Dear Peanut: 3rd Trimester

Dear Peanut,

On the morning of Nov 2nd , your mother screamed as she sat on the toilet and told me that she let out a huge chunk of bloody discharge.

I was still in bed at that time and it opted me to jump out and check her in the bathroom. I thought she was joking and just wanted me to look at her huge turd stuck in the toilet. She wasn’t.

I saw this gooey piece of blood which was supposedly the mucus plug. This mucus plug thing is what separates you from the outside world. Now that it’s out, then you know what’s gonna happen next.

I was actually going to go to work that day since the last 2 days were non-working holidays. I needed to catch up on some work before you go out.

We were actually expecting you on Oct 31st. It would be cool if your birthday falls on Halloween. We thought if that happens, we’d be in costumes while going through the whole ordeal.

There was also a possibility that you could be born on Nov 1st. Not really the best date as it coincides with the day of the dead here in our country. There are pros. If ever you were born on that date, the first pro is that it is a non-working holiday. Secondly, if someone threatens you that they will make your birthday Nov 1st, then don’t have to worry about it because they don’t need to change anything. Actually, thank them, since they remember your birthday. XD

Good thing we scheduled your Lola Mommy to come over that day and accompany your mother at home while I go to work. She arrived and we told her about the bathroom situation.

We decided to go to TMC to check first if this it is really time or just a false alarm. We did not bring our hospital bag first since I don’t want be dragging around a huge luggage full of baby diapers and other shit.

We went straight to the pre-labor room to check if its yey or neigh. Okay, after around 15 mins or so, they called me in and they said, we were already 5 centimeters in.

Aw shit. Finally. The day has come.

To be continued...

Regards,

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Dear Peanut,

These past few days, we’ve been using every opportunity to walk to help “bring you down” and induce labor naturally. So, naturally, your LolaMommy and LoloDaddy would invite us to go with them to SM malls so we can “walk.”

One time, we attempted to visit the Marikina Sports Center and walk around. I dressed the part - complete with the training shoes I haven't worn in months - and still, we ended up at UP Town Center because, well, it rained that afternoon.

At home, I’ve gotten used to taking the fire exit from the 20 something-something floor all the way down to the ground floor. I’m not sure if they have CCTV cameras in the fire exits but if they do, I wonder what the guards are probably thinking whenever they see a heavily pregnant woman taking the stairs 20++ floors down once a day, hehe.

One time, I noticed a leakage in the pipes on one of the lower floors. Not really sure what it was, didn’t smell like gas, no smell at all, but all my paranoid genes went into hyper mode and told the guards what I found. They sent the engineering team to the area ASAP and later told me, “Ma’am, pressure lang po iyon, wala pong gas na nag-li-leak.” Well, good to know.

Anyway, as the title suggests, the point of this entry is to chronicle how we’ve been using you as a scapegoat these past few months.

Back in Malaysia, I don’t remember seeing courtesy lanes for the elderly and pregnant women. Maybe they have it, maybe I wasn’t just paying attention. They were no good to me anyway because I didn’t look pregnant yet.

But here in the Philippines, it is a fucking big deal that you can give a bank or a store manager the evil eye if they don’t have a priority lane for PWDs, pregnant women, and seniors. You can literally see how the store/bank staff stiffen up whenever a pregnant woman walks in. It’s the mental equivalent of rolling out the red carpet AND I FUCKING LOVE EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF IT.

In the past few months, you LolaMommy has been dragging me along to her bank runs. While she’s already a VIP (preferred client) with BPI, she’s not as powerful with BDO and other banks yet. So she brings me along and we just zip past the long lines (those poor unfortunate souls, hahahaha) of weary people and finish our business in 5 minutes or less.

The same thing happens whenever we do our groceries. I fucking love those courtesy lanes, especially in Robinson’s Galleria where I get to shoo away rowdy kids who sit on the chairs intended for pregnant ladies. Harharhar.

But I think one of the best stories was that one time we almost got a ticket because your grandparents forgot about the number coding scheme. We were in a rush to catch the early screening time of Seven Sundays at one of those SM Malls. When your LolaMommy saw the traffic enforcer, she nearly screamed because she forgot about the coding scheme (we should have brought the other car). That’s when you came to our rescue.

We opened our windows a bit and told the traffic enforcer that they’re rushing to get me to the TMC clinic in SM Marikina. Fake panic in their voice added for more drama.

Naturally, I played the part and I showed off my very pregnant self to the traffic enforcer and he waved us off. It was hilarious, really. No harm done.

P.S. Lying is wrong but, but, allow us to enjoy these preggy perks because we’re due to pop anytime now and then we’d be back to being one of those poor unfortunate souls who have no choice but to wait in line because most of the services in this country is crappy.

XOXO,

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

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Dear Peanut,

We’ve been quite busy these past few days and yesterday was quite tiring but we managed to do a lot.

First off, your father and I had a double booking with family (Cartagena and Eustaquio-Castillo sides). One of your aunties from the Cartagena side went home from New Zealand and they met in BGC for lunch and coffee.

