It's the final countdown

Month 7

It's time to buy a family car for the Franciscos as Intense, our two-door Scion TC leased car, is not child seat accessible. Being the cool parents that we are (LOL!) and with the recommendation of my cousin Arvin for its safety rating, we decided to get the swagger wagon (aka Toyota Sienna). The eight-seater would also give us enough room for visiting family as well as Pop's woodworking and our future kids.(naks!)  (Thank you my supportive wife! :p - Topeng)  

Boring parenthood was creeping in on us so we grabbed our last chance for the year to go to the Renaissance Fair. This was our first non-dining and non-movie related date in a while. Pictures here.

This month I also had several excuses to pamper myself with a manicure and pedicure. Aside from me needing extra effort to reach my feet, we attended the Dandals' wedding renewal (pictures here) and our annual company team building in Las Vegas (pictures here) so I had to be a little more groomed.:p Las Vegas is also as babymoon as we can get.

Month 8

As an extra precaution for my hypothyroidism, the doctors recommend regular monitoring of the baby with twice a week Non Stress Test and once a week Biophysical Profile. Both are non-invasive procedures.  Thank God she always passes and hasn't given us a reason to worry health-wise. During the BPP/sonograms though she always hides behind her hands so we can't determine who she looks like so I hope we get pleasantly surprised.:)) Scans from the BPP compiled here.

Two of our Saturdays were spent attending childbirth preparation classes by Northwest Medical Center. The class was taught by a doula and training materials included a booklet on childbirth and some pamphlets on childcare. She also showed some "props" that could possibly used during childbirth which I selectively forgot. Waah! Hands-on exercises consisted of labor positions, breathing techniques and swaddling. It also included a tour of the women's center which is the labor and delivery building of the hospital.

This is what Pop thinks an Asian baby looks like

On my first Mother's Day, Pop prepared a hearty pancake breakfast for me with Calla Lilies and a card.

During the Memorial Day Weekend, we initially planned to go to San Pedro Conservation.  After navigating through a bumpy unpaved (read: pee and possibly labor inducing) road, we didn't find it. The GPS pointed us to a remote destination where I ended up "marking the territory". I guess this is preparing me for future humiliation when the little one comes.:)) After lunch, we just headed to Patagonia National Park where we tried the boat ride. We also had a chance to use our Tucson Passport there. (Warning: instant replay on my outfit.:p)

Saan Pedro?

Sonoita steak at this place for lunch

Patagonia National Park

Month 9

She's getting heavier so Popy treated me with a prenatal massage. Yey, last chance for us to get some downtime!:p Popy and I also made sure to have a lot of pictures for our "maternity shoot" in case I won't look as good after this. :))

He started the belly painting but then lost track after painting the face, which looked like a firefox. Good thing our friend Mike was there to the rescue.

Popy's attempt at belly painting

Revised belly paint

In Pop's favorite shooting spot

Lily is so lucky to be showered twice with gifts. One was organized by our co-workers held in the downtown office. Another is with our friends and was initially cancelled but turned into a surprise. (Pictures here.)

Office shower: Cake and cupcakes by Alpha

Office shower: With gifts from our co-workers.

Surprise shower with our amazing friends and Lily's lolas

This month is also Pop's first Father's Day. Unfortunately, we weren't able to celebrate as we were rushing to prepare the house for visiting family. Thanks Pop for taking care of me and Lily.(Forever my pleasure :) -Topeng)

Month 10 (Say What!?!)

My mom and her sisters are in town to greet the arrival of our little one but she is taking her time in there. My aunts were staying for a shorter time so in case she doesn't show up before they leave and have their trip wasted, we took them to Sabino Canyon. Obviously, the hiking and "tagtag"-filled shuttle ride didn't convince her to come out though.

Midterm Update

4th month

We squeezed in somehow our last travel hurrah when we continued our east coast tour at the start of my 4th month. The walkathon gave me some exercise and the lamon gave some "nutrition" but was bad for my gums. The cold weather also didn't help my congested symptoms. Thank God we were back a week after in Arizona where the weather is warm!

This month also marks our first church wedding anniversary which we celebrated with the closing of our new home. This meant moving out activities: packing up our things and cleaning up the apartment (which counts as exercise, right?). Of course, I left the heavy lifting and cleaning products to my tigas husband.

Goodbye, apartment 11206!

5th month

This was spent moving in: organizing, acquiring stuff and starting services... more "exercise" for me!:p

Most of my symptoms have also subsided by this time so that's one thing off my mind. However, a couple of new side effects made it harder for me to work: absentmindedness and sleepiness. I made a booboo at work while doing one of the moving in activities. I can't believe how careless I've been! Hopefully, it's all in the past now.

