than 50 seconds, and for the most part they were only 30-40 seconds long.  We didn’t know if it was only early labor (when you should stay home) or active labor (you should go to the hospital) because it didn’t follow any of the patterns we read about.  Contractions lasting only 30 seconds are usually early labor, contraction intervals lasting 5 minutes or less usually means active labor.  The last thing I wanted was to drive to the hospital in pain, only to be sent back home!

I texted the doctor to see if she could provide any guidance, but she never texted me back.  In her defense, I texted her at 11pm, and she had been very clear to CALL her when I went into labor (here the doctors actually give you their cellphone and home phone numbers, I’m so going to miss this personal care at my next pregnancy!).  I didn’t want to call her though, because it was late at night and I was still not sure whether this was anything so didn’t want to bother her for no reason.

I finally gave up, put make up on (I wanted nice postpartum pictures – spoiler alert: by the time I gave birth I looked liked crap, and got no good pictures), took this one last picture (I’m totally faking this smile in between contractions), and we headed out.  You can see from the picture, how my belly was still very high, and baby hadn’t dropped.

It was hard convincing Karl to go, I knew how unbearable the pain was, Karl was timing them and knew how frequent the contractions were, but still they weren’t following any patterns.  Since it was so late, I told him we would be in the hospital within 10 minutes, not having to deal with traffic, and if they sent me back then it would just be another 10 minute drive back home, but I really wanted to get checked because I couldn’t handle it anymore.

I should take this moment to say that the contractions were much much much worse than anything I’ve ever imagined.  It felt like my body was literally being ripped apart from the inside.  I had heard that in between contractions you get a break and feel normal, but in between contractions I still felt pain, they were just not as bad.  I really don’t think it’s a low pain threshold thing, as I’m not particularly weak (heck, my dental fillings were all done without anesthesia, because I’m more afraid of the needle than of the grinding pain), but I’m convinced that just like pregnancy is different for everyone, so are the contractions and pain of labor.  I mean, everyone’s body is different, so why assume that labor feels the same for everyone?  My grandmother had four pain free labors, and mine were the complete opposite of that, so it wasn’t just because she dealt better with pain.

The weird thing is that though I’m a crier, at no moment I cried, it was all just so painful, that I didn’t even have energy for that.  And at no point during labor did it even cross my mind “I’m having a baby!” or get excited about the end result.  All I could do was deal with the pain at that moment and concentrate on breathing.

So off we went to the hospital…

(To be continued, I’ll post the second part tomorrow.)

Meet baby Elena, named after my maternal grandmother, or as Karl has affectionate nicknamed her, Ellie.

Baby Elena was born on March 5th, at 8:47am, 19.75” (50cm) long, and weighing what must have been around 7lbs.

She weighed 6lb 6oz in the delivery room and was up to 7lbs the next morning… No baby gains half a pound overnight after birth, they actually lose weight. So after testing with various scales that confirmed the 7lb weight, it was decided the one in the delivery room needed to be calibrated. Good thing I don’t really care much about this mistake – everything from my labor to my hospital stay went so well, that a faulty scale did not ruin my experience!

I left my Monday’s doctor appointment convinced I would be overdue.  The doctor and I discussed an induction date at 41 weeks, since I had had no progress from my previous appointment.  Got my membranes stripped for the third time, and surprisingly went into labor a few hours later.  It was the most excruciating pain of my life, I’m not going to lie.  (And I’ve had second degree burns on my leg that even got infected, so I do know actual pain.)  The only thing I can make sense of, is not that my pain threshold is that low, because it isn’t, but that bodies react different to labor (just as they do to pregnancy), and some people just have more painful contractions than others. 

Anyway, full birth story (because I do want to remember the story for prosperity) to come. 

Here is the last pregnancy picture I took, in between contractions, shortly before heading to the hospital – and if there is ever a fake smile, that one is it.  I have to admit that I did fake it well…

It was love at first sight, and since then we’ve spent our days snuggling with her.  Finally came home from the hospital yesterday and enjoyed a quiet day at home today.

But who cares about all these details right?  There are cute baby pictures to share!  (My friends on facebook are probably tired of all of it!  Yes, I’ve become that mom.  OMG, I’m a mom!!!  It still feels surreal!)

Right after getting cleaned up, she was already pouting!

Karl’s first picture with baby – she looked like a little sumo wrestler when she was born!

Looking very much like her daddy in this picture!

I can’t believe how different she already looks from these first few pictures!

Always passing out on mommy!

Adorable baby feet!  (Thanks to my friend Zizi for the picture!)

Karl is totally devoted.  It’s adorable!

After two days in bed, finally got back up on my two feet!

After debating two names (Alessandra and Catarina) for months, we finally settled on a completely different name…  We both had been leaning towards Alessandra (baby Allie), after my late grandfather (who was Alexandre), and also the name I almost had – my dad changed his mind the night before I was born. But she just didn’t feel like an Alessandra…  She was “baby” for the first 2 days of life, and if it wasn’t for the birth certificate deadline, she would still be baby now.  We announced that we finally made a decision using this picture:

Such kissable cheeks!

Proud daddy!

Trying to get a shot of her eye.  Still a mystery if they’ll lighten to blue, or darken to brown like mine (please let them not be brown!).

Ellie’s first flowers, thanks to my friend Michelle.  We had a lot of visitors in the hospital, just as I had predicted, I’m one of those people who actually wanted interaction with friends afterwards!  Being cooped up in a room was driving me nuts, so the visitors were a nice break!

I thought it was adorable how she crossed her arms under her little face!

First day home, after a well deserved shower.  Lily making it clear she’s a tad bit jealous!  Since then she’s been staying the hell away from baby, she’s a bit hesitant/scared, but hoping she’ll warm up soon like the big sister she is!  Lucas is also hesitant about the new addition, his pupils dilate like crazy when he approaches us!

Naked baby!

Front view of me 4 days postpartum and still super sleep deprived (I had so much adrenaline, couldn’t sleep in the hospital at all!).

To help Lily warm up to baby, we both joined her and Karl for a walk this afternoon, and I got to try my sling for the first time!  Still getting the hang of it, but I’ll be using it quite a bit, I can tell!

