transposable element

what every mother wishes for her child.

ok, looks like i spoke too soon. as i suspected, it was still too early to expect mia to stick to some sort of predictable schedule. yesterday, she was awake the whole morning, as we went to register her at the embassy and apply for her passport, and then proceeded to sleep the whole afternoon til evening, with just a few short feed-breaks in between. it wasn’t any surprise that while the rest of the world slumbers, she was then wide awake last night.

ahh, but that is the charm and challenge of newborns — they keep you on your toes. just when you think you had them figured out, something unexpected happens. even, physically, it’s amazing how much babies change from day to day. sometimes, even by the hour. i don’t know how many pictures we’ve taken of mia the last 10 days (good thing i have an external drive,so it’s not using up a lot of computer memory) and one can really see how her features change. more than her physical features, though, i am more curious at what kind of personality she will have. she will most likely look like a feminine version of jan, but would she be as strong-willed, as daring, as precocious?

it’s been a week since mia was born and i can’t tell whether coping with a new member of the family is easier this time around or not. so far, things have been gong pretty smoothly, too smooth and easy-going than i expected for me to believe this status quo will last. in under a week, i’m physically more or less recovered from the delivery (though my ab muscles are still nowhere to be found and my tummy’s all wriggly and wobbly) and i’ve even overcome breastfeeding obstacles (when else will you have rock-hard, move-over-pamela-anderson sized mammary glands?) in less time than it took me with jan. mia’s sleeping a lot, even at nighttime, so i’m not as sleepless as i dreaded i would be (though i am more sleepy than usual these days). so far, she’s been a darling, not fussy at all (knock on wood).

i intentionally asked my folks not to come immediately after i give birth, as i thought we would need the time and space to fall into our new roles and establish a routine that works for the family before we have folks stay with us for a visit. but as things are, i suppose i should tell them it’s time to scout for flight deals!

mia amelie
born 28 april 2008, 11:10 am (GMT+8)
national university hospital, singapore
3200g, 50 cm.
almost 11 hours of labor, 4 pushes.

the brochure i received from the hospital says it’s time to head to the hospital when you experience these signs:

• regular contractions occuring every 5-15 minutes
• “bloody show”
• waterbag has ruptured

well, i’m having none of the last two, though i think i’m having mild contractions. after five years, i can’t exactly remember how contractions are supposed to feel! is it time to call a cab to the hospital? hm, i guess as long as i can still blog in between contractions, not yet.

abangan. in the meantime, i guess i should use the time to make some last minute preps and packing, charge the camera batteries and free up some ram to make space for baby pics

last week, i was amusedly watching the reactions aired on tv regarding the launch of playboy philippines. i can’t understand why people make so much fuss about it. they say it degenerates people’s sense of morality? ah, and those gyrating scantily clad girls on a noontime tv show don’t? what about those politicians who blatantly steal from the nation? is that the sense of morality the nation should emulate? or should we idolize celebrities who openly and proudly admit they go to vicky belo for more than just acne treatment? a few years ago, you are scorned if people find out you went for cosmetic surgery. now, if you listen to the celebrities endorse belo, it’s as if you’re not worth your salt if you’ve never had a vanity op done. is this the sense of values we should try to encourage our people to have?

at the end of the day, it’s literature. it may sell like pancakes, it may flop. if people would rather leaf through playboy than go through more distasteful material in the national papers or television, so what? as if the country has no other more pressing problems to tackle.

the other day, i thought my pc crashed. i booted as normal, but it would get stuck and sound off an annoying alarm and never get to the windows welcome page. instead it showed me a page explaining the error in german (yes, my pc is as language-confused as i am), and i vaguely understood that it had something to do with the keyboard. the keyboard that has been a p.i.t.a. for the last several months. oh well, stuck keys are what you eventually get when you habitually eat your breakfast (and sometimes lunch, too) while surfing.

well, i’m not that important a person, and if i lose all data in my pc, the only stuff i would really be sad to lose are the photos i’ve taken and downloaded to the hard disk since we moved here. so the first thing i did when the keyboard would cooperate again was to make a batch file of all the pics we’ve taken for the last 10 months and transfer this back-up to an external drive. now, i’m cool. this pc can crash for all i care.

if your pc or laptop crashes right now and you lose everything in your hard disk, how grave would it be for you?

the last few days, i find myself pausing at every little twitch and tension i feel, gauging whether the time to head to the hospital has finally come. yesterday, i visited a friend who gave birth a couple of days ago and the anticipation became even more accute. last night, i actually thought we wouldn’t make it through the night. but alas, here i am, still at home, still blogging, waiting for the contractions to come.

ah, to wait! during my last OB check up, the doc gave the baby the green light to come anytime. head is engaged, and the clinical laboratory services returned negative results for strep infections, and best of all, the baby’s head has moved from its occiput posterior (OP) position to face down, towards my spine. with my firstborn, jan, i had what is called back labor, with his head pushing against my spine, causing extreme pressure on my back at every contraction. when i found out this second baby was on the same position, i started to think there was something morphologically wrong with my uterus! but it seems there is a chance i’m going to be spared a back labor this time, although no one can tell as changes in position can still occur at the last minute.

oh well, it’s futile worrying about the D-day anyway. que sera, sera. i just wish i don’t have to wait long anymore. it’s getting me all the more antsy.

i need a strong CAT6 cable. no, not for transferring data. but to wring around hubby’s neck.

this morning was an early start. jan is joining a kindergarten excursion to a vegetable farm, and as i couldn’t keep my eyes open even after the morning coffee, it was hubby who prepared jan for school. he cooked their breakfast of scrambled eggs and baked beans. perfect.

when i woke up, i ate their leftovers on the table and after some time online, i made myself ready for an OB appointment at midday. all ok, had a light lunch with hubby, and went on to do some grocery shopping. went home, and for the first time today, i entered the kitchen.

“geez, is it warm in here”, i thought. and as i reached to the cupboards above the stove, i saw it: a little flame has been left burning.

it’s been burning for hours. while i slept. while i was out. while i was eating lunch. while i was shopping. all morning, that little flame was burning.

what if there’d been a strong gust of wind, and that flame was blown off? the gas would have continued to leak.

shudder.

in the philippines, april is fire prevention month. please do take extra care.

barely two weeks to go and i can’t wait.

to get into normal clothes, that is. when you’ve been wearing the same set of clothes over and over for months on end because you really don’t want to buy something that you won’t ever wear again after you give birth, well, it can get pretty boring. i know it will still take some time til i fit into my old clothes again (if at all), and i probably would be wearing nursing tops anyway instead of “real” clothes for the next few months. but it would be nice to get a pair (or a couple) of more stylish shoes. Naots are practical and comfy, but geez, i’ve been a practical-and-comfy shopper all my life, i think i’d like to have something more stylish as soon as i no longer have this heavy bump putting me off balance. nah, doesn’t have to be blahniks or jimmy choos.

maybe…. crocs, haha!