Pregnancy and giving birth are God’s most wonderful gift to women and the most amazing journey a woman can experience.

Our daughter, Chesca, is now 10 months old and our son is now 5 months old in my tummy. Yes, we will be 4 in a few months!

Conceiving

We’ve been waiting for our daughter for 2 years and we found out about my pregnancy at the most unexpected month. Unexpected because we sort of stopped waiting consciously for her arrival since it was taking a long time.

I did 2 pregnancy tests at home then went straight to my doctor the same day to confirm (had to leave work for this exciting day). And confirmed! Our pregnancy journey began.

Pregnancy

The entire pregnancy, I can say, was smooth and relatively easy for me. I just gained 30-35 pounds. I wasn’t binge eating that much. It was just my sensitivity to things that smell “old” or antique-like that gave me a hard time during the first trimester. And few moments of nauseousness all throughout. I didn’t make them so much of a big deal since it was normal. I just threw up twice because of overeating (I guess my stomach cannot take too much food at that time).

The 2nd trimester was the easiest and I didn’t feel pregnant at all. This was the time I left the corporate world (with my team giving me the sweetest send off 🙂 ) and stayed home to prepare for the baby. It was a great blessing and opportunity to be able to relax during this pregnancy. I walk everyday since we’re a walk away from the malls.

I didn’t look pregnant until the 3rd trimester so the parking attendants have doubts whether I was pregnant or just big on the belly whenever I request for a special parking. I was able to feel the full perks of being pregnant later in my pregnancy like special treatment everywhere- no lines, being well taken cared of by everyone! I craved for simple foods and just loved to eat fried egg and rice every morning and add Japanese food to that list too!

Giving Birth

We had 2 false alarms. One was because of the contractions I felt which is already a sign of nearing my due date and the other was a few spotting but the doctor said I can still go home but I opted to stay overnight to get a good sleep (because I haven’t slept for days because of the heavy tummy I had). We walked a lot as advised by the doctor. And after a few hours from the 2nd false alarm, my water bag broke in the middle of the night! We rushed to the hospital and that was it, the 17-hour labor began!

Whew, it was really tiring and painful! I had to be induced since my water bag broke already. We almost requested for a C-section because I felt so tired already but my doctor was optimistic that I can delivery normally. I was so eager to see my baby already! My doctor also had to check and manage time, baby’s health (because the heartbeat was dropping already), and my health too. So much gratitude and admiration for these OBs.

More than an hour before midnight, I felt something coming out, my doctor checked and then said “let’s go, this is it!” Then they pushed me to the room nearby which was the delivery room. They prepared everything so fast in so little time and there were so many people doing their own tasks in the room for my delivery.

Everyone in the room was cheering for me to push. It was like a sports event! It was funny at the same time I didn’t know what will happen next. Well, I know, but the actual thing is different even if you read about it over a dozen times.

Baby’s heartbeat dropped so fast (maybe because of fatigue too. Imagine, 17 hrs waiting to go out!) so my doctor had to help me push and used forceps to pull her. After 3 all out pushes, I heard the most adorable cry ever! It was our baby and she came from my tummy! What a miracle indeed! And they gave her to me and her daddy at once and made her latch to me for several minutes. This moment just cannot be put into words.

My husband was with me all the way from pregnancy, flase alarms, labor, and actual giving birth moment. I cannot thank him enough for all the support and love through a new phase in my womanhood. I’m a lucky girl.

Chesca, our baby, had to be taken on the bed beside me for cleaning and a few tests and checks. Daddy watched her and brought her to the nursery after she was shown to our family who waited the whole day and prayed our safety.

I was chatting with all my doctors after in the delivery room and my doctor said I should sleep because from the past days I told her I wasn’t sleeping because of the weight (and maybe I was really excited and nervous for this big day). My doctor gave me a sleeping drug to relax me and I still woke up just 2-3 hrs after.

Everything went smoothly and everyone’s healthy, happy, and safe. Thank you God for the guidance and the blessing of a safe delivery. Now the breastfeeding journey begins. Breastfeeding is a whole different journey that moms take.

This is the day our family became complete and the fruit of our love was born. An answered prayer and now we’re 3 😊

~Tina~