Dear Peanut: April 2017

Dear Peanut,

On April 20, 2017, we had our third prenatal checkup at Columbia Hospital PJ with Dr.AZ. And today, we heard---for the very first time---your heartbeat!

I read once that a baby's heartbeat sounds like galloping horses. But SC said it sounded more like a hovering helicopter. So we called it your Helicopter Heartbeat.

The whole experience felt sooooooooo amazing, that I even cried a bit because I felt so happy. Even SC felt the paternal strings tug a bit when he first heard your heart beating.

We also saw it on the screen (blue lights flickering fast). We tried to record it on SC's phone but when we played it back, it's too faint to hear. But when it was happening in real time, your Helicopter Heartbeat was so loud it filled the entire room.

We also saw your baby shape for the first time today. At #11Weeks, you were past your Alien Phase (you know, you looked like an alien during the first trimester---at least that's how it's shown in many online references). And based on the ultrasound, you're already filling up the small black hole that's your home inside my body.

During our third prenatal checkup, SC and I decided to take the First Trimester Screening test. I've read a great deal about this and even asked a fellow Filipina expat mom we met in Kuala Lumpur.

It's combined ultrasound and blood test. The goal is to see if you have high or low risk of developing chromosomal abnormalities, including Down Syndrome. It's a screening test, not diagnostic, which means it only shows us a range.

If the results show you're at high risk, we can decide to get the diagnostic test but this later test is invasive, which means they'll get a blood sample from you and it comes with a slight risk of miscarriage. And I don't want that.

Dr.AZ explained to me that the screening test is non-invasive and they'll just get my blood for testing. During the first phase of the screening test, Dr.AZ took a longer time with the ultrasound. She made a lot of measurements and at one point, you even turned around. "Baby is turning," she said. You probably got annoyed with all the extra poking in your home.

But we saw you move! It was so amazing!

Your third selfie photo at #11Weeks. You are so much visible now! :)

After the checkup, we were told to go the laboratory for my blood test. The doctor also gave me new medicine to take, a calcium supplement and some multivitamins. By this time, we already finished your folic acid supplements.

Dr.AZ gave me calcium supplements too because I told her I don't like the taste of maternity milk. Well, even before I really don't like powdered milk. Maternity milk just tastes so sweet and even if I dilute it, it makes me wince. Not that I would puke it all out but the smell is enough to make me forget that I actually need it.

This is why I drink it every other day, once a day. When Dr.AZ told me I was supposed to drink 2 to 3 glasses every day, I immediately felt guilty. I got extremely worried that I wasn't doing you good so I immediately asked for calcium supplements. Your AuntieAD also took calcium supplements because she hates milk and she told me it's okay.

Honestly, I wanted to use the maternity milk to make polvoron but SC stopped me.

So that's what happened during your 3rd prenatal checkup. This is when we realized that you look like peanut. So we started calling you Peanut instead of baby, hehe.

We showed LMO and LD your third selfie photo and LMO couldn't see the "peanut" shape in the ultrasound photo. She told us you look like an owl. Where the fuck did that come from? hahaha. So, we sent her this:

See? There you are, anak. :)

Love,

Update (as of March 29, 2018): Changed my codename from Queen Bitch (QB) to Tiger Mom (TM).

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Dear Peanut,

Today was the first day that we took you swimming. :)

Well, you're actually already swimming inside my tummy but today, SC and I went back to PJ Palms Sports Centre for an early morning swim.

As you know, I have to give up kickboxing and weightlifting at the gym for a while. At this point, I'm supposed to be in my 2nd year of gym membership and I had initially planned on getting regular kickboxing sessions again. I planned on going beast mode again.

But my Malay coach told me (as well as Dr.AZ) that I can't do contact sports while pregnant. As for weightlifting, I can use light weights, but where's the challenge in that? I'm used to lifting 15 to 20-pound barbells. I feel like I won't be able to maximize the expensive gym membership if I use light, sissy weights like 5 pounds.

So we've decided to freeze the gym membership for now and try less strenuous workouts like swimming. I've yet to try prenatal yoga at this point but we already inquired at The Yoga House, a small yoga place near our home in Malaysia.

I used to not like swimming. I didn't really hate it, but it's not one of my favorite things to do. I mean, if I'm going to work out, I want to sweat. So I took up kickboxing years ago. But since I'm having lower and upper back pains, I might as well give swimming a chance. And you know what? I ended up loving it!

This is PJ Palms Sports Centre. The entrance fee is RM10 (PHP114.50) each.

Perhaps it's the preggy hormones or the fact that we time our swimming activity mid-morning, usually on a Friday. But I really, really love swimming now. We've been to PJ Palms Sports Centre before, on a Saturday, but I didn't join SC in the pool because there were so many people then. I ended up eating fries and waffles at the in-house A&W restaurant for 1 hour.

But since that Friday swim, we've been going to the sports center every Friday morning now to workout for at least 1.5 hours. I really, really love swimming now that I drag SC every Friday morning to go to the sports center. I have poor eyesight and it's hard for me to see underwater, but we found a pair of goggles with a grade. That's one of the reasons why I love swimming now.

Early morning swim at PJ Palms Sports Centre.
First time for you and me at #11Weeks.

I just look bloated, right? #11Weeks

And maybe it's due to the lack of pussy posers swimmers (I have a very bad mouth sometimes, but hey, you should be used to it by the time you read this) that make me want to go there every day. Sometimes, the pool would be a bit crowded, like 10 swimmers, but they're swimmers. They're not the kind who go to the pool to take Instagram photos.

When we were in the Mandaluyong condo, I used to detest going to the pools after 9:00 AM because the pools would be filled with pussy posers. At PJ Palms Sports Centre, I am determined to do laps because everyone else is doing it. If I don't, I'd end up being the pussy swimmer.

And keme if you wear Speedos. Every now and then, we see some locals wearing nothing but a pair of bikini-style Speedos. I can be so judgmental sometimes but I figured, they can wear that because they swim.

Unfortunately, I have seen many pussy posers who have no business wearing Speedos. And thank God, nobody wears t-shirts in the pool! If you do, the local lifeguard will kick you out. SC and I wear proper swimwear.

No pussy poser swimmers here. That's the goofy female swimming instructor teaching a local how to swim properly. They also have scuba diving lessons here. Too bad I can't do that while I'm pregnant with you.

And I just want to document it here, SC looks really good even underwater with goggles on. The other side of the pool is very deep because they use it for scuba diving classes. But we always do laps from the shallow end to the deep end and back.

I always stay at the shallow end but sometimes I meet SC halfway and we stay underwater and just make funny faces, hahaha. Sometimes, we do the merman/mermaid swim and pretend we're in an old-school bomba film, hahaha.

Under the water, it's always weirder. I hope by the time you read this, we already explained to you what bomba films are.

SC is so handsome right? Like Disney's Alladin!

Your daddy is just so manly. I still get kilig and goosebumps every now and then. At this point, we still don't know if you're a boy or a girl. If you're a baby boy, I hope you really get his facial features---eyes, eyebrows, nose, lips, even the hair, haha. And if you're a baby girl, I hope you get some of his good genes too. From me, I hope you develop my mad kilay skills because #kilayislife. And maybe the boobs, hahaha, and of course, my love for words, wit, and creativity.

Anyway, I always feel amazing right after. I feel lighter and less cranky. I always enjoy the early lunch we have at Makan Channel, where they serve the best salted egg squid with rice!

Can't wait for our Friday Swim Habit. <3

Love,