The highlight for the month is our baby's first major ultrasound. I'm so happy and relieved that it's all good news. Thank God my fears from food to moving out activities did not come true. It was amazing and unbelievable that there is a human being in my not-yet-that-big tummy. Akalain mo yun, nanay na nga ako! 

The technician complimented how cooperative our little one was during the ultrasound...nagmana sa tatay, mahilig magpakitang gilas.:)) She was also impressed how clear the four chambers of the heart can be seen... I'd like to think that my trying to eat healthy was not in vain *pat on the back* (though admittedly, this may not always be the case :p). We also saw the profile, hands, feet...the wonders of God's creation! Since I didn't want to know the gender yet, I covered my eyes when Pop was shown that area and we asked the technician to put aside the pictures for those in a sealed envelope. 

I was also able to catch up on my learning somehow:

• What to Expect When You're Expecting: This seems to be the go-to book for pregnancy. The chapters are divided by month so I don't have read it on one go.
• You: Having a Baby:  One of the books I borrowed from our friend Shy's pregnancy library. The others I haven't gotten to reading yet. This one was obviously written by men because I found it scientific and technical.
• Raising Arizona Kids magazines: Borrowed these from the library. They're very thin issues so not much I can remember from the content.
• Childbirth, from inside out Part 1: This is a video cd I borrowed from the library. Simula pa lang pinapakita na agad na nanganganak...waah! and I thought it would help me ease into the idea, if there is such a thing but apparently not! On the lighter side, the material is old so the people in the video had those old school hairdos and clothes.:))  Also, they have those quizzes which gave me assurance that I'm not in the high-risk pregnancy category.
• Gabrielle Reece videorecording: Also borrowed this from the library. The workouts were divided according to month plus some warm up and cool down routines per trimester. Compared to the What to Expect workout I tried before, I got more sweat out of this though this needed more props.
• Others: They also gave me a couple of magazines from the doctor's office. One had articles for each pregnancy month. Another had some articles on preparing and childbirth.

6th month 

There seems to be a lot of birthday celebrants (3 to be exact: some pictures here and here) and free lunch for this month so I got a lot of cheat days to eat cake and other not so healthy food. Tsk, tsk! On the brighter side, I finally had my teeth cleaned by a dental hygienist and had an appointment with a dietician referred by a doctor. It felt good not to see blood anymore after brushing my teeth and to finally gain the recommended weight (though I'm not sure I acquired all of them in a healthy way).

Pop has been bugging me for a date for the gender reveal as he can't keep the secret any longer so we're having it before the month ends.>:) I didn't want to know because I'm afraid I'll be judge-y and look at our baby differently. I guess now I'm forced to know by the end of the month so we can prepare effectively as our baby registry is a mess. I can't help but be overwhelmed with all the baby products in the market. I already have a hard time buying items for myself, what more that I'm making a decision for someone else! Oh dear! Initially, I just put in all the cutesy stuff I found: blues and penguin themed for a boy, oranges and tiger themed for a girl... I obviously don't know what I'm doing!:)) Thank God for my mommy friends! Aside from advice, supplies and borrowed hand-me-downs are overflowing. Frida gave me her supply of baby formula/prenatal vitamins. Shy let me borrow her maternity clothes, their crib, cradle, infant car seat and stroller. I can't thank them enough. Now, it's just a matter of learning how to use them and optimizing the registry (or not... di naman siguro choosy si baby :p)

Feeding stuff from Frida

L-R: Soon-to-be-assembled crib, infant travel system, cradle (originally from Sam our realtor) borrowed from the Dandals

As for the gender reveal, our baby is a..... (*drum roll,please!*)

 

More pictures here.

Awesome Cake by Alpha (as always) and Auto awesome video c/o Bert

Yep, my feeling was right and there's no denying it. Better luck next time, Pop! Almost all our guests have the same speculation too. Afterwards, they reviewed our baby names and criteria for baby names. I've always liked the name "Lily" for a girl. Why?

1. tiger lily: the tiger is my favorite animal. Fierce lang! :p
2. starts with L: most if not all of my immediate family members (parents and siblings) has a name that starts with an L.
3. it means purity which hopefully she'll keep until she gets married for her parent's peace of mind. Lol!
4. Lily from HIMYM (and Gossip Girl. hehehe!)

Pop provided some variations of it but I'm not liking it as much: Lilian (sounds old daw), Lilia (para daw ako si "Big"-ia :p). As for Pop's criteria:

1. must be a biblical name 
2. based from his experience, not a long name and possibly no second name 
3. also based from his experience, a name that's not hard to explain/spell. 

