A Walk Through Life

here's a little update on my little princess. lately, our sweet pauline's skin color has changed. i don't know how it happened but i suspected she had too much exposure to sunlight. her nanny seems to have overdone the "sunshine" thing as i once caught her still walking the baby outdoors even when it's past 8 a.m. i'm not sure about this though. this can also be her "true" color, the "morena" effect. hmmm pretty soon she'll have the makings of a ms. universe hahaha i must be dreaming... check out her before and after pictures. DipDip at 4 weeks DipDip at 6 weeks My oh my, she's only less than two months old but look at her " siopao " face. LOL

i have a pretty good explanation for my long absence in this blogging world. yes, i was again caught up with a lot of things. time management. or the lack of it. it seems like i've been doing a lot of "catching up" lately. i honestly needed a secretary to help me with all my schedules. i guess i'm no longer good with math. i simply cannot do the simple rule of division. somebody please tell me how to divide my time! to start with, i'm already back at work. oh well, at first i didn't quite like the idea of having to go back to work that soon. what with my baby still needing my time and attention. in fact, an extension of time would have done me a favor, healthwise, but i realized i needed to go back to work so i can also help my husband with all the family expenses. i couldn't believe an infant formula can only last for a week or two. now if only i can store a lot of breast milk for my baby while i am not around. too bad, i don't have that much of a sup

How do we find joy in living? We all know that money cannot really buy true happiness. Happiness, for me, is something that keeps us from wanting and longing for so much more in this life; that we are already content with what we have achieved. We may have failed in other things but we have learned to accept that we are not perfect. That we are capable of making a terrible mistake but we are able to forgive ourselves for it; that we can excel at some things but can also be weak in other things. That sense of self-fulfillment. We are lucky if we have already reached this stage. No longer will we care about the latest gadgets that are available in the market. No longer will we care about holding a luxurious party for our birthdays or other occasions. No longer will we worry about what others think about us. No longer will we think about elevating our status just to earn everybody's respect. You see, life is more than just money. Life is all about relationships. Most affluent peop

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I am so jealous! Pauline is now daddy's favorite. His apple of the eyes. Everytime he comes home from work, he carries Pauline and tells her that he misses her so much. I asked him, "What about your wife? Didn't you miss her?" . LOL. Actually, I was only joking (although most jokes are half-meant, they say). I am jealous because Pauline and I didn't have any mom-and-daughter picture. Too bad, mom still looks awful with her still-bulging stomach. I've just spoken to my doctor and she says that these are my fats, the souvenir of my fondness for food during pregnancy. I will be losing it pretty soon if I breastfeed more often but Pauline feeds on the bottle more than she feeds on me. Now I'm putting pressure on my daughter. I told her that we need to help each other. I help supply her with antibodies and she helps me lose my weight. Suck baby, suck! :) On another note, my doctor also warned me ahead that I should not be pregnant again within two to three ye

It's a tiring day today. I went to the district hospital to get Pauline's certificate of live birth only to find out that it's not available yet because it hasn't been signed by the attending physician. The person in charge blamed me for not calling ahead. Wow! I even tried calling today but the phone in the Records Section is off. She made a lame excuse that it's only today that their phone's not working. Whatever! I almost forgot to hold my temper that it almost cost me a tablet of Nifedipine. I called my doctor and informed her about the unsigned document. She said she's been to the district hospital a lot of times but nobody has asked her to sign anything. This is such a lucky day! I was informed by the Records Section that the document is due on the 26th and that I need to personally have it signed by my doctor and that she needs it back by tomorrow so that it would then be ready a week after that. I wanted to complain--"Is this my job?" but d

Next to singing the videoke, blogging turned out to be my most interesting and enjoyable hobby because this is where I have gained new friends. In fact, right now, with the entrance of baby Pauline, it has totally replaced videoke singing as my favorite hobby. Baby Pauline would surely be awakened from her sleep if I would still be belting my way through Celine Dione’s or Whitney Houston’s songs. Oh, surely it would be a nightmare for her! Anyhow, after a year of blogging, I also noticed that I already have a PageRank 1 for my blog. I’m no expert about how websites are ranked by Google but I’m already happy that it has achieved a PR 1 rating. It’s been zero for the last several months. Talk about hitting two birds with one stone. I do not only enjoy blogging as a hobby, I sometimes earn from it. This is why I’ve come to love and embrace blogging more and more. Blogging is indeed both profitable and fun! So, I’m thinking, if I’m blogging for profit and fun, why not make t

I'd like to share this video of Daddy Pippen (Stephen's instant nickname) and Dip2x (Diane Pauline's nickname) which I uploaded in youtube. It's really fun to be a new mom. I enjoy taking simple videos like this. I watch it over and over again because it helps in lowering my blood pressure :) Here's a running joke behind this video: I pretended to be busy making this video so I will have a good excuse not to change Dip2x's diaper. LOL

