My natural childbirth experience, Part 3 of 3: Delivery

Dear Baby P,

It's just three days before your homecoming and we are all excited to be finally with you. I'm also very glad to see your strong appetite for my breast milk at the nursery of Capitol Medical Center yesterday that you latched strongly despite the bottle feeding you temporarily received from the nursery. I can't wait to visit you again today. I was able to pump 2 ounces of breast milk this morning and I'll bring it to you this afternoon.

In this post, I would like to share with you the toughest and yet the best part of my childbirth experience wherein your Papa and I finally welcomed you into the world. 

My natural childbirth experience, Part 2 of 3: Induced labor

Dear Baby P,

I just got home with your Mommy today after successfully breastfeeding you for the first time in the nursery of Capitol Medical Center. We're also very glad to know from your pediatrician, Dr. Belleza, that your WBC (white blood cells) count is finally normal. We'll all just have to wait for you to finish your seven-day intake of antibiotics before you could finally come home to us on Monday. It's only Thursday today and I can't wait to see you again tomorrow. And as your Papa and I wait for your homecoming, I'll continue writing my birth story. 

Mama and Papa, in between contractions during active labor

In this post, I would like to share with you the progress of my labor which happened before you finally came out into the world. 

My natural childbirth experience, Part 1 of 3: Pre-labor

Dear Baby P,

I am now at home with your Papa for the first time as I write to you three days after your birth. You are still in the nursery of Capitol Medical Center for the continuation of your antibiotics as your white blood cells count are under observation. Your Papa and I miss you so much and we feel incomplete at home. I keep myself busy by writing to you to help pass the time until we could finally take you home. 

Baby P at 39 weeks

I would like to share with you our birth story, wherein your Papa and I had a wonderful childbirth experience together. In this post, I have recalled the things that happened before I started being in labor.

Breech and transverse baby no more!

Dear Baby P,

You and I are halfway through our 39th week now and I had just been to our doctor last Saturday to have my first IE (internal exam). But before that, I had become an anxious momma because of my worries about your presentation during the earlier weeks of my third trimester.



Photo from SpinningBabies.com



My second baby shower, care of my DKS colleagues

Dear Baby P,

A month after our first baby shower courtesy of Vivaca and your Papa, I am so blessed and thankful for having the most thoughtful colleagues from DKS who also threw me one! It was March 26 and I was 35 weeks pregnant.

Happily chasing the third trimester blues away

Dear Baby P,

I’m almost at my 36th week of pregnancy now and it would just be four weeks or less before your grand entrance to the world. It is at my 8th month now that I’m starting to feel impatient and most excited about it because I’m starting to feel clumsier and more uncomfortable that I just wanted to go fast forward to that big day of your arrival. It’s true that the second trimester is the best and most comfortable state a pregnant woman could be in, and the third trimester is the most exciting because she would just want it to be over with.




Our Lamaze childbirth class with Rome Kanapi

Dear Baby P,

Last March 18, at the beginning of my 34th week of pregnancy, your Papa and I completed our series of childbirth classes under Lamaze instructor Rome Kanapi. We received a Lamaze certification from Ms. Rome wherein your Papa could be with me in the delivery room to coach me during my labor and delivery, and most of all for the both of us to witness your healthy birth.

Our Lamaze certificate



Our class picture!

My baby's precious cord blood

Dear Baby P,

Last January 17, your Papa and I decided to invest in cord blood banking for your health security, which would benefit our family as well especially your future siblings. And just this March, we have finally received our cord blood collection kit that we would be using on your delivery sometime in April. Your Papa had already known of this kind of investment even before I got pregnant. And when he brought it up to me during my first trimester, I was skeptical at first about it.




Surprise baby shower for the first Vivaca baby!

Dear Baby P,

I just wanted to share with you a special day I had with Vivaca, my group of high school friends whom your Papa gathered to throw me a baby shower! Although the surprise failed to be kept a secret from me a few days before the event, I was still very touched and happy to be entertained (instead of me entertaining). It was February 26 and I was 31 weeks pregnant.





