A Walk Through Life

After reading Shanix's blog about birth control , I also thought of writing about it. At first, I thought that it's a little awkward to talk about it on my blog. Talking about sex and stuffs like that is quite uncomfortable for me. I only talk about it hush-hush with some female friends. Anyway, I realized that just like the celebrities, I needed to take on more mature roles. Hehehe. How did I get pregnant, anyway? So there you go. After giving birth via c-section, I'm expected not to get pregnant within two to three years. Something to do with healthy pregnancy. My health, in general. Prior to giving birth, we've already agreed that we would only try the Billings method as our recourse for family planning. This is what the church had taught us during our pre-cana seminar. We were told that taking birth control pills, ligation and any other non-natural birth control methods are said to be "anti-life" and the church is against this. So that's my fear. Being...

it's been awhile since i've last monitored my blood pressure. i felt like everything's going back to normal. or so i thought. when i went back to my ob gyne last sunday for a post-natal checkup, i had a BP reading of 130/90. i used to be 110/70 prior to pregnancy. doctor said that i might be hypertensive already. chronic hypertension, that is. she will refer me to an internist when my BP wouldn't go down below 130/90 after june 6th. i think that's already past the 6-week recovery period from c-section. she said that 130/90 BP is a boundary between normal and hypertensive and with that, i need to closely monitor my BP. nowadays, i am told, a systolic of 90 and above needs aggressive treatment because of a high incidence of stroke in patients ages 30 and above. whew, that's the scary part. i guess i would need to closely monitor my BP again, and eat healthy foods. *sigh*

after the C-section, i thought it was already time to celebrate because i'm already out of danger. unfortunately, when i came back to my doctor to have my incision checked, i had a 150/110 reading again on my blood pressure. my BP has already returned to normal before i was released to the hospital but then it started recurring, again and again. i still have edema in the feet and abdomen at that time so the doctor suspected that it might be the contributing factor to my hypertension. aside from treating my edema, i was prescribed with medicine for hypertension but i only have to take it if my BP is above or equal to 130/80. i was reluctant to drink hypertension medicine because i was worried i might start to become dependent to it but the doctor insisted. my hypertension has to be corrected within six weeks. i was told that a hypertension that won't go away beyond six weeks after delivery is no longer a postpartum hypertension. it might become chronic. also, i was told that if ...

This may not be what you may call a perfect photograph but I was greatly touched by this picture. A picture of the three of us for the first time after the C-section. I look so pale and tired in this picture. Little Pauline is already beside me in my small bed. My husband is taking a quick pancit meal because he can't leave me to eat somewhere else. He's wrapped his hand with clean plastic so he can eat by hand. I gave birth at a district hospital, not so far away from our home. Unlike a private hospital where almost everything in it looks splendid, this district hospital is not really much of a beautiful sight, although their medical team are equally as competent as the ones being employed at a private hospital. In fact, most doctors who are working at a private hospital also work for a government hospital. When I first saw this picture, I was teary-eyed because I pitied ourselves. Didn't we look so poor and desolate in this situation? Actually, we're not in the ward s...

Who would ever think I would end up in the C-section? I guess as a primigravida , everyone's (including myself) expecting it'd be a normal vaginal delivery. Well, surprise! surprise! I kept asking myself, "How did it happen?" You see, I've been very careful about my pregnancy. Aside from my usual pre-natal sessions, I kept reading and browsing the Internet just to keep me informed about anything pertaining to pregnancy and motherhood. I guess I still have a lot to learn. A week before I gave birth to Pauline, I was requested to do another ultrasound. I was relieved to know that my baby is in cephalic position. I thought that should already be enough to keep me assured that it would be a normal delivery. It turned out that I was wrong. It was already three days past my expected delivery date, yet I still didn't feel any signs of impending labor. I don't know why but my doctor is beginning to worry. She did an internal examination on me and she said my cerv...

hello to my readers, fellow bloggers, friends, family and well-wishers! i'm now at home with baby diane pauline. it's so good to be at home and resting. or should i say recuperating. i thought it would be a normal delivery, but, unexpectedly, i said hello to the C-section. :( march 26, 2009. 2:27 a.m. thankfully, she's finally with us. i wish i could tell you right now all the details of what a struggle it had been trying to safely deliver baby pauline to this world but i'll probably write it on a new post later on as i am still not one hundred percent A-okay. just give me some time to be on the writing mode. meantime, i'll just leave you with this picture of pauline and his dad, taken at the hospital.