transposable element

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!

if there’s one smart move we made before leaving germany, it was to sign up for the mawista health insurance. as i’ve blogged previously, the efficiency of the health care system in germany is something i have been very impressed with. as we were not sure what kind of health insurance we’d be getting here in singapore and how long the paperwork will take to get the family covered, we decided to sign up for a year’s coverage with mawista to bridge the gap. basically, it’s like a year long travel health insurance.

it turned out that the local health insurance we have here does not cover a lot of things. pregnancy and childbirth, for example, isn’t, as it’s not considered to be an illness. so if we didn’t have mawista, we would have had to cough out the S$4000-6000 from our own pockets for the delivery alone. that’s assuming it’s going to be a normal, straightforward delivery. as it is, we’ll have to shell out the cash upfront anyway, but at least we get reimbursed later. now i understand why, during my first consultation with the OB-Gyn, upon seeing on my records that i am a pinoy, the receptionist asked whether i plan to give birth here in singapore. i thought it was a ridiculous question then. after all, where else would i want to give birth? i live here, don’t i? but now, i get it.

isn’t it interesting that while in some cultures hair is considered sacred and is allowed to grow to eternity, in some others, mostly in western cultures, hair is generally unwanted? have you ever wondered how many thousands of dollars an average caucasian man, for example, would spend in his lifetime for razors, blades, shaving cream, and after-shave cosmetics? for women, it could even be more, as there’s more areas that’s expected to be hair free– legs, underarms, arms, the bikini area, and hey, for some, that area above the lips and the brows need some cleaning up, too.

if you’re one of those who has ever held a razor or a tweezer (ouch) to remove unwanted hair, have you ever thought of laser hair removal? the last time we were in pinas, my dermatologist sister was talking of investing in a hair removal laser equipment, similar to those used in this dallas laser hair removal center. even in the philippines, people seem to be willing to spend big bucks just to have hair permanently removed. i can see why. imagine the convenience of not having to put up shaving or waxing for life. imagine being able to wear skirts and sleeveless clothes, being able to go to the pool or beach, without having to worry about unsightly hair. imagine not having to put up with itchiness, pain, skin irritations, cuts, or ingrown hair ever again.

i’m not a vain person, but if i would let myself undergo a procedure in the name of beauty, this would probably something i would consider getting done.

if you could, would you? which area? hehehe.

if you’re the type who has accounts in friendster, facebook, multiply, linkedin, etc, then you might as well add another to your online social community network and join 3gb community www.3gb.biz. the 3GB community allows you meet new friends, as well as old friends, upload your photo albums, join groups, blog, chat with other members and hear last mp3 hits.

me? let’s just say i’d rather have deep rather than wide social relationships.

our bags are packed. i wish i was going on holiday, lugging golf bags, but no, i’m talking about my hospital bag and jan’s overnight bag, in case he needs to stay with relatives while i’m at the hospital delivering the next member of the family. unlike with anticipating your first child, i realize this delivery and the succeeding couple of weeks will take a little bit more of planning and coordination as this time around, there’s jan to consider as well. he’ll probably miss a day or so from kindergarten, as i’m sure he’d also appreciate being present during the first few days, but i’m hoping his schedule won’t be disrupted more than necessary.

certainly, we’ll have to find and fit a into a new routine that works for us all, and it will take some getting used to. it will take weeks, perhaps months til we find some semblance of normalcy, some sense of alltag or “everyday-ness”, to our lives. it will be challenging, frustrating at times, perhaps. sleepless nights, school stress, job requirements, extra-curricular activities, wet nappies and engorged breasts.

but we are a team. a family. what is there to worry about?