Week 12: First Trimester is Finally Over

Yesterday was the most awaited scheduled trip to my OB. I'm supposed to undergo a Down Syndrome Test and Pre-natal Test I but since we opted not to undergo the DST, my slot to the hi-tech ultrasound machine was foregone. All they did is take my blood sample. I got a bit disappointed for we thought that we won't be able to see our baby this time. When I went in to see my OB, I asked if we can still have an ultrasound. She told me that she'll just check the heartbeat, if in any case she didn't hear it, then she'll perform a quick scan of the baby. I'm not sure if she's bluffing when she said that she didn't hear the baby's heartbeat. For I thought I heard it. :D I think this hospital is a bit conservative in performing ultrasounds to the baby. So we waited a while until the ultrasound machine is available. This machine is the usual machine she used on me previously. I don't complain for I'm just happy that we'll be able to see our baby. Below are the scanned pictures! Our baby now measures 5.6cm (2.2in). The measurement is perfect for our baby's age by this time. Also, I have a new vitamin for the baby. It just surprises me pleasantly that the medicine actually came from The Philippines. :D I'm scheduled to come back again on my 16th week. By this early, they reserved a slot for me on the ultrasound machine so we could finally see the gender of our baby!

29 @ '09!

Its been a long while since my last post in our blog because Ive been busy in my work and some other stuff but since its my birthday today, I'm taking timeout to write one. I want to start this blog by thanking the Lord for another year that He has added to me and for all the love, guidance, protection and blessings that He has been showering our family.

Eventhough its my day today, Im not expeting anything because I already recieved my advance birthday gift a couple of weeks ago - its the best gift a man could ever received and thats when I found out that Im going to be a father. No words can express the joy that I felt in my heart and as a matter of fact I can hardly sleep that night. But knowing my wife, she will not let this day pass without surprising me. hehehe. Goodluck to her...

I was awaken by a phone call from my parents saying their greetings. As much as I want to take a leave from work, I cant because I have lots of things to do at the office. Since my wife didnt go to work today, she prepared my birthday dinner. I insisted to just have our dinner in our house rather than having it outside. She cooked my all time favorite spaghetti and baked some macaroons. And to complete my birthday dinner, we also ordered shroom delight and pep club pizza from pizzahut. I was watching TV in our room when the pizza delivery boy knocked at the door. My wife is just steps away from the door but she told me to get the pizza for her so I get the pizza and headed to our dining table and guess what my two eyes just saw - the most famous candle-lighted strawberry cake!!! This one is different from my last birthay because this one has chocolate bread - according to her. Kewl! I love you sweetheart! You always make my day! ;)

The fun didnt stop there. Eversince I was a kid, I always dreamt of being a pilot rather than being an engineer. And on my 29th bday, my wish was granted. I will be able to fly my Apache AH-64 Longbow Remote Controlled Helicopter! Woohooo!!!

To you my wife, thank you for everything and I love you so much!

Week 8: I See Spots

I guess I'm pretty lucky not to feel any nausea or any morning sickness during my pregnancy. I don't know if it is yet to come for I'm still on my first trimester. Sometimes I won't feel pregnant at all for I have a lot of energy in me! :D

After dinner last night, we had a short walk to a nearby grocery to get some ingredients for my macaroons I plan to bake. While walking, we were joking to go to other hospitals to see othe OB just so we could have another ultrasound to check on the baby. It's a good plan but I didn't agree for it would cost us money of course. Just as we are about to get ready to sleep at around 11pm, I peed. That's the time I saw some brown spots and I'm pretty sure a trace of blood. Knowing that it is unusual, I showed it to my habibi. I needed a second opinion it is what they called "spotting" that I see. After arguing if it is spotting or not, I checked it again. Next thing I see was red blood! That alarmed me. My habibi stood up and was dressed and ready to go to the hospital in a minute! I wanted to see if I could contact my OB first. Since I know that the clinic is closed, I called their Delivery Suite Hotline. I told the lady who answered my call that I'm 8 weeks pregnant and I'm spotting. She adviced me to take some rest and go to the clinic tomorrow morning. Is she kidding? After seeing the fresh blood, I don't think we'll be able to sleep at all! I asked my habibi to get me the hotline number of another women's hospital. I called them and was assured that they have doctors to look at me. On the way to the hospital, I silently thought that could it be possible that the reason why I don't feel any pregnancy signs is that something maybe a problem with our baby? Immediately, I erased that thought. I need to be optimistic this time.

At 12:05am, we were at their lobby. There were I think about 2 patients there. My queue number reads "0001" so I thought that we'd be done in no time. My habibi kept on saying that if he like the service there, we would change my OB. Our number was called. My personal information was taken for record. Took my blood pressure and urine sample. I was asked what my concern is about. Then we were told to seat again and wait for our number to be called. All the while we though it was already the doctor we're talking to! 30 minutes has passed and we're still waiting. More patients arrived. Another 30 minutes passed and I start to wonder that maybe it would have been better if we just stayed at home and rest. My habibi's eyes are now red and is sleepy. Poor Dad-to-be. Another 30 minutes passed. They started calling patients whose number is behind us. My habibi wanted to complain but I stopped him. I pointed to the screen the text that says "Queue numbers may not be called in order." So there's no point of complaining. I just got a little irritated for I didn't know how they evaluate the urgency of their patients needs for I'm sure that whoever who came to the hospital during the wee hours have emergency cases. Another 30 minutes has passed and our number was called! Hooray!

