hit me baby one more time

Saturday, 16 weeks and 6 days
That night, I was feeling funny yet very little movements in my tummy. I was wondering whether those are my most awaited first movements and I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't as surprising as I thought it would be. Still there was that thought that I might just be imagining things.

Sunday, 17 weeks

I woke up at around 8:00 am and I was still taking my time getting up from the bed. I can hear Ramil already puttering around in the kitchen preparing breakfast and trying to tidy up a little in the sala. I was suddenly jerked fully awake by pressure movements in my lower left abdomen. Another one hit me and I immediately put my right hand over the spot. My hand felt the movement, 'thump, thump'. Like a person afraid to bother a sleeping dinosaur (as in Jurassic park), I tried to quietly call Ramil from the sala. I excitedly told him that our dear parasite is finally making itself felt. He lied down beside me and put his hand on the spot. Our baby got shy and produced zero movements. So Ramil went back to doing the chores, hehe! I refused to get up and tried to feel more movements. I was lying on my back and I was already having a difficult time breathing so I decided to lie on my right side instead. After shifting positions, I felt the movements again this time on my right side. I think my movement caused the baby to shift his/her position also. Again, I tried to quietly call Ramil in an effort not to disturb the baby. And again, he tried feeling it himself with his hand. And again, there was zero movement. I think as early as now the baby is playing with Ramil, hehe! It was amazing feeling our baby's movements. Galing! Yun nga lang, syempre Ramil is disappointed that he hasn't felt it yet. There were little movements also that night but too slight to be felt by hand, something like what I felt last Saturday. I just told him not too worry, that there will only be more and stronger movements in the coming days/weeks. I guess that's the advantage of being the pregnant one, you get to experience everything first-hand.

goodbye pancit canton

Yesterday, I had my last taste of Lucky Me Pancit Canton. Actually, it should have been months ago.

This favorite food of mine has been an emergency food for Ramil and me even when we were not yet married. Whenever we feel hungry and we don't have anything to eat, pancit canton was always a welcome option. I love the chilimansi variety and poor me, I wouldn't even be able to taste the new sweet and spicy flavor.

The reason for this temporary abstinence is of course, the parasite living inside my tummy. Upon learning we were pregnant, Ramil and I reluctantly decreased our intake of this savory food. But with the parasite growing exponentially, my guilt at eating foods laden with preservatives grows along with it. Not to mention reprimands from the future lolos and lolas.

So for the sake of our darling parasite, I say "See you later, pancit canton. Till we meet again"

everybody's doing it

Moving to wordpress, that is.

I've actually considered moving my blog to wordpress also but I decided to see what it has to offer first. So I signed up, created a wordpress blog, and tried importing this blog. Well, it seems easier to manage but I had difficulty importing my posts. Wordpress imported thrice of each of my old posts. After a few minutes of tinkering with it, I decided that I am way too lazy to mess up with what's working fine all along. Hence, I am staying.

Unfortunately though, I think I messed up my blog template. Not sure whether it's something I accidentally messed up with or blogger is just having temporary difficulties (I hope!) especially with its beta version now being implemented or wordpress messed up my blog while importing (is that possible?). Not much of a html person so I guess it would have done me good leaving my blog alone. As they say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

kick mama, kick!

16 weeks and 1 day

Been expecting our baby's first movements for the past few days. According to some books I've read, fetal movement can be felt as early as 14 weeks for non-first time mamas and a little later for first timers. While watching tv the other night, Ramil was looking at me in a funny, trying-not-to-laugh way. I was quietly talking to our baby... "Come on baby, kick! Kick mama, kick!"

They say that aside from those two pink lines, the first heartbeat, and the first ultrasound, the first felt fetal movement is another milestone to look forward to during pregnancy. Still waiting for those kicks...

a little RAK

To other digiscrappers out there, I am sharing my win. Along with the kit I won from Aggie are several coupons that can be used for purchasing kits and the likes. I don't see myself using them in the next few months so I'll just give them out to those who would like to purchase something from the shops mentioned. Please remember though that the coupons can only be used once! So please don't pass them on to other people. Here's the list of the coupons included, leave a comment if there's a coupon you're interested in ;)

40% off at Fishscraps.com (min. purchase of $10, exp 8/31/06)
10% off at DesignerDigitals.com (exp 12/31/06)
50% off on all Eve Recinella products at 3Scrapateers.com (exp 9/1/06)
25% off on Gina Miller Designs at Scrapbook-Bytes.com (exp 9/1/06)
15% off on Heather Ann Melzer items at HeatherAnnDesigns.com
35% off on Kristin Cronin-Barrow items at ACherryOnTop.com (min. purcahse of $5, exp 8/29/06)
25% off on Laura Alpuche products at TheDigiChick.com (exp 9/1/06)
25% off on Michelle Underwood products at PlainDigitalWrapper.com (exp 12/31/06)
25% off on Michelle Underwood products at Scrapbook-Bytes.com (exp 12/31/06)
40% off on Shabby Princess' "Moroccan Sunset" kit at ACherryOnTop.com (exp 10/31/06)
30% off at SweetShoppeDesigns.com (exp 12/31/06)
35% off at TheDigiChick.com (excluding "DeZine" & commercial use tools, exp 9/1/06)
HAPPY SCRAPPING! :)

reality wedding video

Our wedding videographer Buddy Gancenia uploaded a part of our wedding video in his website. You can view the uploaded video here. For those who have plans of getting married in the near or far future, we highly suggest Buddy! Here's a testimonial we made for his website:

Buddy is one of our best suppliers. Even before the wedding, we knew that he would deliver well. Ramil and I just love his reality videos - sobrang natural and personal. We were even more ecstatic when he offered to make us an AVP, woohoo! Sobrang wala lang nung nagshoot kami nung AVP kaya we were so surprised that it turned out the way it did. Most of the good comments we got from guests were because of Buddy's AVP. Sabi nga ng mga friends namin, it was a perfect touch, it made our love story more real even to those who don't know us very well. Dun pa lang sa AVP alam na namin na we got our money's worth.

