A Glimpse of Me

He’s a tease, a charmer
Very friendly, can make one feel comfortable easily
People are drawn to him
Who’s this guy?

I met him eye to eye
He took us to dinner
No chemistry, nothing special
I was intrigued, Who was this guy?

I went back home
Sent him a message
Thanked him for everything
Sure, you’re welcome, he said.

Who was this guy, I wanted to know
He used to tease, and yet aloof
I teased him back
He opened up.

We became friends
Shared goals, shared jokes
Until we found out,
We share the same birthdate!

That triggered “it”
Common things discovered
The more we shared, the more we felt
From friendship, love blossomed.

We became one
Now we’re four.
Who is this guy?
Shankar, my love, no other.

Dear Samantha,

 You’re exactly 9 months and 2 days old. To wrap up your milestones for your 8th month:

• you have started cruising (walking holding on to the furnitures)
• you climbed up the stairs… alone
• you can clap your hands
• you stood alone for 5 seconds
• says dada when you see daddy
• says ya-ya when you see kuya
• says te-te when you see mommy
• says ta-ta when you wave bye-bye (mommy is a very good interpreter, hey?)
• says pu when you see a ball
• says pek when you see a book (i’m a really certified interpreter).
• your pincer grasp is developing… i.e can pick up tiny objects using thumb and forefinger
• when mommy asks where’s the ball? you would look at the ball and smile, and same thing with the book
• you can recognize people: when i say, where’s daddy? you look at him; where’s kuya? you also look at him; and of course, when i ask you where mommy is, you’d look at me sweetly and smile.
• you like playing with your Kuya a lot… although sometimes, he could really be rough. but it seems that you don’t mind. you like to fight back also, like pulling his hair and scratching his face. Hahaha! That would really send him off from you.
• can drink from a cup (but i have to hold the cup for you)
• can do hi-5
• can do “twinkle twinkle little stars”. (only the twinkle twinkle part) this time, this is your favorite nursery rhyme song.

So… those are the things you could do at 8 months.

Now you’re on your 9th month, I can’t wait to see what else you could do. I have already installed the stairgate so this time, you won’t be able to climb up the stairs. He-he.

Schenker: Daddy, can you carry me, please?

Daddy: I cannot, Schenker… I have a backache.

Schenker: Daddy, plssssss… can you carry me? I have a backache also.

Hehehe.

Mommy: Schenker, where’s my comb?

Schenker: I think it’s right over there. (take note of the “i think” line. :))

Hmmmm

Schenker: Mommy, I look like daddy.

Mommy: Really?

Schenker: yeah… baby Samantha looks like you.

How did he know that?

Our boy really surprises us a lot. He’s in a stage where he can already say back what he hears… i think he’s going towards being a tape recorder already. He hasn’t started using the word “why” yet. But he’s been trying to use the word “because.” But sometimes it doesn’t fit with his sentences. Hehehe. At least he’s trying. We don’t correct him a lot. We just say yes, then say the correct sentences. Correcting a child a lot can damage his self-esteem. There was a time when he started stuttering. I…I…I….I…. I… wanna drink water. I and my husband talked about it and decided to just ignore it. We knew he will outgrow it coz we didn’t see any bad reasons why he should stutter. I read from somewhere last time that one of the reasons why a child stutters is because of too much correction from parents or primary care taker. Or there must be lots of things in his mind and he becomes too excited to tell it that he starts stuttering. We thought it was due to the latter. Well, true enough, he had outgrown it. He doesn’t stutter anymore.

I think 75% of his speech now is understandable by others aside from his primary caretaker (his parents). Of course, as we interact with him daily, we understand everything he has to say. And when other people are around, we become the instant interpreter for the rest 25% that’s not understandable.

Suffice to say, we are happy with his language development. 

On my 37th week appoinment with my Ob/Gynae, she asked me whether our first one was born on the due date or earlier. I told her Schenker was born 3 days early. So she told me that it could happen to the second one again. Well, I thought… waiting for another 3 weeks was like… if you’re pregnant (or have been pregnant)  and you’re in your last trimester… you could relate this with me… waiting for 3 more weeks seems like waiting forever!

So… that night when I was surfing the net, I decided to search for some natural labor induction. I didn’t know before that there was such thing as inducing labor naturally… but when I searched about it… there were lots of websites that tell you what to do to induce labor the natural way. I didn’t really believe but I tried anyway! What did I do? I ate lots and lots of pineapple. They said it prepares the cervix to dilate but not really to induce labor. (Probably it’s the reason why pregnant women cannot eat pineapple much esp on the first trimester coz it has enzymes that can efface and dilate the cervix). Well, I did eat lots! (Coz I was also craving to eat pineapple that time). But one week passed by and Samantha was still feeling comfy inside the womb.