I'm thankful that the OB who checked on me was a lady doctor. We had another ultrasound to check the baby. She said the baby is fine. The she showed it to me. I'm so happy when I saw the monitor. Our baby has developed arms and feet though it's still small. The heart is beating normally. Our baby seems so peaceful and it made me smile. I asked the OB to show it to my habibi as well. I pointed to him the arms and feet. We are both delighted! The soft spoken OB told me that the pregnancy is not stable during the first three months. I can't comprehend if what she's saying is generic or is it my pregnancy that is not stable. She prescribed me a medicine to take twice a day. I assumed that this is the magic tablet that they call "pampakapit". After the consultation, I told my habibi that I still want to go to my true OB.



So today I called her clinic and asked for an appointment. At first I just wanted to talk to her. But when the nurse learned of my situation, I was given the 10:40am slot. Just as I'm about to get ready at 10am, I got a call from her clinic asking me to come early. I thought that maybe my OB learned of my situation and wanted to see me ASAP. Since I still haven't taken my bath, I said that the earliest time I'd arrive is 1030am. There's not much difference! hahaha! So quickly but carefully I got ready. It's such a blessing that our house is just a 5 minute taxi ride. I arrived exactly at 10:30am. In about 20 minutes, I'm inside her clinic.

I told her that I can't contact her last night so we went to other hospital. Then I showed her the ultrasound they did. I also brought the medicine to show her. Just as I'm about to bring out the medicine, I saw on her face that she's half expecting it already. First, she apologized for she forgot to instruct me how to reach her during the wee hours. According to her, the lady I talked to last night may not be aware of the SOP they have. Secondly, she told me that there is a research study saying that taking those medicine is not helpful at all. She says that if I'm gonna have a miscarriage, there's nothing I can do about it. Some take those medicines just so they can say that they did something. Which makes sense. She then asked me if the doctor looked inside me and found the cause of my spotting. I said maybe but she didn't told me. She did not question the ultrasound I brought for it shows that the baby is normal. So she said that she'll just look inside me just to see if she'll be able to see the problem. In an instant, she almost shouted that she saw the cause of my spotting. Apprarently, I developed polyps. She said that this is common for women pregnant or not. She said that if I'm not pregnant, she'll remove it on the spot. But since pregnant women are prone to infection, she leaves it as is. She also checked if my cervix is still closed and it still is. I'm just glad that it is not our baby that caused my spotting. Since I already took one tablet earlier that morning, my OB gave me the option if I would continue to take it or not. Otherwise, I could just sell it on ebay! hahahah! That medicine is not cheap I tell you!

This experience just made me adore my OB more! I've been to two other OB's and it's only to her that I felt most comfortable with. My habibi's wish to go to other hospital for a checkup was granted in an instant. I guess we should really be careful what we wish for! :D

Week 7: Heart Starts to Beat

During our first checkup, we were told to come two weeks after so we can check the development of my pregnancy and see the heart starts beating. Since then we are doing our countdown by the number of folic acid tablets I've taken. Finally the day had arrived. Since my habibi can't take a leave as often as I can, he planned to sneak out of his office for a while to see our next ultrasound. It's a good thing that the hospital is just a 5 minute taxi ride from his office. Aside from the ultrasound I'm excited to see my true OB this to check on me.

Once in her office, she started to read to us the result of the sperm analysis that my hubby did before we went back to Philippines. As agreed, my OB would call me for the result so I won't need to come to the hospital for it. Unfortunately she wasn't able to contact me for my phone was unavailable. She thought we were there to consult for a fertility work up. She was so surprised when I told her that we're already pregnant! She didn't see anything on her notes. Apparently, it was on the next page of my record book. We all had a good laugh about it.

She did an ultrasound to check the baby. We're so happy that we can now see something inside the sac! I'm definitely pregnant! Aside from that we saw the beating heart of our baby! I asked if we can hear it. We almost didn't get to hear it for the machine she used is old. But our baby wanted to show off so he let us hear it. It's a bit faint to hear but my OB assured us that the baby's heartbeat rate is normal. That's good enough for me. We are again scheduled for another checkup one month after. It's a long wait!!! Below are new pix and the video of the heartbeat of our baby. For the video, hear closely when you get to 8-10 seconds and 20-24 seconds period of playtime.

One Answered Prayer!

We received the fruit of our prayers last night.

We bought two test kits last Monday to apease our boggling mind if we made it or not. I insisted to take the test at night thinking that we'll just sleep over it if the result is negative. Excited and afraid we got up to do the test. The test says to dip the stick into the sample for five seconds then lay it on flat surface and the result may be read after one minute. So we both counted, "1001,1002,1003,1004,1005"! As soon as the stick started to do its works, I looked away scared to see the result. Then in about 10 seconds JayR jumped about 3 feet away and shouted something like "Yes! Positive! Thank you!" I just stood for awhile shocked watching him. Then I looked at the result and the lines were so clear! I still can't believe my eyes! It really is positive!



Then we hugged! :D Immediately I called my mother to get online so we could chat! Then I showed it to her! She was elated! Then we called JayR's parents then my father. They were all happy as expected.

We couldn't sleep that night! We tried but we just can't! We closed our eyes with big smiles on our faces literally!!! I think I got to sleep at around 2:30am already. Then our alarm went off at 7:30am. I got up to prepare breakfast. I was shocked to see my habibi got up with me! Hahaha! I tried to ignore him and went straight to the kitchen. I looked at him and asked him what time did he woke up. He won't say but I knew he woke up earlier than I did for the lights on the restroom are still on! hahaha! Apparently he woke up every hour that night! Talk about excitement!

We both skipped work today to go see my OB. Unfortunately, my OB was on leave so I just asked for any lady doctor available. We had an ultrasound to check if the baby is inside my womb or not. Fortunately it is. Here are the first pictures of our baby! We'll come back after two weeks to hear the heartbeat!