Well, Lily does not pass criteria #1 so we might use it as a second name and the first name shall be biblical. So far, we've only found one that suits well with it but it's categorically a boy's name and it sounds like a name of an OPM band...so we'll see.:p Another option for Pop's criteria #2 is something that starts with letter V so she won't have to decide which middle initial to use on forms. I got a lot of input on this, though some jokingly (and I'm not sure if we will ever use any of them as it is more of a workaround rather than a criteria):

• Vivlia by Mike...para pasok sa criteria #1 and #2. =))

• Vivian with Vivi as nickname by Alpha...para Vivi V. Francisco = triple V

• Both Shy and Grace liked Victoria (classy sounding) and hated Vanessa (bitchy sounding). I disagree though because Victoria makes me think of Victoria Court while I have a cousin named Vanessa and she is far from being a bitch.
• I also had others listed but still uncertain: Vaniah (biblical name meaning worthy of love though reminds me of a certain TV character and how it sounds may not be as appealing), Venice (Italian city but a certain Filipino celebrity child has that name), Vea (means "the way" but Olivia sounds better)

Anyway, we have three more months to decide so bahala na si Lord.:D And this concludes the supposedly best trimester of my pregnancy. I can't believe it's time for me to say goodbye to it. As much as I wanted to spend the energy that comes with it going out, it was spent most of the time with house and baby related tasks. I want my babymoon! :p Hopefully, it won't be too late for that in the coming months.

God is building 2 homes for us...

One in Tucson and one in my womb! :D \:D/

The one in Tucson will be ready when the one in my womb comes out and Pop is writing a separate entry for that. The one in my womb is now 33% occupied. There are so many new things I'm learning/experiencing and this was harder than I thought! I initially thought that being pregnant, I could still do the things I do, just heavier. Now that I'm actually experiencing it, I realize that it takes more sacrifice, paranoia and annoying symptoms to deal with.

First 5 weeks

It's only now that I came to know that they count the weeks of pregnancy starting from the LMP so they still count the first two weeks prior to conception. No wonder doctors always advise to stop drinking and eat healthier as part of preparation. When my monthly visitor didn't come, I thought it was due to new medication that I was taking so I didn't think much of it. But then, it seems that my body didn't want me to ignore as I experienced some severe itching. (Ugh #1) The cold weather did not help with my dry skin as well. Symptoms aside, I was still continuing what I planned to do for the month which consist mostly of spoiling Popy on his birthday month. Maybe its a good thing I did that because now he has to spoil me for the next 8 months. Bwehehe! On the other hand, I hope I won't regret not being aware of my food and activities during that time.

Baby's first flight

Week 6

On Halloween night, after we came back from trick or treating, I concluded that there is a big possibility that my speculation was right. Since I haven't confirmed it yet through a test, I thought to let Popy know indirectly. That night, I put a hotdog bun in the oven with a sign indicating "Trick or Treat?" I thought he would see it the next day when he prepares some breakfast or dinner. I was wrong! He didn't prepare breakfast and it was taking him a while to start making the dinner so I started it myself. He turned on the heat on the oven without checking it! Needless to say, the bread burned. At this point, I was so furious! I threw the bread in the sink and cursed in frustration. I've been stopping myself from opening the oven ALL DAY so that he would open it! I was starving myself for nothing! Hello, mood swings! So much for telling it indirectly. :-|

Non-existent photo of trick or treat bun in the oven

The following weekend I bought a test during grocery shopping. It immediately came up positive so I confirmed it to Popy by handing him the Prego jar from our fridge. I won't reveal how long it took him to get that. :p I guess he was still in denial at that point because his instinct was to look up reviews for the test that I bought.:)) Being the miser that I am, of course it was the cheapest one in the store and the reviews were not that good. In my defense, if the HCG is there then is no denying it! :)) So for additional confirmation, Pop bought a more expensive and "more accurate" kit. The kit contains two tests. As expected, it was positive for 3+ weeks. 3+ weeks was the maximum period on the test. There was no need to test it one more time so (shameless plug) I have an extra test if anyone else needs it! :)

The cheap one

The "more accurate" one

We also had our first prenatal visit on the last day of this week. The assistant mostly asked questions about medical background and provided us some printed information on pregnancy. The OB did not see us as there was not much to see yet. The ultrasound could be done after week 8.

Week 7

We wanted our parents to be the first to know so we had a little project to announce it to them. Initially, it was suppose to be through a postcard but Pop was so excited, he wanted a frame to go with it too. :)) Here is a sample of the picture that we sent them:

I also borrowed some materials from the library to get some ideas on nutrition and exercise. Career mode!