I’ll share my birth story in the next post, for those of you who want all the TMI details…

How far along?  Yes, I was hoping it wouldn’t have to come to this. But here I am, 39 weeks, still pregnant, still miserable, still writing these updates, still getting bigger, still gaining weight, still dealing with heartburn, bad skin (remember how I rarely wear make up?  Ha!  It’s a daily habit now! I have red and dark blotches all over my face…), lower back pain, horrible knee pain (from the weight?  Overstretched ligaments?  Something else?), lack of sleep, cramping all the time, constantly fatigued, always hungry…

My doctor’s appointment today was frustrating to say the least – there has been no progress since my 38 week appointment, and no signs of labor starting anytime soon.

But I got a much needed haircut today, so at least I’ll have good hair on the postpartum pictures?  One can hope?  And can I say how I’m going to miss paying less than 20 bucks for a senior hair stylist at a good salon (Philosophie, here in Makati) who give me consistently great haircuts that I love?

Total weight gain/loss:  For a bit I thought I hadn’t gained anything, since for once the doctor’s scale didn’t budge, but once I compared my home scale numbers with the ones last week, I have gained another pound.  27 pounds now and miserable.  But as of last weekend I officially stopped trying to eat healthy.  Sure, eating daily salads and still loving my fruits, but craving an ice cream?  Ok.  Want an iced caramel macchiato at Coffee Bean?  Sure.  I got two weeks left, I’m gaining weight regardless, might as well enjoy the rest of the process.

Exercise:   I went up 19 flights of stairs today in order to try to trigger something after my doctor’s appointment.  It didn’t work.  But that was the only exercise I got this week, boo!  Not many of us left for the aqua aerobics, and still don’t have a great pool I can swim in (I’ve been offered, but with a busy morning schedule all week, and having to get the driver to the embassy to pick up Karl at 3pm, it hasn’t given me any time to actually take my friends up on their offer).

Measurements:  Belly increased even more and is at 44” now!  Waist went down a half inch to 37.5”, and ribcage is now at 34.5” which is also a half inch decrease.  I wonder if my belly is *starting* to drop, hence the change?  Said that, in pictures it looks pretty high up still, no?  I actually don’t even see a difference from last week.

Maternity clothes?  Still rocking them!

Stretch marks?  Nothing yet!  Hope this baby decides to get out before my skin can’t handle it anymore!  And I don’t care what people say that stretch marks are genetic – I’ve been slathering almond oil and burt’s bees belly butter twice a day on my belly, since early in the first trimester and NO stretch marks.  The rest of my body got neglected, and now I have stretch marks on my inner thighs – so yes, I do have the genetic disposition for them, almond oil WORKS.

Sleep:  Look at the pictures above.  See the bags under my eyes?  Still getting no sleep.

Best moment this week:  The MADS with dads event was a lot of fun!  The food was delicious (hello, extra pound on the scale!).  I also had lots of lunch dates with friends this week, went to the AWCP Bazaar and bought a couple of more cute things for baby girl, had a prenatal massage, got my haircut…  No best moment, but a lot of little good ones!

And Lily is extra cuddly today (she’s not a cuddly dog at all even though she was a super cuddly puppy).

Miss Anything?  I miss having control of my body and not being pregnant.  I know, I know, this sounds awful since lots of people deal with infertility and here am I after only a couple of months trying, knocked up and bitching about it.  But pregnancy has not treated me well.  Totally worth it in the end, but I’m a mess.

Movement:  Not as much movement this week, but baby is big and running out of space…

Food cravings:  Salt & Vinegar Lays chips.  Rustans were out of them when I went to satisfy my craving.  Need to go back and check again!

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Car rides.

Have you started to show yet:  No doubt I’m carrying a big baby in there!

Gender:  Girl!

Labor Signs:  None.  None. NONE!  Ugh.  I woke up last Thursday night with horrible stomach pangs that came and went, and got all excited that maybe I was *finally* in labor.  Turns out, I got food poisoning at People’s Palace of all places.  (I guess sooner or later I was bound to get something in Asia that didn’t agree with me, right?)  So much for the false alarm.  And if I thought I was getting bad sleep before, after two nights camped in the bathroom, I’m really behind on sleep this week!

Belly Button in or out?  Staying in for good!

Wedding rings on or off?  Off, and replacement silver band getting tighter by the day.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  I can’t even keep track anymore.  Moody, but with lots of happy sprinkled in there!

Looking forward to:  Finally going into labor?  One can hope!

So here are a few recovered gems, thanks to my Facebook’s timeline…

My driver said I look sexy today. FML.

So after I posted that, I was told that it turns out here in the Philippines, sexy means pretty – who knew?  Even then, having my 60+ year old driver telling me I looks sexy still creeped me out.

And another senseless conversation in the Philippines:
Me: “ugh, traffic”
Driver: “stoplight”
Me: “I don’t know, the driver of the bus next to us got out and is smoking a cigarette. He can probably see something we can’t.”
Driver: “Buses here are diesel, ma’am”
Me: …

The Philippines is really an interesting place.  Because people here speak English, but yet, they don’t.  A lot of the local expressions make no sense in English, or just annoys us. (Like using “wait a while” anytime they want you to wait a bit.  Or saying “enjoying” even when there’s nothing joyful about it, such as “you’re currently enjoying a one hour delay on your flight.”  Or using avail for everything “Are you going to avail of this promo?”  Or starting every sentence with “Actually…”)  I think it makes it specially frustrating for English speaking expats, more so than if you go to a country where English is not widely spoken – at least then you’re expecting some communication issues.

Here, people will rarely tell you “what, I don’t understand, can you repeat that?”  They’ll either give a reply for something totally random – like my driver above – or most often they will laugh.  Yep, just laugh in your face.  Now I know that when my driver starts laughing and I wasn’t telling a joke is that he has no clue what I said, so I just repeat it. 

Ah, life in the Philippines…. Conversation w my driver:
“On my way back from (working in) Libya I stopped in Thailand. But the women came to my room!”
“Rudy, I don’t need to know this!”
“Only U$24! But I don’t like. Afraid of AIDS”

I guess you realize your driver is too old for the job when at least once a week he totally forgets where you’re going. Less than 5 minutes after you told him and he repeated it back to you. Good thing I know my way around enough to go “uh, which way are you going?” “Hahahaha” “Rudy, it’s not funny, did you forget?” “Yes, ma’am, I forget!” *sigh*

Ok, so obviously my driver IS getting too old for the job (a friend even wondered if he ever gets somewhere then thinks “why am I here again?”), but the laughing as a reply?  A very very very Filipino reaction to avoid conflict.  It got to the point that I started saying “it’s not funny” or “do you see me laughing?” when I encounter that.  You can say I’m over this avoiding conflict thing, I just need to get things done!

