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.

I was really too shy to provide a wish list of gifts to my colleagues who preferred that I do so. We had talked about the baby shower in our weekly informal meetings and I was very much flattered and embarrassed at the same time. They even initially planned to contribute for the food, in addition to the gifts. I thought it was too much for them so I volunteered to have the food on me as a treat for my regularization at work just last February. I also had a colleague who had the same regularization date as mine, so she chipped in for the desserts and drinks.

When I became less worried about how big the contribution of my colleagues would have become had they shouldered the food, I finally gave in to do my own wish list. I was window shopping at Baby Company in SM North when a salesman asked me if I would like to have a baby registry. He told me that those who would purchase gifts from my list would have 10% discount, and registering is free. All I needed to do was choose a minimum of ten to a maximum of fifty items from their store. Even if some of the gifts in my wish list would not be purchased by anyone, I could purchase them myself, still at a discount. I figured there was nothing to lose on having a baby registry, so I said yes and chose ten items that I really wanted to have. I had so much fun shopping around!

The next thing to do was to order food that would serve as dinner for our baby shower after our working hours. I so craved for beef lengua but I know that not everyone in my team may like to eat ox tongue, so I surveyed around. There were at least five of my colleagues who never ate ox tongue, but they were okay with giving it a try. We were thirteen in the team so eight of us, including our team lead and two supervisors, do eat ox tongue. So I decided to order beef lengua estofado from CCME because I was confident that it would be well-received. I also ordered chicken relleno and fish croquettes. All was set for my part, and the socials committee of our team was cooking up the baby shower program.

We held the baby shower in a small training room of our office building, and I was surprised to see the grand preparation our socials committee had. The gifts, game props and prizes were such a thrill to see. But before the exciting games, we had our dinner first. And I was glad that my colleagues liked the taste of the beef lengua, to which those who tried it for the first time commented that it didn’t feel like they were eating ox tongue at all. It was just like meat, only tenderer.



The gifts, and the props and prizes (Baby Ruth chocolates) for the baby shower games



Our group dinner


After the food, it was time for the baby shower games. The first game was “Pin the Sperm”, where the boys in our team were blindfolded as they tried to pin their paper sperm as close as possible to the illustrated egg on the wall. And then the “Diaper Game” was played by pair where the girl would make the boy wear diapers out of tissue rolls! The “Bottles Up” was for everyone where two teams would race to finish drinking milk from baby bottles! And the last game was “Charades” where the words to be guessed were anything related to pregnancy and babies. We had so much fun with the games because of the many hilarious moments that made us all laugh away!


Baby shower games, from top: "Pin the Sperm", "Diaper Game", "Bottles Up"

And then it was time to open the gifts. At last, I have a complete breastfeeding care system!


My gifts: A complete breastfeeding care system!

Playtex^® BPA Free VentAire^® Advanced Wide Gift Set - My supervisor Sheila highly recommends this brand and model of feeding bottles. I researched about this and it was indeed the best I could find too because of its anti-colic and ear infection-preventive design. I was glad to take her advice and now I have a set!

Playtex^® Manual Breast Pump Starter Kit - I was contemplating between Avent and this one, but since I really wanted the VentAire^® bottles, I chose the Playtex^® pump for compatibility. I have not seen great reviews about the pump but I’ll try my best to make it work for me.

Playtex^® Drop-Ins^® Breast Milk Storage Kit - This was suggested by the saleslady who helped with my baby registry so I listed it too. This storage kit hence completes my breastfeeding care system!

I also received a special gift from my team lead Donna, a stuffed bunny specially handmade by her! This would be your first ever stuffed toy, and I’ll be bringing it to the hospital on our delivery day. J


A very cute stuffed bunny, handmade by my team lead!

As I opened the gifts, my colleagues could hear me tell myself “Oh my goodness, I really am becoming a mom in just a month, I still can’t believe it!” There was something about the breastfeeding gift sets that made me feel the desire to become a successfully breastfeeding mother, and that such thing would make me somehow become an accomplished person. I really pray that I could successfully breastfeed you for as long as I can, with the help of my new breast pump that I plan to use whenever I would be away from you especially at work. A very big thanks to my colleagues who helped make my wish be just in my grasp! 

After the party, your Papa picked me up from the office. We went home carrying another set of gifts that reminded us once more that you’re well on your way fast into our arms, just like how we felt after our first baby shower with Vivaca. When I showed your Papa the stuffed bunny and wondered what to name it, your Papa blurted out “Bunny Pacquiao”. Remember his favorite childhood toy, a boxing figure he called Pelikitot? J


"Hello, Baby P! I can't wait for you to hug me!"