As for you and me, we were all over boundaries of Pasig, Mandaluyong, and San Juan yesterday.

We met our immediate family (Eustaquio-Castillo side) for a boodle fight lunch in Eastwood City. It was supposed to be a Derla-Eustaquio family meeting to explain some of the plans we agreed on for your arrival. but since we double booked, we had to discuss plans separately.

Two months ago, I told your LolaMommy that I wanted to eat seaweeds, the type you eat along with grilled liempo and pusit on the beach when you go to Palawan. I don’t know what it’s called but it’s the slimy one with popping mini balls attached to it. Doesn’t sound appetizing, yeah, but they’re good.

Your grandmothers wanted to get me 1 kilo of that and I bolted. I just wanted to eat small portions. So they ordered the boodle set with seaweeds yesterday.

I was so happy because both your UncleP and AuntieA were with us for lunch. It’s quite hard to bring us all together now for a meal because of different schedules (business and medicine school).

Your UncleP tried to listen to your heartbeat yesterday using his stethoscope. He told me they rarely use an Ultrascope Doppler stethoscope in UP-PGH (he’s currently a 4th-year med student) because of lack of funds, so hardcore. It’s a bit faint (unlike when Dr.JMF listens to your heartbeat during our weekly checkups) and he mostly heard all the barbecue, seaweeds, and laing that I ate. Nonetheless, it’s quite cool.

After a hearty lunch at Eastwood, we went to Greenhills because your LolaMommy wanted to shop. Normally, I won’t expose myself to the Greenhills Madness at this point in my pregnancy but I needed the exercise. We ate at Auntie Pairings (Tita Paring, actually, but when I took your Castillo balikbayans here, they called it Auntie Pairings, so it sort of stuck) and I was able to eat very good suman sa latik with bad coffee, haha.

After Greenhills, we went to Estancia Mall and did an ocular at this restaurant for our family Christmas dinner. As you’ll soon know, we’re not the type who stays up late for Noche Buena. As far as I can remember, we always sleep through Noche Buena and wake up early Christmas morning to unwrap presents then we wait for relatives to visit. It has always been like this.

But about 3 or 4 years ago, I’ve insisted on just having Christmas dinner (usually on the 24th) at a nice restaurant so we don’t have to slave over the kitchen stove cooking. We want to enjoy good food with good ambiance.

I’m usually the one in charge of finding fancy restaurants. This year, I’ve decided to start early. After all, when I pop, I won’t have time to project-manage the nitty-gritty details. Better prepare ahead. And it’s so damn hard to fight for reservations come December.

I took your grandparents to the restaurant yesterday at Estancia Mall and I think they liked it so much that they insisted on booking the 10-seater private dining area on the spot. So now, I’m finalizing the customized menu with the manager. Good thing I’m a VIP member so we can get some freebies.

That’s it for now. We’re also bidding for a new client so I have a lot on my plate today. Please come out soon, otherwise, your father and I will ride a roller coaster at Star City para “bumaba ka na.” Dr.JMF said mataas ka pa daw. So I need to walk and walk and walk and allow gravity to take its course.

P.S. I was able to do an ocular and a quick meeting at one of the proposed venues for your baptismal. We’re trying to lay the groundwork for these events as early as we can so we won’t “plannick.”

Love,

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

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Dear Peanut,

Yeah, so we're down to the last stretch. Your time to go out into the world starts next week. Next. Fucking. Week. I’m not sure how it will go down but I’m looking forward that it goes well.

We have attended the final pregnancy seminar in our hospital today and got the last batch of free baby-related shit that we can get. It has been quite a journey and it’s kind of fun to think back to the last few months leading to this.

During the 1st trimester, there wasn’t a lot of changes in your mother’s body. Aside from the monthly check-ups, there wasn’t really any changes in our routine. This was the time that we would go swimming every week to get some exercise.

This is also true for the 2nd trimester since her belly is just starting to swell up, as you were starting to grow and take a more human form because initially, you looked like the face hugger hatchlings from Aliens based on the ultrasound photos. The upside is your mother’s jugs increased in cup size. The downside is that her nipples are the size of China.

Now, this third trimester is a different story. So based on what the doctor told us during the seminar and the shit we have read, this is the time that most of the things are set up. You are just growing until you are right for the picking. That means you get bigger and heavier and so is your mother’s belly. Now her movement is really compromised.

She really can’t bend down so when she drops things on the floor, especially when I’m not around, it’s going to stay there for a while. Sometimes she gets creative and uses a broom to pick up small things and ends up sweeping the entire house, so now our floors are dust-free.

Getting up from lying down position is also a Herculean task for her. She is like an overturned turtle trying to get up, it’s kind of funny. You should see it yourself. Don’t get me started about her feet. They look like they are about to be served in Octoberfest alongside with sauerkraut and beer.

Yeah, anyway, here we are just waiting for the day that your mother will go into labor. We are hoping you’d do it around Oct 30th, just in time for the long weekend. I can be off for two weeks! Woohoo!

So until then, we’ll be playing the waiting game.

Regards,

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