My maid asked me today if milk comes out when I squeeze my boobs. What is wrong with our staff? I guess I should at least be relieved it wasn’t our male driver who asked the question?

A friend even commented “my doctor asked me that when I was pregnant, you’d be surprised!”  But my point was not the question that was asked, but who asked it – crossing a boundary here again, no?

And unrelated to the Philippines, but I posted this status during our trip in Laos:

Nothing like having the 3rd world slap you in the face, by ordering a coconut shake and having it arrive with a straw that has red lipstick marks on it. The straw that was already in my drink! Not only are they reusing straws but not even washing it first? So grossed out.

Yeah, it still grosses me out thinking about it. 

How far along?  38 Weeks!  And officially ready to be DONE. Done, done, done, done.  I’m uncomfortable, back hurts, not getting any sleep, always congested (which has been true from the beginning, but after 9 months, it’s getting old), tired of the constant need to pee, tired of how hard it is to get up and down, tired of my maternity clothes (though I heard they’re going to be part of my closet for a long time post-partum as well), anxious about getting the paperwork started so we can leave the country with her in May (thanks to the local government’s bureaucracy, getting a birth certificate is a loooong process that takes weeks), ready not to be out of breath after taking only one flight up the stairs, and so so so ready to meet this baby girl I’ve been incubating for so long.

Total weight gain/loss:  26lbs.  Another week, another half pound.  Have I mentioned how tired I am of the weight gain too?  Yep, I am.

Exercise:  Aqua aerobics and swimming!  Been swimming laps before class (I get there a little early), and it’s soooo soothing and relaxing.  I’m hoping I can find time in DC to swim laps too, and that in Rio we live near a lap pool.

Measurements:  Belly went up another half inch to 43.5” and waist is a whopping 38” – that’s 11” bigger than when I crossed the finish line at the Chicago Marathon in 2010!  Too unrealistic to think that by the end of the year I can get it back to the old size?

Maternity clothes?  Yes for everything, except dresses (though some are getting a bit too short to pull it off), underwear and bikinis (though I did have to buy XL tops in the beginning of the pregnancy so I wouldn’t look like the porno mom).

Stretch marks?  I *think* I still have nothing, but thanks to the hives I got last week (had to take meds to stop them), I have some leftover red scratch marks on my stomach and back, and I can’t tell if the stomach ones are temporary or actual stretch marks.  I’m hoping they’ll go away, specially since it’s all in a clump in one side of my belly.

Sleep:  Horrible sleep all week.

Best moment this week:  Probably the spectacular homemade Indonesian food I had at my friend’s Keke house!

I even got a picture with Una’s adorable baby girl: 

Oh, and we did a hospital tour on Sunday!  You’d think that would be when it hit me that within the next month we’ll be bringing a baby home, but nope, it still feels like forever to go, but it was cool seeing how the rooms are (they’re nice and huge!).

Miss Anything?  Sleeping on my back and stomach.  And sleeping in general.  And having a waist.

Movement:  After the scare last week, baby girl has been active, thankfully.

Food cravings:  Ice cream and salt & vinegar chips.  Sadly, both are now easily satisfied thanks to a Rustans (grocery store) that opened a few blocks from us, hence the half pound up (this week, I’ll take total blame for the weight gain, I gave up being good and still gaining, so might as well succumb to cravings if the end result will be an increase on the numbers on the scale anyway!).

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Still getting nauseous with car rides.

Have you started to show yet:  Definitely pregnant.  And waddling.

Gender:  Girl!

Labor Signs:  Nothing…

Belly Button in or out?  Still very very much an innie!

Wedding rings on or off?  Off.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  I think moody.  My mood turns very easily.

Looking forward to:  A “MADS with dads” afternoon that Keke is hosting!  MADS is the mom’s group I’m part of (how I’m meeting so many other pregnant girls!), and on Sunday Karl will get to tag along and meet a few of the girls I’ve been hanging out with (and their husbands).

How far along?  37 Weeks!  That’s a HUGE milestone because baby girl is officially considered full term now – meaning if she were to be born today, she would most likely not need any time in the NICU.  Also means I can officially start wishing this baby OUT without feeling guilty about it (gosh I’m so uncomfortable these days it’s not even funny).  Of course, I do want her to keep cooking for another week or two, but gosh, I hope she doesn’t decide to be late.

To add to the joys of pregnancy, I broke out in hives overnight, so yet another reason I’m ready to be done.  (But based on my doctor’s check on Tuesday, there’s been absolutely no progress, she’s quite comfortable there, no signs of making her appearance anytime soon.)

Total weight gain/loss:  25.5lbs.  Finally a week went by with no weight gain.  Let’s hope it continues that way, but it may just be wishful thinking!

Exercise:  Just aqua aerobics last Friday.  I missed it on Tuesday as baby decided to be too quiet for a few days straight, so went to the doctor to make sure everything was ok.  I was at Makati Med for 5 hours between ultrasounds and non-stress tests.  Luckily, it all came back ok, but it was comforting to know that if something were wrong, she’s mature enough that she could be taken out and be fine, you know?

Measurements:  Belly went up another half inch to 43” – I keep thinking it can’t get any bigger, and then it does.

Maternity clothes?  Still yes for everything except dresses and underwear.

Stretch marks?  Somehow my skin is still stretching with no signs of any stretch marks, but I know with some people it shows up during the very last week of pregnancy, so not counting my lucky stars just yet.  The fact that the hives are also now on my stomach, is not helping as I’m afraid the scratching might make the stretch out skin break a bit…

Sleep:  Still dealing with pregnancy insomnia.  If I have no plans in the morning, sleep finally kicks in and I can get a good snooze then.  Last night, as I fell asleep after 4am, was awake at 7am, back to sleep at 8:30, then up at 10:00  Not enough sleep in my book…

Best moment this week:  I can think of two!  The cute little kitten was officially adopted on Sunday!  She is now called Lulu (much nicer than “kitten” which is what we called her), and is enjoying her new life with Jenny.  We were sad to see her go as she was such a cute cuddly thing, and Lily was finally playing with her and it was hilarious!  But I’m so so happy she found a great mom to spend her time with!  I keep controlling myself not to text Jenny everyday asking “so how is kitten doing?”

