It’s been a while since I last shopped for Miguel. Not that I have lost interest in shopping for baby stuff (na-uh!), in fact, during the recent weekends that I had been to the malls, it had taken all my effort to ignore the waving red tags at the stores. I am saving (what’s left of) my money for more shopping in Singapore and eventually when I get home. I don’t think it’s a good idea to spend a week in Singapore without money as I already see myself drooling over all the baby items available in the malls and I am counting on SM to complete most of the remaining items on my list.
I still have no idea though whether the regular items at the manila malls are cheaper than the items on sale here, but I’m hoping they are as I’ve already set my mind on buying the rest of the stuff in manila.
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Shopping list! I have searched the net, asked the preggy sister, read some books about pregnancy. I have with me several shopping lists already but I have never been faithful to this list. I tend to buy on impulse while there are certain things I can’t seem to decide whether or not to buy. I need to get back on track!
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Good thing this is my last week at work so I have the rest of next week to fix everything before I fly home, and that includes:
compile photos and documentspack pre-preggy clothespack things i need to bring homesecure a certificate of good moral conduct from CIDsee my OB for routine check-up on Nov 18get another OB sched on (hopefully) Nov 23 for a med certsecure copies of all my medical recordsdo some research on “birthing plan” (what it is, what it contains, do I need one?)update my resume (mwahahahaha!!)
When I get home I bet I will have a lot more things to do. We’ve decided on Asian Hospital already since my MIL’s recommended OB is a resident doctor there but apparently it is not listed in Allianz’ accredited hospitals (sigh!). We’ve double-checked with Allianz and they said we just need to have them fill up a treatment guarantee form and they will directly deal with the hospital regarding billing. We pray we could fix this soon as it would mean ‘no cash-out’ from our side come delivery day (at least that part that is covered by insurance). Otherwise, we will go for either Makati Med or St. Lukes.
I'm bored...i feel like blogging pero wala naman akong masulat. I have spare time in the afternoon kasi since nagstart na ang Ramadan, our official working hours is from 9am-3pm na lang, woopee! :) I get to office around 915am, boot up my PC which takes about 30mins (yes ganon katagal, ke luma kasi!), so i start working around 10am na, then go for quick lunch at around 1230 (abt 15mins) and before u know it, uwian na hehehe! di pwedeng magextend kasi maiiwan ako ng bus! Anyways, dahil wala nga ako ma-blog, i decided to list down the stuff I have already bought for little miggy (that’s what we call our baby boy since we’re planning to name him Isaiah Miguel. Goodbye na sa Marco Gabriel, sigh!)
Sabi nila I should start buying stuff na pakonti-konti, and I think that’s the logical thing to do naman considering wala akong pambili ng “madami” at any one time hehehe, so that’s what I’ve been doing for the past few months–buying clothes and gears and even toys. Nag-search pa ko sa internet ng baby checklist para may guide ako when shopping but i really don’t use it. Reason is because I have yet to familiarize myself with the ‘official names’ of the items like onesies, sleepsuit, etc. I can only guess kung ano ang mga ‘to! Like onesies, eto ba yung one-piece shirt na kino-close sa crotch? And sleepsuit, I firmly believe is the one-piece overall pantulog, from shirt to pyjama hanggang socks! Oh I’m so clueless! While I really enjoy shopping for baby items, hindi naman ako confident kung tama yung mga binili ko, basta cute at sale e gusto ko bilihin, so even if it’s a sleepsuit na pang 6-9months pa, buy ko na sya!
So last weekend, I did an inventory of the items I’ve bought and here is the list (btw, the names are accdg to what’s written in the package ha!):
3pcs bodysuit - newborn (up to 11lbs)
7pcs bodysuit - newborn (up to 7.5lbs)
2pcs pyjama set - 0-3months
1pc sleepsuit - 0-3months
1set tie-side vest & pyjama - newborn
2pcs sleepsuit - newborn
1pc sleepsuit - 3-6months
3pcs sleepsuit - 6-9months
2pcs mittens
2pcs booties
1pc bib
2pcs receiving blanket
1pc bath towel
baby thermometer
brush & comb set
baby toothbrush
nail clippers
nursery rhyme CD
Baby Bach & Baby Mozart CD’s
play rattle
butterfly teether
2pcs feeding bottle (4oz)
silicone teat
corner cushion (bec Nico insisted on buying!)
cot mobile
I think it’s good to keep track of the things I buy cause I might end up buying too many of some things and none of the essential ones. When I did my calculation, I realized I have already spent about 11k na din for these items at feeling ko e wala pa yung mga importante tlg! Mukang marami pa kong bibilin sa SM when I get home.
It was a long wait for me. Since my first trimester scan I had already expected to know whether it’s a she or a he. Apparently Doc said it was too early at the time. I had to wait for another 10 weeks! Finally it came. Last sunday, we went to see Dr. Ulrich at 3pm as scheduled. I was a bit nervous because Nico came home with a chismis from one of his officemates that there’s a certain practice here in Dubai that you are not allowed to know the gender of your baby. Something to do with Muslim culture, I guess. Dr. Ulrich greeted us with a question if it’s our first baby and I took that opportunity to say that we wanted to know the gender (hindi masyadong excited hehehe)…so the first thing he did was to point the gadget to that ‘thing’. I couldn’t quite make something out of the image I was seeing but after a few seconds of staring I realized we’re going to have a BOY! Hurray, hurray! Dr. Ulrich confirmed and even typed the word ‘boy’ for us on the screen before proceeding to perform the rest of the anatomy scan which, thankfully, turned out to be all normal.