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

As I've mentioned in my previous post, I really wanted to breastfeed little Pauline. I've also been encouraged by two of my long-time friends who are also advocates of breastfeeding. They gave me words of wisdom about it. Unfortunately, I didn't do breastfeeding full-time. Pauline has to be on mix feeding. As advised by the doctor, I have to rest also because of my hypertension. So it's either that I breastfeed her during daytime or nighttime. Also, I didn't have abundant supply of milk yet and I couldn't keep up with her appetite. She cries each time the flow of my milk slows down. Anyway, I'd be back to work soon and she'd need to be fed with an infant formula whenever I am not around. I already bought the breast pump (the electric one). I've been taking soups on my diet, too. Both didn't quite help with milk production. Or maybe I am just being too impatient. Suggestions, anyone? I won't give up, though. I'm still breastfeeding. It'

Part of the physical changes after giving birth that I've experienced is increased sweating. Yes, lately, I've been sweating so much that I have to refresh myself by taking a shower so I can also keep myself from smelling so bad. After a refreshing shower, I would put on a dab of baby cologne. Yes, I don't use perfume anymore. Just a dab of baby cologne. They say it's too early yet to use baby cologne on little Pauline so I'll be the one to use it first. It smells so good! I really love the scent of a baby cologne because it's milder than a perfume. The mild scent of it brings me back to my younger days. It gives a light, comfortable feeling. I feel young again!

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.

Just for the record, it's been fourteen days since my maternity leave. Little Pauline is still kicking strong inside my womb. If she follows the expected delivery date stated in the ultrasound, I'll be due in eight days. Waaaaaa... I'm getting excited and nervous at the same time. How will I hold out on this pregnancy? God, I certainly wish and pray for a safe delivery. Ever since I got this break from work, I've been doing some walking as a form of exercise. The doctor told me it is best for me. It can certainly help induce labor by bringing on contractions, in a natural way. Everytime I do that, I feel like she's going a little lower, heading down below my pelvis. If she's indeed moved a little lower, the internal examination tomorrow wouldn't be as painful as my first experience. I'd be lucky if the doctor wouldn't have to probe deeper. I wake up everyday wondering if today could be the day that my waterbag breaks. Am I ready for it? I have everyt

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I remembered bchai mentioning something about an oatmeal lotion that can give some relief to itching during pregnancy. I’ve been doing some shopping here and there but I didn’t see any oatmeal lotion being sold here in Cebu. Or maybe I just didn’t look hard enough. Right now, I’m itching all over my belly. My back is itching too but it’s not quite as itchy as my belly. I tell you, it’s not fun to itch like this. I’ve been trying to control the itching by trying not to scratch it, like it’s a mind-over-matter kind of thing. Sometimes I can’t help but scratch it a little. And a little bit more. Now the sight of my stretch marks is getting worse.

Since I’m getting closer to my D-day, I’ve been seeing my ob gyne every week. If I remember it right, this weekly pre-natal visit started when I hit my eighth month. During the first few weeks of my visit, ob gyne just did some routine check—measuring the size of my belly and checking on the baby’s heartbeat via Doppler. What else is new? I've been getting my usual verbal reminding from ob gyne about my almost uncontrollable appetite. Like a recorder, she’s been constantly telling me to eat in small meals and that I should stop eating before I feel “full”. Oh, I don’t know why, I don’t have special cravings for a certain food like most pregnant women but I believe I have a crazy appetite. If I should get pregnant again, I will no longer submit to my appetite, no more overeating. It’s such a struggle when you’re pregnant and putting on too much weight. It’s an excruciating experience especially during the later weeks of pregnancy. Why? First, it’s harder to get up with a really bloa

I thought I would not be writing anything until after my big day. Since I’m already within the full term of my pregnancy, I’ve been caught up with a lot of things. So this is what it feels like when you’re waiting for D-day, huh! Everytime hubby is planning on going somewhere else without me, I feel so scared that he won’t be around when my water bag breaks. It’s a blessing in disguise that their training in the new company was put on hold until further notice. It buys us some time for him to be around when I’m in labor. By the way, we’ve received monetary gifts from sister-in-law in Norway and aunt/uncle in New Jersey. Such sweet relatives--thank you very much! They sent us to the mall shopping for more of our baby Pauline’s needs. Thank you God for all the blessings! As far as planning is concerned, everything went well. We just hired someone to help us around the house. She’ll be our baby sitter when hubby and I get back to work. We also made sure that we have everything we primari