The other great moment was that my friend Annalee threw me a small baby shower this weekend!  I bought all the essentials already (thank you Amazon and your free shipping to DPO), so I got fun things like clothes, shoes and books (and a cute rattle!).

See how it truly looks like I swallowed a watermelon?  But not bad for a non-maternity dress, right?

This is how the dress *used* to look like…  I miss having a waist…

Miss Anything?  Aside from my waist?  Sleeping on my stomach!  Tired of sleeping on my sides, I think it’s part of the reason I can’t fall asleep.  When I finally doze off, I wake up an hour later with horrible hip pain, switch sides and repeat.

Movement:  Quiet, quiet, quiet.  Turns out a very quiet baby makes a one worried mother-to-be, and a worried doctor too.  But of course, she’s been super active since leaving the hospital.

Food cravings:  I just want a nice slice of cake with ice cream on top.  Hmmmm…  Instead, I’ve been having lots of salads with this amazing new dressing I was introduced to at Annalee’s place:

It was so good, two of my friends asked me to buy for them too, and I went back to the store three times until it was back in stock.  Check if you can find this at the Asian section of your local supermarket, and you won’t regret it, I promise!

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Car rides are still my nemesis.

Have you started to show yet:  See picture of watermelon badly hidden under purple dress above.

Gender:  Girl!

Labor Signs:  None.  At all.  Doctor checked for progress and there was nothing.  Surprisingly, while hooked up to the monitors for the non-stress test, I had a few contractions but they were super-minor.  The doctor said a normal labor contraction reaches the 90 level lasting at least a minute, mine were on the 20’s lasting a few seconds.  No wonder I can’t feel them.

Belly Button in or out?  It’s going to be an innie to the end!

Wedding rings on or off?  Still off.  A couple of days ago even my replacement silver band was a bit tight.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Depends of the time.  I have a much shorter fuse than before, that’s for sure, and it’s not like I was patient before either.

Looking forward to:  My next doctor’s appointment next week.  I now live appointment to appointment, hoping for news of progress.

I loved the city, it was great to be in a big city with lots of green space and parks (something we miss the most here in Manila). 

We stayed at the Pudi Boutique Hotel, and I highly recommend it!  It was amazingly comfortable and convenient to a lot of restaurants.

We pretty much walked everywhere from our hotel, Shanghai wasn’t nearly as crowded as I was expecting.  And seeing trees everywhere was quite the novelty after living so long in Manila.

Believe it or not, despite being pregnant and dying to pee, it’s amazing your body’s capacity to hold *just a little longer* so you can avoid a smelly squat toilet (I’m leaving Asia in a little over 3 months, and have been successful in avoiding them completely!  It helps that they’re not the norm here in the Philippines).

It was a short trip, but we had a great time!  I definitely hope to be able to visit again someday!

How far along?  36 Weeks! 1 more week until full term, yay!

Total weight gain/loss:  25.5lbs.  Don’t ask how a person is able to put on 4.5lbs in a week without indulging in their favorite things, but apparently my body has a great ability to put on weight at this point (and let’s be honest, always).  My temporary wedding ring was tight this morning, so some of it might have been water weight, but who knows…   I gave up trying to control this whole weight thing during pregnancy, and I’ve literally shed enough tears about it (but thanks to pregnancy hormones and the continued weight gain, more crying about this may be in my future).

Exercise:  Nothing this last week, which certainly didn’t help.  But woke up last Friday with lots of nausea (thanks to pregnancy insomnia) and cramping, so doctor prescribed meds and told me to take it easy.  And since then, only the meds are stopping the cramping, so I’ve been taking it really easy…  Hoping to hit the pool for aqua aerobics again tomorrow though, specially since my check up is that afternoon (I’ll be talking about my birth plan, fun times!).

Measurements:  Belly has expanded to 42.5” (1.5” increase in a week!), waist also went up another inch and a half (to 37.5” – ouch!  10.5” bigger than I was when I got married!), and even my ribcage is now 35”!  At first I thought baby had shifted positions, but that wouldn’t explain the expansion from bottom to top…  Can’t wait for this baby to drop so I can bend over without feeling like I’m crushing my lungs.

Maternity clothes?  Still rocking maternity clothes except for dresses and underwear.

Stretch marks?  Surprisingly, despite the recent expansion, nothing yet.  Almond oil and Burt’s Bees belly butter twice a day is still working!

Sleep:  Looks like pregnancy insomnia is here to stay.  I miss sleep.

Best moment this week:  Lots of good moments this week!  My friend Una had her baby (a gorgeous baby girl) and had a relatively easy labor, which is always reassuring to hear!  I hosted my first MADS coffee and had about 14 girls here with their newborns and pregnant bellies!  And we found a home for the kitten!  She is still with us for now since we were treating her injured paw, but looks like she’ll be moving home this weekend.  We’ll miss her!  We’ve had so much fun cuddling and playing with her, and Lily is finally warming up to her as well.

Miss Anything?  Getting more than 3 hours of sleep at night.

Movement:  Lots of rolling and poking.  My belly gets stretched in ways I never thought was possible.

Food cravings:  Nothing this week.

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Still getting queasy with car rides.

Have you started to show yet:  Uh, yeah, no doubt I’m pregnant and didn’t just swallow a watermelon.

Gender:  Girl!

Labor Signs:  The cramping got me really really worried, enough that I was googling “baby born at 35 weeks” but I’m not as concerned now.  A week closer to due date, and no signs of labor despite horrible cramping that only stops with medication.

Belly Button in or out?  Belly button definitely staying in!

Wedding rings on or off?  Off for over a month now.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Eh, half/half I’d say.  I’m much more impatient than I already was.

Looking forward to:  I’ll have a little baby shower this weekend!  Nothing big, with just a few people, and since I bought everything we needed thanks to DPO and Amazon’s free shipping, just hoping to get kids books or clothes for when she’s a bit older.  Either way, I’ll just be happy to have something thrown for me.  For so long I thought I wouldn’t have anything, being so far away from my DC friends, but one of my friends and neighbors said every girl deserves a baby shower, so here we are!  So super nice of her and of everyone coming!

How far along?  35 Weeks!  2 more weeks until full term (which is of course a HUGE milestone), but still 5 long weeks until my due date (feels like forever!).

Total weight gain/loss:  21lbs.  Despite fluctuations during the week (to the point I just stopped weighing myself), when I stepped on the scale this morning there was no change from last week, finally!