Now we are caught unprepared with what to name our little boy. I have so believed the gender predictor in the internet and the many comments from officemates and friends that I’m going to have a girl that I did not take much effort in finding a boy name. Had it been a girl, we would have named her Marcia Sabrina :). The most possible name combination we have for a boy is Marco Gabriel, unfortunately, Nico’s cousin who found out days earlier that they’re having a boy for a second baby already declared that they’re naming him Gabriel. What do we name ours then? Help!
On a side note, Nico’s now scanning amazon.com and all the toy stores around to find Lego Mindstorm, nanalo kasi sya sa bet. Kung naging Marcia Sabrina sana I could have won an apple i-pod hehehe!
“The fetus measures about 5.6 to 6.4 inches from crown to rump and weighs about 9 ounces. Your baby can hear sounds by now -- your voice, heart and your stomach growling, as well as sounds outside your body. It will cover its ears with its hands if a loud sound is made near you, and it may even become startled and "jump." The baby is moving often, too -- twisting, turning, wiggling, punching and kicking.”
right at this moment, i feel this little one's squirming endlessly inside me :)
**lullaby baby on the sweet couch…** (sa totoong buhay: rock-a-bye baby on the tree top!) :))
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first up, an update on my so-called 'career'...
after turning down IT's offer, I was advised by my agency that the other company, PM, decided not to get me--here's an excerpt from my official rejection letter: "the feedback from the client is that although they liked you very much and felt that you would be well able to carry out the role, they are looking for somebody who has more experience in sales and marketing, as the successful candidate will be expected to move into a field sales management role within the next two years". all three of the interviewers asked me about my career plans and in all three instances i never thought of considering "sales" as a field i want to venture on eventually. 8months of sales experience in chevron is enough time for me to realize it is not what i want to do after all. anyways, i was still disappointed for not getting this post and the first thing that came to mind was, 'i'm so dead, few days back i had two options, now i have nothing'...
but God is so good! the other consultant went back to IT and asked if they would still want to reconsider me for the pricing specialist post. of course, i had to 'apologize' for turning down their offer initially but am glad to have been given a second chance :) so this is where i work now, the place is called Dubai Internet City, which is right beside Dubai Media City and Knowledge Village...most of the offices here are grouped into clusters--internet city for IT companies, media city for ad agencies and media, knowledge village for schools...there is even a healthcare city being built for, you guessed it, clinics and hospitals! here's a peek to my new office at DIC--IT is IBM actually :)
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on pregnancy...
i'm on my 2nd trimester now and i am proud to say i have passed the first trimester with flying colors!! i threw up once and it wasn't so bad at all, but i went through it not without my share of pregnancy blues--i've had days when nausea would strike really bad and the feeling of wanting to throw up was unimaginable...i even had to miss work for 2 days after a fainting spell was cast upon me while waiting for my morning bus.
the funny thing i remember about my first tri experience was my aversion to certain foods--chicken in particular...i couldn't eat nor cook chicken for more than 3 months and the mere thought of it made me want to puke. to this day, chicken is still not one of my fave indulgence but i try to eat once in a while to balance our menu. still during those months, i couldn't stand the smell of newly cooked rice, once the rice cooker begins to puff, i would bury my face on the pillows...but weirdest thing i hated was the smell of nico's soap--safeguard white! I had him change his soap as i couldn't stand being with him after he's taken a bath, when he's supposed to be at his most huggable state, but what can i do??!
i've had several trips to the OB in the past months and am scheduled again for another check up in 2 week's time. here's a photo of my baby at 12 weeks, during this visit we were able to hear my baby's heartbeat for the very first time! a nuchal transluscency scan was done on me along with PAPP-A blood test as a required procedure to detect any abnormalities in the fetus, particularly down's syndrome, and thank God once again, the test results were normal.
today i am exactly 18 wks and 2days preggy but i'm not showing much yet, however my regular clothes won't fit anymore so i have to wear some real maternity clothes. as days pass our excitement grows even more, we look forward to our next OB check-up and get even more excited at the thought of seeing or hearing our baby once again.
on sept 17 i am scheduled for another scan and this time we will be able to know whether we're having a boy or a girl--something that everybody's been eagerly waiting to know :) the fact that we still do not know our baby's gender at this point didn't stop me from buying some baby clothes last weekend, the 50% off sale at mothercare was too tempting to ignore so i bought a few pieces of bodysuits in neutral color--neutral being green and white. i so wanted to buy the pink ones but i'd like to give nico the benefit of enjoying the thought of having a son (though i very much feel like it's gonna be a girly!) :)
more updates on my journey to motherhood soon, that is, if i am once again able to wake up from hibernation...