I’m starting off this post with a quote: “Always too soon to quit. Never too late to start.” – Anonymous If there is one thing I would like to say to my younger brother today, it would be that quote. It is indeed never too late to start again more intelligently . The results of the November 2008 Philippine Nursing Licensure Exam was already released by PRC last Friday, February 20, 2009. Sadly, brother’s name didn’t make it to the list of those who passed the said examination. I have been praying to God that he would make it to the list but I guess I didn’t pray hard enough. Brother didn’t pray harder enough. I guess he also needs to work his ass off in order to achieve his goal of adding the title “RN” after his name. You see it’s not just prayers. And it’s not just luck. Diligence. Patience. Sacrifice. Hardwork. Along with a strong faith in God and His kindness, these are also the qualities that would help a man get to his goal. God helps those who also help themselves. So to my b

(Just a short but funny recollection of brother McAldz. This happened years ago but everytime I would remember about this, still puts the same smile on my face. :-)) Back then, our eldest brother didn't know much about Internet and stuff. The first time he was introduced to the Friendster network, he was very happy and sent SMS to everybody he knows with this message " Please add me - jules@yahoo.com , password 'bryant' ". You have guessed it right, the next lesson we gave him was how to change his password. Hehehe

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I could’ve written about this sooner but I’m still waiting for the pictures to get downloaded to the computer. We got this package at the Mandaue Central Post Office last Friday. Wow, it’s for our little princess Diane Pauline ! (Yes, we decided to name her Diane Pauline as Shan had earlier suggested since my sister Jemimah also suggested the same.) Thank you, Cathy , Jordan and Rome for being so sweet and thoughtful. Thanks for the nice message on the card, too. Thanks also to the Mandaue Central Post Office for rendering an honest service. We only had to pay thirty-five pesos for the customs fee. I heard about some horrible stories about packages not getting to the supposed recipient. In fact, it’s been almost three months since my hubby’s sister sent a package from Norway to their parents in Talisay via registered mail but the package was unheard of until now. His sister might have to file a complaint for this. Whew! I wonder what’s wrong with the world today.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, it’s been a rainy day in Cebu. Not good for celebrating Valentine’s Day elsewhere. We thought we should be staying in the house but we realized we needed to buy my pre-natal vitamins and to pay our electric bill. So we had no choice but to get out of our cage and take care of these itineraries. After taking care of these things, we simply decided to celebrate Valentine’s Day by having a dinner date at Max’s restaurant. This is our favorite restaurant, by the way. I think I have eaten too much again. Guilty as charged. LOL. I even enjoyed drinking a glass of iced tea but I don’t think it will do any harm to my princess inside my womb. Please, it’s just a glass of iced tea hehehe. It was a Happy Valentine’s Day for the three of us. Happy Valentine’s Day to all my friends!

I woke up with my husband still sleeping soundly in bed. I just realized it's Valentine's Day! It's a rainy morning. Makes me want to go back to bed but I guess I've had enough sleep already that I decided to open the computer and do a little surfing. While I'm at it, I'm thinking, or should I say daydreaming, if we were to live anywhere in America today, which state would that be? We do have relatives living in New Jersey but I guess it would be a wonderful experience to live in Arizona, particularly in Scottsdale. For the record, I just learned that they've experienced their warmest weather this year. At 80 degrees, I think I would love to be in Arizona to experience their warm winter. Also, if I may add, if anyone is thinking of relocating or retiring anywhere in the U.S., why don't you check out the White Mountain Vacation Club (courtesy of SFP)?

This is what moving on is all about. Officemates are saying goodbye to one another. Thanks to our colleague Lloyd for this video. And thanks to Jose Mari Chan for songs like this. Got me teary-eyed. Goodbye, everyone. See you around the next bend. Constant Change (by Jose Mari Chan) We're on the road We move from place to place And oftentimes when I'm about to call it home We'd have to move along Life is a constant change... The friends we know we meet along the way Too soon the times we share form part of yesterday 'Cause life's a constant change And nothing stays the same, oh no Clouds that move across the skies Are changing form before our very eyes Why couldn't we keep time from movin' on? Hold on to all the years before this moment's gone? Why must we live the days at such a frightening pace? We're all like clouds that move across the skies And changing form before our very eyes Have we outgrown our Peter Pans and wings? We've simply grown t

So I’ve forgotten to write an update about my pregnancy. Let me just pick up where I left off. I’ll be on my eighth month this February 15th. Last Sunday, I went to the clinic for my pre-natal checkup. Ob gyne almost forgot to give me my second dose of anti-tetanus that day. I almost forgot about it, too. Lately, this pregnancy is keeping me from remembering a lot of things. I’ve already stepped out of the consultation room and she had already pushed the button to call on her next patient when my husband who was just in the waiting area asked me if I was done with the anti-tetanus stuff. I had to ask the front desk assistant so that I’d be allowed to go back in to remind her about it. It’s in the patient card, doc. How could you have missed it? You had the schedule of the shot clearly written. I could have told her that but I didn’t. I don’t blame her. She got lots of patients every Sunday. It’s already way past lunch but she had to attend to about ten patients more. This is the same