Exercise:  Busy week (why is it that I’m getting busier the further along I get?), so aside from aqua aerobics I’ve done nothing.  I did manage to jump in the pool and swim laps for 10-15 minutes before class started both Friday and Tuesday, and I was surprised I didn’t have to take a break, and even more exciting:  not only flip-turns are totally doable with a big ass pregnant bump, but to be honest, it’s exactly the same as flip-turns pre-pregnancy…

Measurements:  Also no change!  Belly is still at 41” and waist is still at 36”, ribcage still at 34” and so on.  Belly looks much bigger compared to last week, but I think I’m just slouching more on the photo.  I also realized this week that my boobs are measuring the same as my belly (TMI?  What did you expect on a pregnancy post?) which makes me believe I must still have a waist, since the belly goes out much further than the boobs on the sideways shot.  This week I even took a frontal picture, which sadly proves nothing about the waist, but kind of shows how huge the tatas got (and I heard they’ll get bigger, which scares the bejeesus out of me):

Maternity clothes?  Yep yep, no change.

Stretch marks?  Thankfully that’s still a no.

Sleep:  Back at being crap.  Pregnancy insomnia has revisited me!

Best moment this week:  I guess hanging out with this little kitten has been pretty good?

I also met up with a few other pregnant friends this week, which was great!  Including lunch and high tea plans (hmmmm, cheese…).

Miss Anything?  Sleep.

Movement:  She’s been feisty this week, moving all over the place!

Food cravings:  No specific cravings for a change.  Just been really really really hungry.  To the point Karl is going “Are you serious?  You’re hungry?  Already?”

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Car rides.

Have you started to show yet:  Yep!  But when I went for my laser hair removal, I can still pull off the fat look (got one year unlimited for my armpits that expires in April, and need to use it as much as I can before I leave!).

Gender:  Girl!

Labor Signs:  A couple of contractions last night, then I decided to time it, and only remembered about it again this morning, so obviously it didn’t last long.

Belly Button in or out?  This one is staying an innie.

Wedding rings on or off?  Off.  I’m still not swollen, so quite annoying that my rings stopped fitting, even though my hands look as wrinkly as ever.  (Not that I want to swell up, but can I wear my rings already?) 

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Mostly happy.

Looking forward to:  Hosting the next MADS pregnancy group coffee on Wednesday, it’ll be nice having people over!  But one of the coolest people I have met at the group will likely miss it, since she’s having her baby any day now.

But anyway, up to 33 countries/territories, not bad considering I arrived in the Philippines with those numbers in the teens!

Here are some of the pictures I added from recent trips – I may have gone overboard with a few of them, but sometimes it’s hard to choose favorites.  (And yep, still planning on blogging all about the trips I haven’t shared yet, it will be nice reminiscing about them!)

Australia:  Sydney and Blue Mountains

Vietnam:  Hanoi (can you tell the weather was very gloomy?)

Malaysia:  Kota Kinabalu

Marshall Islands:  Majuro

Cambodia:  Phnom Penh

Federal States of Micronesia:  Pohnpei

China: Shanghai

This one from right here in the Philippines, our weekend trip to Subic to swim with dolphins!

Laos:  Vientiane

I also added some pictures to much older trips (pre-blog), like my trips to Greece, Spain, etc.  (Pretty much anything I had digital pictures for were finally included!)

Well, last night after dinner at the Ayala Park, Karl was ahead of me as he was stopping by McDonalds to get us sundaes (another oops…), and as I walked with Lily I spotted this scared gray kitten, completely terrified and alone.

I don’t need to tell you that when I waved my husband back across the street that I was not his favorite person then.  But how can I leave a tiny kitten left to die like that?  (And I think 2 kittens in 2 years in a city where there are strays everywhere is a pretty good number, no?)

So we brought him home, and under the light I saw how filthy he really was.  Off to the sink with some pet soap he went, and after lots (and lots) of scrubbing, and a total of three wash-rinse cycles (for real!), we got all the fleas and dirt out, and turns out the gray kitten was actually white…

And he might look well fed, thanks to his longer than usual fur, but he’s a skinny little thing once you touch him – you can feel every single rib and spine bone.  But we solved that problem by quickly feeding him after the bath (yay for not having to bottle feed again!), and boy, was he starving!

And I even cuddled with him a bit on the couch.  He purrs like no cat I’ve ever seen, and loves to cuddle and knead.  So different than the other kitten who was a feisty little thing!

Karl’s mean cold heart finally softened too, and he snuggled with the kitten today.

Of course, we can’t keep him.  Not only a newborn is entering our lives soon, but Lucas made it clear to us (again!) that he is in a one-cat family (nothing like seeing your sweet grown cat madly hiss at a tiny kitten).

Vet is coming tomorrow, and hope to advertise him for adoption soon once he gets a clean bill of health.  He’s such a little snuggly thing, that hopefully won’t be too hard for him to find a good home!  (Anyone in Manila reading this wants to adopt a kitty?)

How far along?  34 weeks!  3 weeks left until full-term, yay!

Total weight gain/loss:  21lbs.  I’m seriously tired of this.  I have no idea how the weight keeps packing on, and though I’ve been bad on the exercise, I haven’t been stuffing my face with ice cream and cake (I wish!  Then the weight gain would have been totally worth it!). 

Exercise:  This week wasn’t great.  Still doing the aqua aerobics, but nothing else.  Super-tired again, so have taken naps daily…  Today I managed to do 20 minutes of prenatal pilates, and hoping to start doing them 3 times a week, but actually doing it has somehow become a challenge.

Measurements:  Belly is at 41” (half an inch less than last week, I think baby shifted position slightly) and waist is still at 36” – everything else is measuring the same or slightly smaller (my ribcage went down an inch!).  So I have no idea where all the weight is going!  Despite my wedding ring not fitting, nothing is swollen, and my hands look normal, so where exactly IS this weight going?

Maternity clothes?  Yes on everything but underwear and dresses.  I think that will be the case until baby comes out.

Stretch marks?  Still none, but since the belly hasn’t gotten bigger, let’s hope my skin can hold on a few more weeks!

Sleep:  Some good days, but last night was miserable.  I got up to pee about 11 times (I counted, for real), and couldn’t really fall asleep until well after 3 or 4am.  I felt like a zombie all day today.

Best moment this week:  This weekend was really good.  Between getting a 2 hour prenatal massage, then eating a yummy burrito (a very rare thing in Manila!), then going to Tagaytay with Karl and Lily on Monday and stuffing our faces with the fresh food from Sonya’s Garden, it was super relaxing!

