all things baby

at 22 weeks, i can now say that i have some tangible possesions (well, at least currently tangible for my parents :D).

last week, while preparing for their move to utah and getting rid of a lot of things, tita ge "donated" all of kuya elijah's and ate iyah's old stuff, like a graco pack and play (mom was delighted since they just need to buy me a crib and not both!), some layettes (are they layettes?), a walker (though i may not be needing this til a few months after i come out), a pair of shoes, lots of feeding bottles, and lots of toys! there are some more items but i couldn't remember them all. she's even giving my parents kuya elijah's old graco car seat, but since they're planning to buy the travel system anyway, they declined (plus mom's too shy since they can still sell and earn from that instead of giving that to us for free). dad's too excited! he just could imagine me with all these things. he even wanted to put everything in the nursery already. but tita ge said that all of them needs a lot of sanitizing since they haven't been used for a long time. so everything's in the garage :)

some of my mom's mom friends are insisting on getting good bargains from garage/yard sales, since baby stuff don't get overused anyway... some don't even get used at all if the baby doesn't like them or whatever. so last saturday, they went garage-sale shopping (though they promised to buy me something new first before they go on these sales... they think it's too early to buy though). and they found me lots of things! they got me a baby monitor for 2bucks (but mom saw one with a video system in it at burlington which would allow you to see and hear your baby! cool eh?!), bottle warmer for 3 bucks, a couple of baby CD's for a dollar each, a changing table mattress(?) that's new and never been used for 2 bucks, new unused booties for just a few cents. great bargain huh?! as soon as we got home, dad tried the monitor right away (not too excited, huh?!). there are some more stuff from the garage sales, but they didn't want to buy anything that would come in contact with me (unless it's really new or unused or given by their friends coz at least they know who used it and that they're safe to use), like bassinets, high chairs, clothes, accessories, blankets, etc. are they overprotective or what?! :D

and since they are getting too excited with this baby shopping, they spent the rest of the day canvassing for some more stuff. burlington's such a haven for them! (wait till they see more items from babies r' us). they already saw the crib that they wanted from there. it's a 4-in-1 crib with a changing table (and drawers). it converts to a toddler bed for one (and it has a pullout bed as well!). they actually aren't sure if i'd sleep there or i'd prefer co-sleeping with them. ah well, just like what tita sheryll said, you'll never know what the baby exactly needs till she's here, haha. they also now had an idea of how much a graco travel system costs, but they still are clueless on what the specs should be (all they know is that it has to be rear-facing for newborns). well, at least now they won't be surprised of how expensive it can get right? but it's all worth it according to them. having me is priceless!

they'll storm babies r' us next time coz tita sheryll said that there are more items and choices there compared to burlington. then hopefully, mom and dad would agree on whether to paint or put wallpaper or just trimmings on the nursery. at least they can better picture the nursery with all those things baby. :)

growin' and kickin'

i am 21 weeks old and still growing!

maybe because of that, my mom had another mild cramping on monday (coz the uterus is expanding?). also, on tueday morning, she woke up telling my dad that she feels like her body is breaking in half (crosswise by the tummy -- like "manananggal"?!). she remembered though that at this point of tita tokti's pregnancy, she told mom that. and her ob told her that it's just because ate jo-c's growing and tita's center of gravity was shifting. ahhhh, ok.

moreover, my little kicks are being strongly felt by mom. on monday night, when dad was preparing to read to me. mom felt a strong movement in her tummy. so she just looked at her belly. and i probably kicked too strong that it kinda poked out of my mom's tummy. instead of freaking out, she got more excited and watched her tummy and saw the protruding me twice. dad watched with her soon after, but when dad looked away for awhile, i did it again. he missed it! he waited patiently and talked to me to make "pasikat" one more time. but i stayed still. teehee don't worry dad, pretty soon, you'd feel and see me too :)

halfway point!

uh-huh, 20 weeks and 3 days old today! 20 (or less?) more weeks to go and i'll soon be meeting the parents! (wait, isn't it that 40 weeks = 10months?!... whatever! we don't want to deal with pregnancy math anyway, do we? :D).

mom's been feeling my movements more frequently this week. she feels me at least once everyday now! hooray! it was different from the first few times that she felt me according to her. she's describing it to my dad as something that's brushing through inside her tummy (yap, that's me). too bad dad couldn't feel them yet. soon dad, soon.

oh, by the way, my parents finally made the big announcement! you can look at mom's blog, mom's friendster and mom's multiply page. i loved the collage that dad made for me (mom posted this on her blog). i specially liked the picture of my pair of tiny feet. everyone who visited mom's site left really exciting and happy comments and had nothing but well wishes for my family. awww. thanks so much!

