boy oh boy

presenting...

at 19 weeks
27th November during the 18-20 week morphology scan

yup, we saw all 6mm of its penis (eric and i immediately assured each other that it's still going to grow...right? :-P).

we had our 18-20 week morphology scan this morning for almost three hours! had to walk around twice and even eat brunch in the middle before they were able to complete the scan since he wasn't in the best position and kept on rolling (sabi ni eric bata pa lang naughty and makulit na! the sonographer was hoping that eating would raise my blood sugar level and have an effect on the baby...it worked!). they checked everything, every organ and bone in his body. it was good to know that everything was where and how it should be. we were very particular about his heart given that he is at more risk with my history (i'm actually due for a fetal cardio scan in the next couple of months just to check his heart). we got the dvd of the scans (i had to lie down through three rounds of it!) and a cd with still pictures of our little boy which we'll be bringing with us to our trip in manila to show our families (a little less than three weeks to go!).

we really didn't have any feeling of what the gender of our baby will be but almost everyone was saying that it was going to be a girl so we were kinda expecting it i guess. my mama was so sure it's going to be a girl even as early as the time i told her we were pregnant! she even bought all these baby girl's dresses from the us! my officemate did the wedding pendulum on my belly and it predicted a girl. there were only three people who said it's going to be a boy plus according to the chinese calendar, we were going to have a boy. my mama was so funny when i told her about her grandson this morning. she was still in denial and warning me about all these stuff about boys. i don't know why my mom can still be so into girls given she has five daughters already (and a son)!

it hasn't completely sunk in just yet that we're going to have a little boy...but at least we've narrowed down the color topping of our bug since pink is already out!

my wish list

since it’s only 2 weeks and 6 days till my birthday, 3 weeks until our anniversary, 5 weeks till christmas and 21 weeks and 6 days before our baby arrives, I decided to come up with my own wish list (not that my husband needs to be informed about these since I always tell him what I want anyway…side kwento: he complains how poor he gets during december since that’s the month we celebrate my birthday, our anniversary and christmas!):

• weekend bag – i need (okay…want) a new weekend bag or a friday bag since we wear casual clothes in the office during fridays. if i wouldn’t feel guilty about it (i keep on telling myself it is too much for a bag given the other stuff we have to buy for our baby), i would pick these in an instant:
  
  lv speedy 30 in monogram or damier canvas
  
  
  
  lv batignolles
  
  

i’d love to have a leather coach bag too but the sydney store has limited styles available.

if i’m being practical (and i am), i’d be happy with a witchery nicky bag, pip bag or bailey bag (in that order).

• classic diamond solitaire stud everyday earrings – right size for everyday use (not too small, not too big), in white gold

• eternity ring (i like tiffany’s lucinda celebration ring) – channel setting, in white gold





• tali gillette mama necklace – i want the one in the middle as a push present :-P, with diamond a’s in white gold
  
  
  

  

our baby's first picture

at 12 weeks
9th October during the NTS

My Precious little baby

I have loved you from the start

You are a tiny miracle

laying closely to my heart

Each day I feel your presece

Each day you quickly grow

Each day your heart beats slowly

as only I could know

So I'll keep this in a special place

And remember each year through

of this very special time of life

The month I carried you

Author Unknown

four months and counting

another four weeks have passed by...

pregnancy and baby updates:

• we finally met with the hematologist. i tested negative for lupus but it was confirmed that i have an autoimmune disease called ITP (idiopathic thryombocytopenic purpura or immune thryombocytopenic purpura ) which makes my platelets fluctuate. then and there she had blood tests done again and the results were actually positive since my platets went up to 76,000. the downside is i have to get blood tests done every three weeks and once it reaches 20,000 i have to take steroids or have to undergo platelet transfusion. as early as now, she already told me to prepare myself for the delivery given that i can't have any epidural (epidural can only be administered when one's platelet count is at least 90,000). so it doesn't really leave me much choice except to have either a normal natural delivery or a cesarean under general anesthesia. you see, my mama delivered all of her six babies normally so i'm thinking i should be able to delivery normally as well. not that i'm planning to have an epidural but not having that option just in case scares me.
• we had our monthly check-up and everything is fine. saw our baby again and it was moving so much (although i haven't really felt anything consistent yet)! oddly enough, even if my tummy popped out already i didn't gain any weight last month, not that i'm complaining... :-) we also informed our ob of our planned trip to manila on december. she gave us the go signal to travel but to see her and the hematologist before we leave and after we arrive.
• since we were in the hospital already we booked our 18-20 week morphology scan on the 30th of november. we'll know our baby's gender by then!
• speaking of gender, last halloween my officemate did this wedding ring pendulum on me to determine our baby's gender. according to this, it's pretty accurate. i won't disclose muna what it predicted but let's just say it pretty much is what everybody is hoping for and guessing. but i got a different result on the chinese calendar. we'll see...
• my parents just came back from the us and apparently my mama went crazy shopping for baby clothes! second day pa lang ata nila dun she texted me na that she got some stuff i asked her to buy and lots of clothes! sana lang tama hula nya on our baby's gender para magamit the clothes she bought. when i told her we were pregnant sure na sya on the gender of our baby!
• eric and i have started thinking about our baby's baptism. initially we were deadset in having it in manila after three months after the birth since our family and friends are there and we want them present during the event. but then we thought that if we plan to be in manila around july next year and then come back again december the same year (nangangarap lang naman...) it might not be practical not to mention very expensive. so we're starting to look for possible places we can have the baptism here in sydney instead. i even already commissioned veluz to do the baptismal gown when i got to talk to her a couple of months ago when she was here! sana lang she won't be too busy by that time...
• the husband has started to call day care centres and visiting them. i know that he actually listed our baby already in some of the centres waiting list (one day care centre has an 18-month waiting list!). so far around our area, average charge is $70/day while centres around where i work charges $90/day.
• been going crazy shopping for baby einstein cds. so far i've got baby mozart, baby bach, baby vivaldi, baby neptune, baby galileo and the playtime music box. i plan to get the boxed set dvds from manila on december (greenhills lang okay na as long as it's clear) to add to my baby's collection. i also got the mozart effect for myself as well.

• we're hoping to buy the car seat and cot soon so we're waiting for sales in babies galore and toys 'r us. unfortunately, graco pack n' play playards are very limited here so we only have about two or three models to choose from (unlike in the us). i actually looked into buying one from the us and have it shipped here but it's coming out really expensive so might as well get one from here instead (i really wanted one with a pivoting changing table sana). we're choosing between these two models (baby einstein pa din):
  

• i recently bought curtains and valance for the nursery and have decided on kidsline barn yard theme. i'm really hoping i could get some wall border. now i'm obsessed with everything barn yard...
  
  
  

other updates:

• we got tickets for the 14th of june phantom of the opera production in sydney next year! at least i’m guaranteed a date out already after our baby arrives. :-P we already made arrangements with aris and jen to look after our baby (we’ll look after enzo when they watch it the week before) or we can just get a baby sitter. i’m really excited since the last time i watched this was ten years ago!
• i came home one day with surprises waiting for me from eric. first there was this 30gb 1mp hard drive handycam (we wanted to buy one so we can take videos when the baby arrives),
  
  then when i went to our bedroom there was this 26" u series bravia lcd for our bedroom (eric wanted to have a tv in our bedroom for the longest time but i was against it since oprah said the bedroom should only be used for sleeping and sex...hahahahaha :-P but since i always fall asleep in the couch watching tv in our family room might as well get a tv in our bedroom!)
  
  and to top it all off, when i went to the guest room, there was this 40" xbr series full hd bravia lcd for our family room!
  
  my husband went panic buying in sony (thanks to my cousin pete who works for sony and was able to get us discounted staff discount price on the items)! i have to admit i was a bit shocked with all his secret purchases but i know he wanted to get these before and was just waiting for them to go on sale. natakot siguro that he can't buy these kind of stuff anymore when the baby comes! he kept on telling me that the digicam is for the baby anyway and the tv for the bedroom is for me so i can watch tv when the baby and i are in the room...yeah right. anyway, that weekend we went to buy a new tv cabinet for his brand spanking new lcd. as for the one in our bedroom, we're still waiting for the electrician to come since we plan to either mount it on the wall or ceiling.
• after almost two years, we finally got the cornice fitted in our kitchen. our kitchen is finally complete! eric has to paint the cornice though and retouch the ceiling and bulkhead.

and that pretty much sums up what we've been up to the past four weeks! till my next post on the results of our 18-20 week morphology scan.