Tagaytay has one of the world’s smallest but also most active volcanoes.  See it right above Lily’s face?

Miss Anything?  Back to missing sleep.

Movement:  Had a bunch of slow days that honestly got me worried, but baby girl is active again the last couple of days.  Just had my appointment today and it’s all looking good!

Food cravings:  Karl had this amazing tuna tartare during his birthday dinner at Buddha Bar last week, and I’ve been dreaming of it since.  Also, craving fresh salads…  Wish Sonya’s Garden wasn’t such a long annoying drive to get to…

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Car rides in general.

Have you started to show yet:  Definitely past the “look just fat” stage!

Gender:  Girl!

Labor Signs:  None.  Baby girl is also very high, so my belly hasn’t dropped yet, and at the doctor’s appointment today no sign of progression either (which is great news at 34 weeks!).  3 more weeks until I can start hoping this baby will come out already!

Belly Button in or out?  In, and I will bet money that it’s staying in.  Still very deep, I have to really make an effort to see the bottom of it (pre-pregnancy I couldn’t even see the bottom at all).

Wedding rings on or off?  Off. 

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Lots of ups and downs.

Looking forward to:  A relaxing weekend with Karl!  Every other week he has chiropractor and orthodontist appointment, and that takes up most of Saturday (they make him wait forever at the dentist, some days he waits for 2 hours!  2 more months and those braces should come off, yay!), this weekend is the “off” week, so no plans and we can relax!  He also had to work a lot last weekend since he is in the 24 hour duty of the “special services” on the American Citizen Services part of the consulate, and due to a death of an American late last week, he spent most of the weekend on phone calls identifying then notifying next of kin, and all that other depressing stuff (it doesn’t help that most Americans stateside never heard of the State Department, so even explaining this is not a scam from the Philippines takes time).  He is still on duty this weekend, but here’s hoping it’ll be an easier weekend for him (and for the Americans in the Philippines!).

-Affordable Prenatal Care!  A doctor’s appointment here, before my insurance even kicks in, costs me $60, and that includes an ultrasound.  Oh, and that also includes going to one of the top hospitals and top doctors in the city.  Not bad right?

-Ultrasounds!  Every single appointment I have I get to see the baby.  No measuring my belly to see how things are going, ultrasound right away for the measurements.  Sure, they’re not necessary, but aside from getting another chance to see baby, the doctor measures all the body parts to make sure they’re growing ok, and also checks the other things that are important:  Is the baby in the right position?  Is there enough fluid around the baby?  Is the placenta up high?  Is the umbilical cord not wrapped around the baby?  Is the cervix high and closed?  And I get to take home a bunch of (let’s face it: creepy) pictures of the baby’s ultrasounds!  Looks like baby girl is sporting some chubby cheeks…

-Affordable Prenatal Massages!  I have talked about the great cheap massages I get here in Manila many many times before, and though it’s not easy to find a place that does prenatal massage, when you do find one, they’re affordable!  My favorite is still QiWellness, where a 90 minute prenatal massage is a little over P1,000 (about $25), there’s also Neo Spa (P1,150 for 60 minutes – about $28), and the cheapest, though I haven’t tried it yet, is Spaholics, a home massage service (P500/hour).  I have also heard of MomMassage, which is the most expensive specially for a home service at P1,200/hour, but they do lactation and post natal massages as well so I might try it after the baby is here (because postnatal massage at home would be convenient, no?).

-Chiropractor!  Sadly, the price for chiropractor here is not much cheaper than the US (about $60/session), probably because they’re so hard to find.  Luckily our (very very expensive) insurance covers a good chunk of that, so I have also been taking advantage to keep the back pain at a minimum (I got to N8).  I can’t even imagine how my back would be like without the weekly massages and chiropractor appointments, considering in how much pain I was in Australia, when I had none of that.

-Household Help!  Yep, another advantage of having a maid is that when things are all painful and uncomfortable, I don’t have to worry about laundry, cooking, cleaning…  And though I washed the baby’s clothes myself (I’m excited, what can I say?), I’m really relieved I don’t have to do anything else.  I guess a not very funny 1st World Problem is definitely “I’m pregnant, and have to clean the house on my own!” 

-Cute Baby Clothes!  If you go to the mall, you do pay a small fortune for anything baby, after all, it’s all imported.  But go off to Greenhills and Divisoria and you can buy some adorable little outfits.  Case in point, this whole bunch from Divisoria cost me a total of $50:

-Cute Baby Handicrafts!  Today I went to the AWCP Bazaar, and among other things, I came home with these super cute fabric toys (yes, the bunny house is furnished, and the furniture is also fabric and removable):

-The MADS Group!  MADS is an expat moms group, but they have a pregnancy/newborn group too, and it’s so much fun meeting other pregnant folks!  I have only been a member for a few weeks, and already met some amazing women and made good friends from it!

There may even be more things I’m forgetting about (so if you’ve been pregnant here, please remind me of it!).  Of course, there are many disadvantages as well – being stuck in daily traffic when you’re already uncomfortable, if you don’t have DPO you’re stuck buying all baby gear locally and that’s super expensive (things like strollers can be twice the price of the US!), the stuff you crave for might not be available, there’s no such thing as maternity clothes (the one time I asked,  I was sent to the plus sized section of the store! WTF!) and many more.  But when things get me down, I go off to my massage and I’m all good again…

And yes, the thought of having to go there again in May with all our luggage, a dog, a cat, a newborn and separate screening lines for male/female meaning definitely not enough hands for either of us to get through security properly does make me cringe.  I’m already dreading it, we have had many many many talks about it, and it’s still over 4 months away.

But if you’re bidding and want to know more about Manila, don’t forget to check out my post of What Makes Me Happy in Manila.  Not only I was in a much better mood, but let’s face it, there are a lot of good (great!) things about this place, even if sometimes traffic, jeepneys, pollution, and horrible arrivals/departures at NAIA makes us forget (and yes, I too am guilty of often forgetting how a wonderful experience living here has been).

I can’t wait to go to DC, see my friends again, go back to running my favorite trails, be able to take my dog on walks without kids running away screaming as if I’m walking a hyena.  But I also know our time in Asia will always hold a special place in my heart.  And though I hope we won’t get posted in Manila again (because we get to experience life in so few places, I rather not repeat!), I do hope we will live in Asia again, as I love this part of the world.

