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.
Aside from the usual hip and back pains and frequent fatigue a pregnant woman would normally feel during the third trimester, I was also diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome where I have started feeling the symptoms during my 32nd week. I learned that it’s common among pregnant women because of the fluid retention in the body that would make it hard for my tingling wrist and fingers to do simple things like using a computer and even slicing food. Thankfully, I am about to finish my series of therapy sessions that somehow helped relieve my symptoms which would definitely disappear when I give birth.
But there’s really nothing to worry about in general because I don’t feel sick or weak at all. I make sure to walk briskly and I climb the stairs daily whenever I’m in the train station on my way to and from work. I also do the exercises your Papa and I learned from our childbirth class. I know that I need to strengthen my body to prepare for labor and delivery. I also don’t want to be perceived as a weakling just because I’m pregnant. I have been a strong woman in the past two trimesters, and I want to finish strong. All I need is to have you in cephalic anterior presentation inside my womb! J
Aside from some challenges I am encountering that are physical in nature, I am also faced with the temptation of food that pregnant women shouldn’t eat. And that’s anything unpasteurized, raw, and not fully cooked, like fresh salads, soft cheeses, and half-cooked food. Let me just share with you how much I love salmon sashimi. I confess I ate some for every chance I got and that’s every time there was an occasion for buffet dinner, probably like four to five times during my whole course of pregnancy so far. But don’t worry. I avoided them during my first semester while you were just starting to develop, and come second trimester I soaked all my raw salmon slices in calamansi and wasabi to disinfect them! I miss Teriyaki Boy’s tempura tuna sashimi tartare too but I refrained from eating it because tuna is said to be contaminated with small amounts of mercury. Canned tuna is said to be okay though. And since I have decided to breastfeed you for as long as I can, I still need to observe proper diet after pregnancy for breastfeeding moms.
I know that four weeks out of about forty is just a short time for waiting. But for me, sometimes it’s still too long every time I get the third trimester blues. But I somehow managed to make it feel like a short time by of course keeping myself busy with the necessary errands your Papa and I would have to do to be completely prepared for your coming. Thanks to the mother’s checklist that our Lamaze instructor Rome Kanapi gave us during our childbirth class, your Papa and I have started shopping for your needs. Honestly, although it is tiring for my feet to walk all day to shop, I can’t stop checking out baby stuff! Shopping is now where I’m most willing to stand and walk all day, and I feel good in seeing displays of cute baby items.
Even your Mommy and Daddy have been in charge of your nursery! Your Daddy had already arranged for your room’s makeover. Your nursery used to be your uncle Jake’s bedroom that turned into a stock room. But now its walls, ceiling and door are now reconstructed and freshly repainted. And I am very excited to decorate it as soon as your cot, a made-to-order one by your Mommy, is finally in place.
Aside from the usual hip and back pains and frequent fatigue a pregnant woman would normally feel during the third trimester, I was also diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome where I have started feeling the symptoms during my 32nd week. I learned that it’s common among pregnant women because of the fluid retention in the body that would make it hard for my tingling wrist and fingers to do simple things like using a computer and even slicing food. Thankfully, I am about to finish my series of therapy sessions that somehow helped relieve my symptoms which would definitely disappear when I give birth.
 |
| Wrist stabilizer for my carpal tunnel syndrome |
But there’s really nothing to worry about in general because I don’t feel sick or weak at all. I make sure to walk briskly and I climb the stairs daily whenever I’m in the train station on my way to and from work. I also do the exercises your Papa and I learned from our childbirth class. I know that I need to strengthen my body to prepare for labor and delivery. I also don’t want to be perceived as a weakling just because I’m pregnant. I have been a strong woman in the past two trimesters, and I want to finish strong. All I need is to have you in cephalic anterior presentation inside my womb! J
 |
| Knee-to-chest positon, an exercise to turn breech baby around into cephalic presentation |
Aside from some challenges I am encountering that are physical in nature, I am also faced with the temptation of food that pregnant women shouldn’t eat. And that’s anything unpasteurized, raw, and not fully cooked, like fresh salads, soft cheeses, and half-cooked food. Let me just share with you how much I love salmon sashimi. I confess I ate some for every chance I got and that’s every time there was an occasion for buffet dinner, probably like four to five times during my whole course of pregnancy so far. But don’t worry. I avoided them during my first semester while you were just starting to develop, and come second trimester I soaked all my raw salmon slices in calamansi and wasabi to disinfect them! I miss Teriyaki Boy’s tempura tuna sashimi tartare too but I refrained from eating it because tuna is said to be contaminated with small amounts of mercury. Canned tuna is said to be okay though. And since I have decided to breastfeed you for as long as I can, I still need to observe proper diet after pregnancy for breastfeeding moms.
 |
| My favorite sashimi varieties |
I know that four weeks out of about forty is just a short time for waiting. But for me, sometimes it’s still too long every time I get the third trimester blues. But I somehow managed to make it feel like a short time by of course keeping myself busy with the necessary errands your Papa and I would have to do to be completely prepared for your coming. Thanks to the mother’s checklist that our Lamaze instructor Rome Kanapi gave us during our childbirth class, your Papa and I have started shopping for your needs. Honestly, although it is tiring for my feet to walk all day to shop, I can’t stop checking out baby stuff! Shopping is now where I’m most willing to stand and walk all day, and I feel good in seeing displays of cute baby items.
 |
| A little installment of our series of baby shopping adventures |
Even your Mommy and Daddy have been in charge of your nursery! Your Daddy had already arranged for your room’s makeover. Your nursery used to be your uncle Jake’s bedroom that turned into a stock room. But now its walls, ceiling and door are now reconstructed and freshly repainted. And I am very excited to decorate it as soon as your cot, a made-to-order one by your Mommy, is finally in place.
Despite all the impatience and excitement I’ve been feeling, there is still something that made me enjoy and hold on to my third trimester aside from baby shopping. You’re at your biggest and strongest now inside my womb and I can really feel your strong, frequent movements! It’s like you hardly ever slept in a day. Every wave and lump is visible on the surface of my tummy and it makes me and your Papa smile every time we see it. I even told your Papa that I wished you could be inside his tummy for just one magical day so that he would also know and feel how I exactly feel with this bond that only you and I are sharing together. I guess your martial arts moves in my womb would be the thing I’ll be missing the most about my pregnancy. Four more weeks to go!
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