When the wedding video came, we already knew it was going to be great! Na-capture ni Buddy lahat ng gusto namin maalala sa wedding namin. We've watched the video several times already, we couldn't get enough of it. What's so nice with Buddy's work is hindi pare-pareho un dating ng mga videos nya. Naka-customize sa personality ng couple kaya talagang personal. He made us feel very comfortable in front of the camera kaya we can say na the video captured the real us.

If we would get married again, we would definitely get Buddy again.

crazy baby names

Expect a 4-year old kid to give me the craziest baby names! My pre-schooler friend Kimy has just given another possible name for my baby.

I was once again stalking him and his classmates before their class at 1 pm today. After giving me the usual kiss and hug, a hello to the baby by kissing my belly, and a conversation on when the baby will be able to talk, I asked him if he has thought of another name for the baby aside from Dewberry. He smiled and said 'how about Chickenjoy?'

swerte ang buntis

I won this:For the first time, I won in a raffle. I guess being pregnant makes me lucky. Hehe! This is a good reason to start scrapping again. The mini raffle was Aggie's RAK (random act of kindness). Now I must think of my own RAK. Any suggestions? :)

the parasite

Here is our baby's first picture. The little angel is sucking his/her thumb in this one. We've got several more shots but I think this is the best one. I am now slowly trying to make Ramil consider going for a 3D ultrasound next time, hehe! ;)

thumb-sucking frisky little angel

I had my first ultrasound yesterday. YEY!

Ramil and I went to Healthway yesterday (went to see an ophthalmologist also) and saw our baby for the first time. Grabe yung feeling nung una namin nakita sa screen. Sabi ko nga kay Ramil, 'ay buntis talaga ako, hindi lang ako tumataba'. Hehe!

Our baby was veeerrrry active, as in! Sa kalikutan nya, sandali lang kami don pero nakita namin lahat ng klase ng view: front view, back view, and side view. Kakatakot daw un itsura nung nakaharap yung face sabi ni Ramil, hehe! Our baby kept on raising both fists in a pumping manner and was even making jump-like movements. He/she even opened his/her palms wide as if saying hi and then stuck his/her thumb in his/her mouth. The sonologist kept on commenting on how frisky the baby is. Sabi nga nya, lumiliyad pa daw. Towards the end of the session, the sonologist tried to get the heart rate of our baby. After several attempts, she said 'aba, pasaway'. She couldn't get the heart rate because of all our baby's movements. Kaya sabi ko tuloy 'baby, tama na ha'. Aba, tumigil sya ng kakagalaw! Galing!

Ramil and I went home on a natural-high, the high of seeing our baby. The pregnancy feels more real to us now. The baby is really a baby and not just a what-if. I went out of the ultrasound room with the desire to bring home that amazing machine. Imagine having one inside our own house! It makes me want to look at our little angel over and over again.

aching and throbbing

I've been plagued by very painful headaches the past few weeks. My head would be throbbing from the moment I open my eyes in the morning, it would worsen as the day progresses, and I almost want to cut my head off by the end of the day. My ob told me before that it's safe to take biogesic for headaches and fever so I took one last Wednesday and Thursday. The tablet almost had no effect, the headache got mild but continued to worsen after a few hours.

I took half-day off last Thursday and by the end of the day, I was really worried. I know that pregnancy can trigger headaches but one that persists for more than 3 days? I decided to text my ob and ask her what else I can do. She was worried upon learning that the headache refuses to go away. She asked me to have my BP taken and to text her the results. Ramil and I went to a nearby clinic and had my BP taken for 10 pesos. My BP was 110/90, might be normal for some people but my usual BP is 90/60. My ob's reply to my BP was to see her the next day. That night, I was really worried. Ramil kept on telling me to calm down because it might raise my BP some more. Hehe!

The next day, my ob did the roll-over test. She took my BP while sitting up, while lying on my back, and while lying on my right side. She was suspecting pre-eclampsia, a pregnancy induced hypertension. Fortunately, I was negative for oedema and protein in the urine. My ob asked me to consult an ophthalmologist and an ENT specialist. According to her, it might be something to do with the eyes or the ears.

The ophthalmologist I went to was very helpful, he kept on explaining eye things to me. He found out that I have astigmatism and with the pregnancy, it might be taking its toll on my eyes. After getting measured for my glasses, I texted my ob to ask her whether I still need to see an ENT specialist hoping that I won't need the extra consultation. Unfortunately, she still wants me to see one to rule out a middle ear problem.

I went home feeling dejected with the fact that I have to wear glasses now to read, watch, or use the computer. Plus the extra expense of that darn eyeglasses!