And if any of you bidders have any questions on Manila, really feel free to send me a note and I’ll get back to you – my contact info is right on the sidebar!  I have had many people emailing me through the blog, and have never not replied within a couple of days (if not a couple of hours!).

How far along?  33 weeks!  It means that even if I’m super overdue, I’m officially on the single digits countdown when it comes to how many weeks are left (4 weeks to full term, 9 weeks until they induce me).

Total weight gain/loss:  19lbs.  I put on another pound, despite my best efforts.  Damn hormones!

Exercise:  I went to the gym (and blogged about it!), and am still sore days later (seriously??).  Of course, aqua aerobics girl time too, which is always fun.  I even swam a lap in the pool where we have the class (after almost 2 years away from swimming since my pool is tiny), and that only proved that I really am out of shape (and how I miss swimming…), but the bump didn’t prevent me from doing a flip turn, so yay for small victories!

Measurements:  Belly at 41.5” waist at 36” – so slightly less than last week, meaning all the weight gain went straight to my hips?  (Boobs?  Thighs?  It must have gone somewhere…  Too scared to measure those now though!)

Maternity clothes?  Yep, but still rocking the regular dresses!  (Without making them obscenely short either, woot!)

Stretch marks?  My skin is holding on.

Sleep:  I actually was able to SLEEP a few nights this week.  (Sleeping is so amazingly wonderful, isn’t it?)  Sure, I still have to get up to pee every 10 minutes, but getting some good deep sleep (and falling asleep quick) in between has made a world of difference.  Let’s hope this is not a temporary thing, because I’m aching to go back to the gym (as soon as my body stops literally aching).

Best moment this week:  See bullet above: sleep!

Miss Anything?  Now that I got some sleep, I’m back to wanting a nice cold salted-rim margarita.  Hmmmm…

Movement:  Lots of rolling, but every time I pull off the camera so I can send my sister-in-law in Brazil a creepy video of the belly moving, baby girl gets shy and stops.

Food cravings:  The food at Sonya’s Garden, but looks like we may be making a special trip there on Monday.  Being able to eat more of that AMAZING mushroom dip?  YUM!

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Heartburn and the occasional car sickness.

Have you started to show yet:  More and more random people asking if I’m pregnant, or just assuming I am (“do you prefer to take the elevator?”).  Our maid today mentioned how I don’t look pregnant from the back, and I’ll take that as a compliment, even though I know that as a true Asian what she really means is that I look fat, not pregnant, from the back (not taboo to calling people fat in Asia, but I’ll never ever ever get used to that).

Gender:  Girl!

Labor Signs:  Nothing yet – 4 more weeks until it will be considered ok!

Belly Button in or out?  It looks like it’s going to hang in there for good.

Wedding rings on or off?  Off.  Totally forgot that my goal at Greenhills today was to buy a fake stand-by ring.  Ooops!

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Varies a lot.

Looking forward to:  A few hours at the spa with Karl this weekend celebrating his birthday!  (He turned 33 the day I turned 33 weeks. Cute, no?)

It really was spectacular!  Here is a video of the finale – it’s pretty short, so make sure to watch it until the end, because the fireworks get really really good then (if you want to watch it on HD, just click on the video to go to vimeo’s site).

We debated a lot whether we were going to face the crowds to see the fireworks or not.  After all, I was 30 weeks pregnant, and we knew that if we decided to go, it would be at least a 7 hour wait until the fireworks started.  Plus, most places in Sydney CBD were expected to reach capacity at 1pm!  1pm!!!

We had considered going to one of the restaurants with a view, but the prices for their New Year’s Eve parties were $400+  PER PERSON.  Since we’re not rolling in dough, I don’t need to mention how we didn’t consider that even for a second.

It was literally the night before when again while exploring our options and decided to give a go at North Sydney, at the very least, we would get in the train before the crowds from Sydney CBD.  One of my biggest fears was the crowded train on the way back.  From experience from July 4th in DC and past NYE in Singapore or Rio de Janeiro, I know that the stations are overcrowded, to the point you can’t even get into the station until a good hour after the fireworks are over.  We usually just walk to a station further away, and though that takes a good hour or so anyway, at least we’re walking away from crowds, versus being pushed and shoved into a crowded train.  But again, that was not an option at 30 weeks pregnant.

Anyway, we decided to give a go at Blue Point in North Sydney.  If it was too crowded or at capacity, we could turn around, go back to the hotel, say we tried and we’d be ok with that.

We got there and yes, near the water it was super crowded, but at 5pm there were still plenty of spots we could sit at and still have a view of the bridge.

Look at the crowds!

But our view wasn’t too bad, and we were against a fence, so no chance of being trampled from behind either!  I put my sarong down so we had a place to sit, brought snacks, bought some water and our kindles and we were good for the wait.  We even started chatting with a couple who sat in front of us who were American diplomats posted in Bangkok (what are the odds?), the Filipina next to us, and later with this group of very cool and chatty Australians who sat to our other side.  Time flew by and I didn’t even look at my kindle!

We were going to stay for the 9pm fireworks, and play it by ear from there depending on how I was feeling, but once we saw the 9pm show, we decided that if they were that good, the midnight one for SURE was worth sticking around for, so we got to see the whole thing.  (The porta-potty situation was a pain, I’m not going to lie, the lines were ridiculously long, people kept cutting the line – if I’m 30 weeks pregnant and can wait in line, what are their excuse?  And calling them out made no difference, they were rude as hell and refused to move, and even wanted to fight!  WTF! – but once you finally made it to the porta-potty, they were surprisingly clean, had a flush, lights and plenty of toilet paper, so despite my pregnant bladder, it really wasn’t the end of the world having to pee 3 times during the night.)

And as you saw in the video, the fireworks were amazing!

(Stupid girl photobombing the finale.)

And remember the crowded trains being my biggest fear?  We got into the station right away, they weren’t even charging for the fare (damn, we should have saved our money instead of pre-paying!), but that meant no line to get in, the first train that came went straight by us to Sydney CBD (nice to know they were sending empty trains to take care of the millions there), and the next train was mostly empty, we got a seat, and were comfortable for the ride back.  Of course, the train did get super crowded later, but being in North Sydney did help us out in that respect.

I know I’m late, but happy 2013!  I promise I’ll blog more about our trip to Sydney (and all my trips to the Marshall Islands, Pohnpei in Micronesia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Shanghai, climbing Mt Pinatubo here in the Philippines…) soon!