both sides of the families now know what my gender is. and they're as excited as my parents. but it's been pretty obvious that they both have a preference for "blue". for one, they just recently found out that my cousin jo-c (joanne cara) is going to be an "ate" for me. so there'd be two grand daughters for lolo dadi and lola mami this year. on my daddy's side, my lolo tatay was probably still in denial and kept on telling them that it's too early to tell and that sonographers can be wrong sometimes. teehee. can't blame him though since all my 3 cousins on dad's side are girls (almost ladies now). so he's probably secretly hoping for a boy with his unico ijo (uh-huh, my dad's his only boy). haha, ain't that cute?!

on the "names" end, my parents told ate ishang their list of names. and she suggested some more. hahaha. but at least, with her help, they were able to trim the names down to 4 (or 5?). but i'm pretty sure they'e falling for just 1 or a couple. i just hope they'd finalize that before i come out. i still go by "kiko", by the way.

oh and don't you know that dads-to-be also experience weird dreams about their babies-to-be?! in my dad's dream, he's showing some friends my ultrasound pics and those experts told him that i had 8 fingers and 8 toes on my right, and 6 fingers and 6 toes on my left. then he was already holding me and confirmed that i do! in his dream, though a tad worried, he still assured himself that those can be fixed by surgery anyway. haha. what is it with finger and toe count on parents-to-be?!

as for my last update, my parents finally have enlisted themselves on the childbirth preparation lamaze class by st. alphonsus. breastfeeding class comes free with enrollment too. they'll have the childbirth class on july 26. i hope they learn tons from it so that they won't get too stressed out just thinking about how i will come out. harhar.

alrighty, that's all folks! but before i forget, we'd like to thank tita ge for giving my parents some baby items list to start with. so now, they had been seriously window shopping for baby items, scouting for the best prices and finding good bargains for my stuff. mom said that they won't buy any baby items on garage/yard sales until they got me something new first :)

and i am a...

wow, i'm just 3 days away from the halfway mark! we're almost there! ;) i'm really getting bigger!

i actually am the size of a beany baby now according to the sonographers who checked on me last wednesday. the two of them were really working as a team to take all my measurements. i'm such a mover according to them. teehee. well, if you were having a serene moment, would you like to be poked?! my folks even find it cute that i kept on moving my arms as if i was punching someone, haha.

it was funny when one of the sonographers would always say "freeze" so many times just so they'd get the correct scans and measurements of my head, brain, heart (all 4 chambers of it and was beating 149 bpm that time), other internal organs like my bladder, kidneys, lungs, etc (which were all just black and white pictures that my folks were not really able to decipher). they even measured my waistline, my arms, legs. they looked at my little tiny pair of feet, toes and fingers (well, mom's dream of me having more than 5 toes on each feet ain't gonna happen :D). based on my measurements, i really was 19 weeks old then. hence, my due date is still sep 3.

it looks like i have more than 5 in this pic, hmmm
when it came to my, ahem, private part, the sonographer asked what my folks' guesses were of my gender. they both told the sonographers that i'm a boy (truth is they don't really know what they were looking at on the monitor, haha)... any guesses? ... i'll tell yah later! :)

i know, i look cute!
oh, there's one more thing that they found out. the placenta was on the anterior. which means that it was on the side of mom's belly and kinda acts like a cushion and barrier for me. so that's the reason why she doesn't feel me all the time! anyway, they told mom that she'll soon feel my kicks stronger in a few weeks. also, they saw me having hiccups! and i don't know why they find it fascinating and cute too, hmmmm.

we also had an appointment with dr. bouchard last friday. and as usual, my parents just asked questions (they always prepare a list of questions - which they never run out of - before they visit her clinic). and then she told them that everything was looking great based on the ultrasound and that mom's weight gain is on the expected normal side. before we left, she listened to my heartbeat again. that time it was 162 bpm. she assured them that it's still on the perfect range and varying bpm is what they want. next thing to do is to enroll in childbirth lamaze class! (and probably prenatal yoga class for mom as she suggested?).

anyway, since my parents already know what i am, dad was finally able to look at the baby name book that they bought from the booksale (he was trying to keep himself from reading it til they learn about my gender). not only that, he borrowed 3 more books about baby names from the library. he contemplated on all of these books (and yeah, he also surfed the web), just to find THE perfect name. and after a long list of names, they finally trimmed it down to i think 10 sets of names (still!). but they were already falling for one, they just haven't finalized that yet.

