10 more weeks to go...

we've passed our 30th week!

we started our pre-natal classes two weeks ago, every thursdays from 8pm-10pm until march 6. there are 11 couple in the class and i think we're one of those whose edd are latest amongst the group (due dates range from late march to late april). my tummy is really small compared to our classmates and even when i was in manila, people are commenting how small my tummy is given how far along i am with the pregnancy. am thinking if i should be worried but my ob said everything is fine with the baby and his growth is within the normal range of his gestation.

i woke up one morning around the end of our 29th week and i think i saw three faint stretch marks below my tummy! i've been religously applying cocoa butter cream every morning and bio-oil every night. oh well, it's part of the pregnancy i guess. i even showed it to my officemates and they said it doesn't look like stretch marks (i think they're trying to make me feel better) but marks from my office pants instead. i'm pretty sure they're strech marks.

i think it's safe to say now that my belly button will never pop, it seems to just flatten out. which is good so i don't have this protruding door bell-like belly button showing through my tops.

we got ourselves a box of newborn nappies already and am looking at baby bath stuff as well. we still don't have a bathtub to use but that should be easy to buy. we're also looking for a cot mattress to put in the portacot so the baby boy will be more comfortable when he's sleeping, might as well get a mattress protector as well.

i'm planning to start washing some of the baby boy's stuff by the end of the month and pack both my labor and hospital bag (we were told during our prenatal classes to separate the two) early next month.

we're starting to look into how we're going to celebrate our little boy's baptism. we initially wanted to have it in manila (since most of our family and friends are there) but decided against it since we're planning to visit manila during the holidays again anyway. we have a rough idea already where we could have the ceremony but we still don't have a venue to have the celebration afterwards (we initially wanted it in this garden venue near the place where i work but when eric inquired we have to pay for the venue pa in addition to the food, parang hindi worth it). so now we're thinking restaurant na lang. we'll always have our house as a fallback anyway. i actually bought a really nice raw cream silk baptism romper online already (talk about impulsive buying) but it's way too big (it would best fit a 6 month old i think). so either i get it altered or contact veluz to have a baptismal gown made instead. i was in dj's in the city one weekday when i had a time off and a baptism outift costs between $150-$250, ang mahal! so i think i'm better off getting one from manila.

i've been searching designs of baptismal gown that i like already. i want an heirloom piece that would suit either a boy or a girl, so not too much frills and lace. we'll see...

my parents and brother seem to be gearing up already to be here for the birth. they're looking at arriving between end march or early-mid april. depending really on what my ob says. medyo expecting na din kasi kami that i won't carry full-term since i was born premature. and my mama seems to be adamant that she's here during the birth of her first apo. my sisters couldn't commit naman since all of them have work. at least it's going to be my brother's summer vacation that's why he can go. not sure though how long they can stay. i'm not expecting long since my papa has work and my mama has the farm that she needs to attend to. bahala na, thankful na lang ako that they'll be here. we were planning to have the baptism between the baby boy's 2nd-3rd month para medyo malaki-laki na sya but i think my mama would want to have the baptism while they're still here that's why she's been encouraging us to have the baptism (kahit simple lang daw, no frills para lang ma-bless na) within the month the baby boy is born.

i need to file my maternity leave already before the month ends. eric and i are still undecided whether or not i take an entire year off or not. basta it's non-negotiable for him that i stay at home for at least six months before we send the baby boy off to daycare. if i have the choice, i'd prefer to go back part-time (three times a week) after nine months and then full-time after twelve months. that way, it wouldn't come out as a shock to me transitiong from a full-time stay at home mom to a full-time working mom.

speaking of daycare, not sure where we're up to on that (eric's the one looking after it) but i know that we've filed applications for waitlist already in some daycare centres, but the hunt isn't over yet! and would you believe, we were actually advised that if we're eyeing particular private schools, we have to file for an application as soon as the baby boy is born! that way, we've got better chances of getting a slot when the time comes for us to enroll him.

ano pa ba? eric's been helping me do the laundry already (at least taking down the sinampay) and he started to accompany me to the grocery since it's becoming more difficult for me to push the cart and load the grocery stuff in the car.

work still is crazy by the way. the project was planned just in time for me to finish it before i go on leave. but you know how projects are, more often than not they don't turn out the way they're planned. every now and then i still get overwhelmed. i'm just thankful that we have eric to go home to at the end of a long day.