Yep, I actually went to the gym yesterday! (And took a blurry picture while at it…)  I seem not to be as tired this week as I’ve been, probably because I’ve been sleeping a little bit better the last few days (yay!), so took full advantage of it!

I only had a half-assed workout, as I’m almost 33 weeks along after all, so decided to take it easy, and actually ease myself back into a routine.  Only did a set of deadlifts, a set of squats, with 25lb dumbbells (and to think I used to use 35-40lbs), and one set of shoulder raises, and one of lat pulldown.  Then I did a 10 minute prenatal pilates video from youtube at home and called it a day (I would have done another one, but the stupid thing wouldn’t stop loading every minute or so, so I gave up on my crappy internet connection.  Trying to figure out how to download it, because I can’t really workout if I keep waiting for the thing to load, even after I paused it and “preload it” – or so I thought).

First, deadlifts with a bump is super hard!  You kind of run out of space there to reach down (and how did I not predict that?), second, despite taking it super easy, my out-of-shape-ness slapped me on the face this morning when I woke up sore.  From doing that?  Yikes!  One more reason to get back to the gym more often! 

Let’s hope this lack of extreme fatigue will continue for the next 2 months so I’m not a complete blob of jello when this baby girl makes her appearance.

And just for fun, here is a picture from the beginning of my second trimester on the left (I was 14.5 weeks along), when I thought I could see the beginning of a bump (hahahaha) compared to now. 

Depressing to confirm, in pictures, how my butt has gone through an expansion project as well (lack of working out will do that to you, so I’m not surprised, but doesn’t mean I’m not bummed about it).  And considering how curved my back is now, it’s no wonder I’m dealing with lower back pain!

The good news?  It felt good to workout again, so let’s hope this lack of insomnia is here to stay!  (And yes, that might be more blogging because more sleep = more disposition to write!)

How far along?  32 weeks!  8 weeks to go, give or take.  It sounds like it’s right around the corner, but that’s also 2 more months.  It’s a loooong time when I’m already so uncomfortable…

Total weight gain/loss:  18lbs.  So another 1.5lbs gained in the last 2 weeks.  And I had been good this past week!!!  Really annoying that I put on half a pound this week alone.

Exercise:  Nothing.  Unless standing on my feet for over 6 hours on Tuesday during photography class counts.  I’m so so so tired from it still though.  This next week is back to my normal routine, so hoping I can get some workouts in.  I miss it.  I really do.

Measurements:  OMG!!!  My waist grew 2 (yes 2!!!!) inches in this last week alone, now measuring 37” and the widest part of my belly is now measuring 42”!!!  It’s a wonder I haven’t toppled over yet.

Maternity clothes?  Yep.

Stretch marks?  Still nothing, but the way things are going, not sure how much longer my skin is going to hold out.

Sleep:  This is getting repetitive, but still sucks.  This week was specially bad since I had to get up early (as early as 5:30 on Tuesday!) for photography class.

Best moment this week:  I guess learning how to use my camera in manual mode pre-baby is it!

Miss Anything?  Still missing sleep.

Movement:  A lot of rolling vs kicking.  Totally weird feeling the baby move that way!

Food cravings:  Right now?  Yellow Cab pizza.  But it’s late in Manila, and I already had dinner so hopefully the craving is gone by tomorrow.

Anything making you queasy or sick:  Heartburn still getting the best of me.  And I got carsick a couple of times this week, having to lie down once I got home to avoid throwing up.  I think lack of sleep hasn’t helped with it though.

Have you started to show yet:  I look pregnant for sure now, no doubt.  The receptionist in my building finally asked me about it, making it official that I look pregnant, not fat.

Gender:  Girl!

Labor Signs:  Nothing – baby needs to hang in there for at least another 5 weeks!

Belly Button in or out?  In, and I think it’s going to hang in there.

Wedding rings on or off?  Off.  I have a plain platinum band that is my “back up ring” (in case we ever go to a place where my usual diamond band is a no-no), and I’m tempted to get that resized.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Back to moody.

Looking forward to:  Had to cancel my Tuesday doctor’s appointment because of the photography class, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s appointment now!  Karl can now come with me, and he hasn’t been to the doctor’s with me since my 20 week appointment.  I *think* we’ll be discussing birth plans tomorrow, so it’ll be good to have him there.,

I signed up for the class at the last minute – I did my research on Friday late afternoon, and surprisingly, I got a reply back that there was still room in the class! 

One of the main reasons I hadn’t taken the class before, even though I’ve been in Manila for a while and I arrived with that on my “to do” list, is that most classes here happen in multiple weekends, usually 5 Saturdays or Sundays in a row – and I have yet to have 5 weekends in a row in Manila (I know, that’s about to change very fast!). 

Most of the classes I found go through the end of February, which is a bit too close to my due date to risk, so at the end I spent more than I wanted to spend and took a 3 day (very intensive) basic photography class at PCCI here in Makati.

And yep, I am totally comfortable using my camera on manual mode now, the only problem is I have to keep taking pictures so I don’t forget what I learned, but Manila is back to its gloomy day self today (and apparently for the next few days). 

A lot of my pictures are boring, as we had our first morning shoot in Greenbelt, a shopping mall nearby with outdoor space, and that being a place I go to once or twice a week, it was hard to find inspiration…  Plus the main goal was learning to use the camera.  We did a few portrait shots too, but they’re pretty boring, so not posting them here. Here are some of my morning photos:

The end of the afternoon/nighttime shoot was a lot more fun (though I was EXHAUSTED by then), as we went to Roxas Boulevard (near the US Embassy) and were taking pictures of sunset and things in motion, here are a few of them:

My best attempt at panning:

And Manila’s one claim to fame:  its gorgeous sunsets!  (I heard that pollution helps make the sunsets prettier, so I’m not surprised there are beautiful ones here!)

Some of my classmates…

Nothing like a bride and groom who conveniently walk by as you’re learning to shoot!

Capturing motion again (not perfect as I didn’t use a tripod, I need to try this on a busier street where cars are going by faster to get the cool light effect!  Maybe back in DC where traffic does move by faster?).

Making “art” with lights…

Bokeh:

A couple of my classmates also got a shot of the silhouette of my bump against the sunset, and I can’t wait for them to send me those pictures so I can share it here!  (Nothing like being proud of my big belly, huh?)