they still call me kiko (is your guess getting stronger now?). dad doesn't want to call me KIKAY coz he doesn't want me to become one when i get older, haha. he was so protective that he was laughingly telling my mom and their friends that he's going to buy a shotgun, haha. tito mon, tita she, tita hiyas and tito ed (they all have little boys), were teasing him about their little boys courting me someday. and dad would just jokingly tell them, "ilayu-layo lang ang mga anak nyo ha, at baka loloko-loko e magkalimutan tayo na magkakaibigan tayo". hahaha.

so yes, i am a healthy baby girl... G.I.R.L.... got that? the sonographer said, she's 99.9% sure and would bet all her money on that! so my mom's dream was right then. i forgot to mention in my story of my mom's dream that i was in a pink swaddling blanket. and pink is still for girls right? :) now, she's all the more excited to shop for me. those cute little dresses, shoes and girl accessories are just sooo irresistable according to her. and yep, she now has found a great reason to buy that cute pink and brown graco crib for me (which dad doesn't want still since he wants the crib to be used by the next siblings.. and what if the next one's a brother right?). well, at least they can plan on the nursery now.

alrighty then! till my next update!

updates and more updates...

hi, i'm kiko. and i'm 18 weeks (and 4days) old. there were just so much happening around me so i will just share different experiences and stories with everyone...

let's start with how i am... i actually am feeling as good as ever. i may be as big as a huge pickle now. hmmm. my parents will visually find that out on wednesday. i also am still trying hard to make my mom feel me all the time. so far, it's been successful. not everytime though. but that's fine, as long as she's noticing the stretches that i do. it's just funny when she'd feel me coz she would tell dad right away. and my doting dad would really get excited and would talk to me and cheer for me for doing that. ;)

oh, and i have another funny story... whenever my mom or dad would read to me at night, one's been carefully observing (while of course, listening to the bedtime stories) the inflections and diction of the other one. usually it's mom who would always laugh at dad coz he's really creative on how he reads the story that he would sometimes forget how he made a particular character sounded like before or his diction was wrong. i tell yah, there almost wasn't a single night when my mom never giggled. it really makes me always look forward to the next nightly session!

ah, mom considers these as "perks" of having me. and because of these, all the discomforts that she's feeling right now were nothing compared to having ME. awww... talking about discomforts, let me list down some of 'em that mom's feeling now:

- now that i'm getting bigger, mom's uterus is also expanding. hence aches and pains were getting pretty common for mom. she'd sometimes feel sharp pains, or mild cramps on her lower abs and hips. but her dr. told them that as long as it's not prolonged and there's no accompanying bleeding, it's perfectly normal. scary huh?!

- she's also experiencing some difficulty in breathing. and she now easily gets full (and if she eats some more, she would feel the food coming out and she would want to throw up). and all these could be because some of her organs have moved somewhere else? (huh?).

- also, it's getting hard for her to get out of the couch or the bed. tsk tsk. yeah, i am getting heavy. dada's support is always there anyway.

- she is also now finding it hard to sleep. yeah, she can sleep, but she has to find the lying-on-the-left-yet-comfy position first. she'd feel her leg restless or crampy though most of the time. and she'll get scared whenever she would wake up lying flat on the bed (i might not be able to breathe with that position according to her) and would quickly go back to lying on her left.

- the tailbone pain is already making it's presence felt now. not as bad as tita jen's yet. but she has to find a really good sitting position to get comfy.

the list is getting long in addition to those that she'd been feeling before (ie bloated, gas, never-ending constipation, frequent urination etc). but when asked by anyone on how she's feeling, she would simply say she's ok and that she's happy that i never gave her a really difficult pregnancy. yep, she has a realy minute tolerance for pain, but what she's feeling right now are the same ones that other pregnant moms feel according to her. but i guess, nothing beats the overwhelming excitement and happiness that every mom (specially first-time moms) feels, so these are all nothing! mom says, "bring it on!". ammm, mom, i'm not that big yet. wait til the 3rd trimester, then say that again. teehee.

probably she'll get some more humorous tips from laura wolf's diary of a mad mom-to-be (she gets the serious ones from the bible of all pregnant moms, what to expect when you're expecting, of course). she just recently remembered this follow-up book to laura's debut novel, diary of a mad bride (which she read during their wedding preps) recently and borrowed a copy from the library. she once saw this book at powerbooks right after she got married and vowed on reading it once she gets pregnant.

alrighty! that's all folks!... but before i end, i'd just like to greet my dad once more...

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! and i love you too! ;) ... i hope you had loads of fun celebrating your 30th last thursday with just me and mom (and with your superb carbonara and pinoy pork bbq on stick). i sure had a blast!