After three months...

It is eleven thirty p.m. Both my boys are finally asleep. Butch is snoring and Nigel is sleeping on his tummy after a satisfying meal of breastmilk in a bottle. It was a rough day for my li’l angel. This afternoon, he was given the DTP immunization shot. He didn’t have fever but he was fuzzy nd whinney the whole afternoon and Butch couldn’t appease him. I guess he wanted his mommy.
At three months old, Nigel is now 7.2 kilos. He can roll over, raise his head 90 degrees, put his hands together, laugh out loud, giggle, vocalize and hold his toys. I am happy to witness how he is developing and growing. By now, he can already sleep through the night in most days. For this reason, Daddy’s night shift no longer exist. I am the one who gets up when Nigel cries for attention once in a while. His pooping has also lessened to two from five to six for the past months. Sometimes he doesn’t even do it in a day.The parenting book What to Expect the first year says this is perfectly normal. At this point the baby is using more of the nutrients cause he’s rapidly growing. That’s why there is less waste product.

As for me, My tummy has definitely shrunked but its still not the same size pre-pregnancy. I don’t think its ever gonna be that flat again. My wound from having a c-section has completely healed. I no longer feel any sort of pain that used to bother me a lot during the the first and second month. My period is even back. Not too happy about this. I was told it wouldn’t come back as long as I am breastfeeding. Apparently I’m not that lucky. I also noticed that my milk supply drops days before and during my period. This has forced me to supplement with formula. I give Nigel four ounces of S26 everyday. I still give him breastmilk 95 % of the time. I just don’t want to see the small can of formula put to waste. It is pretty costly.

I can say that I’ve adjusted to my new life as a mom. But for some reason, I still couldn’t fit blogging into my day. I try whenever Nigel is asleep but I find myself too tired so I also sleep instead. I wanna have more energy to do the things I want. I don’t want to get stuck in this routine. I wanna do other things besides being Nigel’s mommy.

Some snapshots during our stay in the hospital

Of course Butch was snapping pictures with his Nikon D40 during my stay in the hospital. Here are some of his shots…

Taken inside the operating room. I specifically told Butch not to take my headshots while inside. Otherwise I would throw away his camera with every strength I had left in my body hahaha! All I see of myself in this picture is my left hand. I was very groggy and half asleep during the operation. I didn’t feel a thing! Thank God for epidural.

My sister said It really hurts when they take the catheter out. This was taken when my doctor was removing it. They also changed the dressing of my stitches for the first time that's why was covering my eyes. Here at home, Butch does it for me. I don’t want to look at it. I haven’t checked out my post pregnancy body yet. But I know my tummy is still big and I bet there’s a some loose skin.

Just out of mommy’s tummy! Nigel looked more like me on day one. He’s definitely got my eyes and skin color. Everyone’s saying this as they looked at Nigel’s pictures. But on the second day, his skin turned a little redish and he started looking more like Butch especially when he’s asleep. He has Butch’s nose and lips. Oh well, I guess he’s a combination of him and me.

I gave birth at the New Era General Hospital. An institution built and run by the “Iglesia Ni Cristo” Church. A Christian sect here in the Phlippines. The picture above is their place of worship. My cousin/ doctor is an active member of this church. I have no regrets giving birth in this hospital. The people are courteous, the service is good and the price is very reasonable. We spent a lot less than we expected.

Like I said, we weren’t able to take Nigel home right away. He had to stay in nursery a couple more days. We visited him everyday though. I breastfeed him. I am so glad I practiced taking care of babies with my nieces Iris and Chloe! Otherwise I’d be so clueless the first time I picked Nigel up. Butch wasn’t allowed inside. I had no one to help me or to panic with hahaha! I would take pictures of him with my cellphone camera and look at it all day with Butch.

He cooked “Tinola” for me

For the past weeks, these are what I’ve been eating

Breakfast: Low fat milk and 3 tbsp of instant oatmeal
Lunch: less than a cup of rice, 1-2 slices of meat and 1 cup of whatever veggies
Dinner: Green Salad or All-Vegetable Sandwich

These meals are easy to prepare and are low in sugar and calories. It has helped me lose weight. But like any food, if you eat it every day you will surely grow tired of it. Butch has been in his paternity leave since Thursday and last night, he cooked “Tinola” for me. He thought of it because green papaya, one of its ingredients is said to encourage contractions on pregnant women. Tinola normally has chicken, malungay leaves and green papaya. But since we are after eating the green papaya, Butch didn’t put chicken just the malungay leaves and other spices.
I am happy that Butch is with me now. He said it was okay. He was not able to use up his leave credits last year and this is the perfect time to use it. Two days ago, he took me brisk walking in U.P. At noon time we went to Wildlife, a park/ zoo housing endemic animals here in the Philippines. We ate our lunch there and walked around seeing all sorts of animals (in cages of course)- different species of snakes, birds, fishes, mammals etc. I’ve been a resident of Quezon City for a long time but that was my first time in that park. I enjoyed very much. It’s unfortunate though he was not able to take pictures of the animals. His Nikon D40’s battery run out after we ate lunch.

Someday, we will take Nigel to this park to see the animals.

I wonder what will Butch cook for me tonight.

Wordless Wednesday: Walking, walking and more walking... to induce labor

*picture taken by Butch as I walked in U.P.

Kate Winslet Finally wins Best Actress

Kate Winslet won the best actress award during last Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards for her role opposite Leonardo Di Caprio in “Revolutionary Road”. She also won the best Supporting actress award for the movie “The Reader”. This is a long awaited win for the British actress who has been nominated 5 times for an Oscar but has never won. Like what she said in her acceptance speech for best supporting actress “I have a habit of not winning things…”Well, her luck seems to have changed. Will she finally win an Oscar too this year? The nominations are yet to be announced. But I am very sure Kate will be nominated for best actress as well.

It was pretty obvious she would win for best supporting actress category. Her contenders namely Amy Adams, Penelope Cruz, Viola Davis, and Marissa Tomei are no match for the Kate’s caliber and experience as an actress in my opinion. She was very composed and prepared going up the stage as she held on to the list of the people she wanted to thank. But when she heard her name came up as best actress winner, Kate seemed stunned. Who wouldn’t be? Beating Ann Hathaway, Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep and Kristin Scott Thomas- all spectacular actresses is quite a feat. Here’s a video clip of her acceptance speech as best actress…



Congratulations Kate, you deserve it. Oh boy! This makes me want to watch Revolutionary Road even more but I don’t know when it is showing on this side of the globe.