• What to eat when you're expecting / by Heidi Murkoff, with Sharon Mazel and Arlene Eisenberg
• Pregnancy cooking & nutrition for dummies / by Tara Gidus.
• What to expect when you're expecting [videorecording] : the workout / Lions Gate Entertainment.

Review: The first two above are recipe books while the last one is a dvd. I don't know if it's the nausea (Ugh #2) or I'm just not used to the "American" way of healthy eating but I cant seem to find the appetite for some of the recipes: most of which are salads and ginger-based ones. Ginger is said to help with nausea but it seems to have an opposite effect on me! The dvd offers 6 classes: 3 for cardio, 2 for toning/sculpting and 1 for relaxation/cool down. It was helpful, just need to bypass the annoying intro to each class every time.

Speaking of cooking, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my husband for being my houseband. Since I became sensitive to smells, he has taken up most, if not all, of the housework without me needing to ask for it. He also makes sure that I drink my medicine, vitamins and water. Ang swerte-swerte ko talaga! :D Thank God na siya napangasawa ko. (Bawi-bawi lang kase sinungitan ko sha nung last week. Hehehe!) Sobra-sobra yung pagdamay nya, nagpapalaki rin ng tiyan at nakiki-utot. Bwahaha! TMI!

Week 8

I found online a free Healthy Pregnancy Class for first time parents at Tucson Medical Center so we took the opportunity to attend it. Either they haven't advertised enough or June is not a very popular birth month as there was only one other couple in the class which is not bad as it made the class more interactive. Our instructor gave out some informational materials, had us watch some videos interviewing real-life pregnant couples, showed life size illustrations of a growing belly and demonstrated some pregnancy exercises/relaxation techniques. My husband also got to experience how heavy and uncomfortable it will be by wearing the empathy suit below.

 Work it!

The last part was the tour around the hospital: birthing rooms, nursery, etc. Though it was very nice, I didn't bother taking pictures because I probably won't be delivering here because this is a little bit farther from where we live but it's good to know the options.

Week 9

Finally, we got to see our baby and hear the heartbeat for the first time via the ultrasound. Wow, thank you Lord!

So relieved that I haven't screwed it up completely so far. Pop also rewarded me with a maternity pillow since I was having "sleep disturbances" (Ugh#3) and difficult time finding a good position to sleep. After an afternoon nap with it, it was the best sleep I've had in days.

Week 10

Thankfully, the doctor said that it was safe to fly/travel for me so went to Long Beach for Thanksgiving. We stayed with my high school friend Frida. I missed this girl and our visit was very timely as well. Aside from being a registered nurse, she is also in her second trimester of her second pregnancy so I got a lot of tips, advice (and baby formula!) from her. We were so spoiled with her during and even after our half week stay that our stomachs were full for a week. Amazing how diligent she is cooking, hoping I would get my diligence back on my 2nd trim as well. Our genie granted us Kare-kare and hilaw na mangga with bagoong. Yum! On top of that, may take home pa kami: SANSRIVAL!!! (topeng), baked mac, giniling, tinupis and leche flan. The baby definitely never went hungry this week!

Frida's kare-kare

Week 11

This was a rough week. I guess eating too much and lack of exercise during the last week has taken its toll on my body. I also went shopping for maternity clothes which might have been unhygienic. I just didn't know what to do with myself so I had to call in to triage to report my symptoms. I was advised to use some medication for the infection (Ugh#4) and was scheduled an appointment earlier than should be to consult with doctor regarding the abdominal cramps (Ugh#5) and vomiting (Ugh#6). The doctor concluded that it was gastro-intestinal related and I should try heartburn medication and should make sure I get a lot of fiber and water. (Frida also advised to have 30mins walk daily to release possibly compressed air' as the gastro-intestinal system tends to be slower during pregnancy). I was so relieved that the symptoms were secluded to me and was not affecting the baby and the heartbeat is still strong. Heartbeat 

Week 12

Everything is so itchy! Avoiding the stretch marks is harder than I thought. :( I tried calamine lotion and cocoa butter lotion but my skin is still so red and itchy. I wish I knew how to resolve this. On a better note, at least I can still sleep it off most of the time.

Also, I never thought that I would have a problem gaining weight but it seems that my nauseous dates with john are inevitable. I guess I was wrong in thinking that I should already be past this. I now have less than 2 weeks to gain the recommended two pounds for the first trimester. 0.8 down, 1.2 to go! Holiday binging, here I come!

Week 13

We flew to New Jersey for the holidays to visit my Lintag relatives. This is perfect with my weight gain goal since Filipino holidays = lots of food! Also, we decided to say our greetings and share our gift through Facebook.