Maternity photoshoot with Spetz at Blow-Up Babies

Dear Baby P,

While your Papa and I are very much excited to see you, we had to keep ourselves busy and spend quality time together before we officially become lifetime Mama and Papa, as what my favorite pregnancy sites advise. One of the fun things we thought of doing was to have ourselves photographed as expectant parents, in order for me to visually document and share with you our joyful anticipation of our Pelikitot.




Our 4D ultrasound session at Face2Face

Dear Baby P,

I write to you now on my 31st week of pregnancy, and we’re now in the third trimester together. My prenatal checkup with Doc Meneses had increased in frequency from monthly to bi-weekly, starting from my 28th week, where Doc had already given me a referral slip for 4D ultrasound.




Gifts from your Papa and our family in Bicol

Dear Baby P,

Just when I thought our Christmas and New Year celebrations were over, I was in for a surprise!

Your Papa, Mommy, Daddy and I just came home from our New Year celebration from Edsa Shangri-La when a neighbor handed us a package she received on our behalf since there was no one home on December 31. I opened the package and found two magazines, both back issues of Yummy and Good Housekeeping. Inserted in the package was a letter. The letter said I would be receiving two-year subscription of Smart Parenting as a gift from your Papa!

A 'preliminary' gift from Papa

The dragon baby and my first new year as an expectant momma at Edsa Shangri-La

Dear Baby P,

Your Mommy, Daddy, uncle Jake and I, together with occasional visitors, always celebrated our New Year’s Eve at home. Every year we decorate the dining tables with twelve kinds of round fruits, we scatter chocolate coins and real coins around the house, and we turn all the lights and appliances on at home. We only made loud noises and never used firecrackers, because we’re contented with watching our neighbors light up and display their colorful fireworks.





A blessed Christmas and birthday for your Mama

Dear Baby P,

I would just like to share with you my thoughts about my first Christmas and birthday celebration as an expectant mother.

Me on my 24th birthday at 22 weeks pregnant

Preggers just wanna have fun!

Dear Baby P,

I write to you this post on my 29th week of pregnancy, where I have finally entered our third trimester together. I just wanted to recall the fun I’ve had during my second trimester, which I could say was my most comfortable period of our nine-month journey.

My baby's congenital anomaly scan

Dear Baby P,

December 3, 2011. It was a Saturday, and despite the weekend, your Papa and I woke up early to head to NeoMedica and to undergo the congenital anomaly scan procedure. I was somewhat nervous because of the name of the procedure itself, but excited at the same time because your Papa and I would finally know if we were right to call you “Baby P” and “Pelikitot” as we always did, or if we should instead call you “Lady P” or “Pulinday”.

The Baby Name

Dear Baby P,


Your Papa had let me know early on during our first months together, that he wanted to name our future baby boy “Paulo”. My initial reaction was not too joyful, because the name was too common. But I did prefer “Paulo” over “Paolo”.  He wanted “Paulo” because your Papa Big’s name is Paulino. Your Papa wanted to honor your Papa Big, whom both you and I were unfortunately not able to meet. But because the name “Paulo” is too common, I thought of adding something that is of course not too common.

Preggy care & things I've been doing

Dear Baby P,

I have been a very cheerful person (very seldom moody), but I was very serious about my first pregnancy. I wanted to do everything right for my body and for you, my first baby.

A preggers' thoughts, moods, pains, and joys

Dear Baby P,

You know, it is common for pregnant women to have various thoughts, feelings and moods that change very often for no reason. I had experienced sudden feelings of being scared, angry and easily amused. But I don’t remember being depressed. I admit being moody towards your very patient and understanding Papa, but I was often very cheerful and outgoing with everybody else. The very opposite of those positive moods that I had most was fear and being paranoid about what could happen to you if I encounter even the smallest unfortunate events.

When your Papa heard your heartbeat for the first time

Dear Baby P,


It was time again for my monthly prenatal checkup with Doc Meneses for November, and I couldn’t wait to hear your heartbeat again. I, your Papa, Ate Gela, Ate Geli, Mama Myr and Ate Che just had a vacation from Hong Kong in October, so I wanted to make sure you did not have any fetal distress. I was excited too because my November visit to Doc was my first time as a Serrano!