I have always looked at life as a roller coaster ride. Some days are happy, some days are sad. Today, you’re in trouble, the next day, your happiness is doubled. And whether we like it or not, we will journey through this life with both the bitter and the better things. It’s just a matter of dealing with the bitter and savoring the better—and hopefully, looking forward to the best. Wow, am I getting serious or what? Have I lost my sense of humor? Being married is not just all fun and romance. It is also a lifetime commitment and obligation to your partner and to the marriage. Having or expecting a baby gives another excitement to the marriage but it also requires an even more serious role for the couple. Talk about trying to make all ends meet. Raising your child with the good and right values. Trying to shape ourselves to become the best parents we can be. This and probably much more. I’m sure you already know by now that hubby will be out of job effective February 28th. When you rea

"If you are weak in a crisis, you are weak indeed."--Proverbs 24:24 today came as a real shocker. i think i feel numb. i don't know what to feel. i had a premonition about this. but a premonition feels different than reality. yes, friends, if you've stumbled upon marie's latest blog , you would already have the idea that we're about to lose our jobs. hubby and the rest of our officemates are given 30 days' notice. call it retrenchment. i won't give the details but it has something to do with a new company owning the project we're working on. technically, they're still keeping me and two others but i don't know for how long, the rest has got to go. eventually, i may have to go, too. now this is nothing new to me. i've had an experience like this a few years back, it was even quite more worse than this. i was so down and in denial at that time. we got ourselves wasted almost every night because we couldn't believe our company&#

my blogging pastime was once again interrupted because of health reasons. i had to make sure that i regain my health before i start hitting the keys again for this purpose. about a week ago, i had episodes of diarrhea and fever which really had me worried because i feared that it will do some harm to my baby. despite feeling too tired, i had myself checked at the clinic. i was diagnosed with having this acute gastroenteritis. i thought i would be prescribed with medicines to relieve me of my condition but unfortunately, i was only advised to drink lots of fluids (including a hydrite tablet (to be dissolved in water), an oral rehydration solution) and to eat some bananas. the best part of it was that i was advised to take a rest. it could've meant never having to worry about things at work but eventually i had to pay the price for being sick and away from work because i was also caught up with my deadlines when i got back. come to think of it, i'd rather be pregnant and working

and the element of surprise was gone last friday -- we are getting a girl! the polls are right. baby girl wins! unless the ultrasound or the sonologist made a mistake about it because i've read about odd cases like this. some of my friends made some guesses that i'm getting a boy because to them i didn't look my best. or i looked different from what i used to be. i heard about this a lot of times that i didn't really bother to fix myself up anymore. it's like my subconscious wanted them to be right about it [ all right now, i looked awful, so you maybe right, it's a boy ]. there was a time my husband asked me why i didn't comb my hair. i jokingly told him, " i'm getting you a baby boy " and we just laughed about it. when i sent dad an SMS telling him that we're getting a girl soon, he said he knew it's a girl. i was touched because in my father's eyes, i looked blooming with my pregnancy. well anyway, all these are anything but gue

whoopss, was i gone too long? january really kept me busy. and we're even just halfway through the month. starting today, though, we weren't ask to do a one-hour extension, it looks like our workload and our deadlines have already become manageable. yipee! talk about timing. i was really hoping we could have some free time. just to take a breather. from work. from all the rush. and avoid the stress. when we had a meeting last week, i jokingly lied to our boss that my doctor prohibited me from doing overtime. it didn't sell, anyway. i guess you could say i'm not a natural liar. care for some pregnancy update? last january 11th, i went to see the ob gyne for my pre-natal checkup. she was surprised to see that i bloated so much. this was the first time that i heard her say i had better slow down on my eating and measure what i eat if i don't want to have problems during labor. oh boy was i embarrassed. i wonder why i feel hungry most of the time. hubby took this seri

It's been awhile since I've been away from blogging. I apologize to all my friends and readers if you haven't heard anything from me. Been extending an hour more each day, plus work on Saturdays-- whew, beat that! But it's better than not having anything to do at work. That would be pretty boring, too. Anyway, I'm kinda sleepy at this time of the hour. I'll just take a little intermission and give way to this long overdue tag from Jenneth . So here's an ambush picture of me in the middle of my work. Thanks for this tag, 'net. I haven't forgotten all about this but it has been a busy December and New Year for me hehe. I'm tagging bchai , shan , marie , and vaneza . Here are the rules: 1) Take a picture of yourself right NOW! 2) DON'T change your clothes, DON'T fix your hair... Just take a picture. 3) Post that picture with NO editing. 4) Post these instructions with your picture. 5) Tag 10 people to do this.. Goin' back to work now. Ca