That Sunday, (nearing my 38th week) we went to church. A friend told me I was gonna give birth soon coz I looked swollen all over. I thought, yeah yeah… two weeks won’t be long, right? And another friend told me I have to walk (or exercise) more. I actually felt very tired that day… in fact we didn’t finish the Sunday service. We went home, I took a nap and after that, I asked Peter if we could walk around the park. (There’s a park in front of our new house by the way). We walked two rounds.

That night, I searched again for another website that could give me details on how to induce labor naturally coz I was feeling really tired and sick of being pregnant. AND I saw one article that said ” If you wanna induce your labor for wrong reasons… then it’s not right. You could harm the baby.” I got scared and felt guilty. I asked myself, what was my reason to induce my labor? So that I’d give birth soon and I could entertain my parents and sister who were coming to visit us? Or was it for convenience? Whatever reason I could think of… was wrong! So I asked God’s forgiveness. And I also asked Samantha’s forgiveness. I told her that night I could wait for her own time. No hurry. If she was ready to come out, then she’s ready. If not, no need to come out soon. No need to rush!

The next morning, probably around 2 o’clock, I felt some kind of contractions in my tummy. But it was very mild… so I thought probably it was only Braxton Hicks contractions (practice ones). I slept again. At 5am, i felt the contractions were becoming intensed. So I started counting the time interval. It was only like once in 15-20 minutes. I actually got up and started packing our clothes. No! I haven’t prepared our hospital bag until that time only! (During my first pregnancy, I was ready for everything when I was on my 35th week!). After I packed our things, I went back to bed again.At 6.30, I was still timing my contractions, from 10 minutes, it went down to 6 minutes then to 3 minutes!

Could this be the true labor?! I woke Peter up. I told him… Dear, I think I’m on labor already. He asked me the time interval.. I said it’s a 5-minute interval already. I didn’t tell him it was already on 3-minute interval. He just said… it’s ok dear.. why don’t you rest some more. Let’s sleep again…The good thing was… I didn’t listen to him. I got up and showered! In the shower, I paused everytime I felt the contractions coz it was really becoming so painful! After I showered, I woke Peter up again and told him it’s time to call his parents to come coz we had to have somebody in the house to take care of Schenker while we’re gone. So he called his parents.

I went down the stairs… boiled water, made myself a cup of milk… and went to the living room and sat down… and waited for Peter and for somebody to come to take care of the boy.At 8am, my sister-in-law came and took the boy with her. That’s when we were able to leave the house. That time my contractions were really intensed…. so intensed I could growl! I literally growled. The breathing techniques didn’t help… the growlings did!

8 o’clock on Monday morning… we were on the road… I was growling in pain at the back seat. Peter kept reminding me to breathe properly - the lamaze way. I tried… really I did… but like what I’ve said the growling was more helpful.

It was a bit jammed (traffic)… coz it was a peak hour. It took us 30 minutes to reach SJMC the hospital  where I was gonna give birth (which.. in ordinary times, would have taken us 15 minutes only). When we reached the hospital I couldn’t walk anymore.. so I had to use the wheel chair. When we got up (on the 4th floor) the nurses and midwife were waiting for me at the door, showed me the way to the delivery suite. When the midwife checked me, I was already 9cm dilated! Can you imagine that? I must have a high pain tolerance. I managed without any pain reliever at all! Well, they put me in laughing gas (which is their normal procedure).

At 8:30am, I was on the delivery table, waiting for my Ob/Gynae to come. She came after a few minutes only… and I started pushing. In the morning of November 27, 2006, at 8:46 am, Samantha came out! Peter had the honor (again) to cut her cord up. He cut Schenker’s cord when he was born. Actually Peter had a lot of “honors” that day. He was the one who saw her first, and he was the one who carried her first.

I felt so elated after I delivered Samantha. I was smiling from ear to ear. As soon as she was cleaned up, the nurse gave her to me and I breastfed her straight away. I wasn’t tired so Samantha stayed with me for the first 6 hours of her life. After that, they took her to the nursery room so I could rest.

Samantha is now 9 months old and she’s doing very well, reaching her milestones and developments on time. Thank God! 

Weee!!! It’s confirmed! We’re definitely going back to the Philippines, in Butuan, for a visit. We just bought our tickets online. We missed the cheaper flights, but it’s ok. It’s not that much.

I thought we couldn’t make it coz we spent so much paying for our car repair. It costed us heaps. But thank God for blessing us. Now we can go home already.