Letter to our future baby:
Dear Oliver,
As of writing, you are 26 weeks old, This will be the first of a series of letters I will write to you, my dearest future baby boy. You must know that your dad and I love you from the day you were a day old, and have been hoping and praying for your coming. You are such a blessing to us both, and to both our families, and we cannot wait to meet you someday soon.
Currently, all we know of you is that you have these hobbies that you particularly enjoy doing at certain times of the day:
Hobby #1
Swimming- I think this is your top sport, especially cool to see when we take a peek at you during ultrasounds. How does it feel to have that cold gel and some sound waves over you? I hope they don't hurt you.
Hobby #2
Tumbling - You love to do this in conjunction with kicking, enjoy your big swimming and wading pool while you can :) Lucky for your it is all yours to enjoy and no twin sister or brother to share the space (I am claustrophobic myself, so I understand if you are doing little tumbles of joy in there with all that freedom.
Hobby #3
Kicking- You love to do little kicks any time of the day, but especially when I drink milk, and eat apples. I suppose you love them? You will be happy to know then that because of you, I've gotten over my lactose intolerance. I've never eaten so many healthy foods ever in my life! You are like my personal nutritionist and health counselor. Your first ever career, what do you know! :)
You love to get my attention when I sit still and watch tv, or try to find my perfect sleeping position at night as I lie in bed. You seem to like classical and jazz music, and I don't know if I imagine you tapping to the beat, which would be really cool if you did! Though, I think I will listen to less rock and alternative music, your kicks are getting more violent! I even witnessed my tummy raise up with your strong kicks.
You will eventually very soon come to realize that your dad is an athlete and an avid sports fan. I put there sports, because he really is into all kinds of it, he watches basketball, football, soccer, tennis, swimming, and is quite good at swimming, too, just like you! But he is best at soccer and floorball, his two favorite sports :) So, he is quite happy to see you being quite a little athlete yourself inside there! Hopefully you retain your sports skills, especially kicking, which would be quite a useful skill for floorball and soccer. I know he is dying to train you, little man!
Hobbily yours,
Your artistic non-sports mom and sporty dad
P.S. Your dad just competed in the annual China Floorball Championship in Beijing last Saturday, they got to the finals undefeated (9 teams in total), that means they won every match before the finals.Your dad scored 2 goals, including the winning goals in one of the stage 2 matches! They then played against the Shanghai Sharks and your dad's team dominated the game but was unable to score and the opponents managed to get 1 point 5 minutes before the game, a very tight game indeed! And so in the end, the Sharks won.
Monday, May 25, 2015
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
"Over-nutritionised" myself, I think!
Today I believe I have "over-nutritionised" myself. True, there is no such word... but don't you think there should be one? After all, there is over-accessorize, overfeed, overkill, overdrive, over-study, and so on and so forth of words expressing how people go over the border/ limit. Though I did not go to any buffet spread today, it just so happens that I ate not just for myself and Oliver, but for both my parents as well... twice. The cook prepared a complete family meal of roast chicken, fried fish patties, spinach, and well... alright that's it. It doesn't sound much, but imagine eating 3.5 servings of that, for 2 meals straight, or else risk getting told off for wasting food.
My belly seems to have stretched to its utmost limit, small purple spider veins are showing on the side of my now rather roundish-sharp looking belly. You will probably read me say this a couple more times in my future posts, but I really feel like I cannot expand any further than this, and I am only starting on my 6th month.
My mom also made me drink a rather vile tasting Chinese medicinal herb soup mix with 2 chunks of kidney after my breakfast of pork asado meat buns and oatmeal. I had to throw a quarter of the meat bun away... I swear I tasted roach shit... gross!!! I did a quick search and found out that smelling roach shit is not one of the many symptoms of pregnancy (thank God, we already have more than enough!), as is the case with vomiting, nausea, fish burps from fish oil, etc. So this must mean that it's the real thing... eeww!!!
Add to this I am frantically trying to finish 1.89 L of fat-free milk in 2 days as we bought it on sale and it will go bad tomorrow. Let the food fest madness commensurate with my belly size! I think I will skip on the prenatal vitamins, fish oil, iron pills, and calcium supplements today.
My belly seems to have stretched to its utmost limit, small purple spider veins are showing on the side of my now rather roundish-sharp looking belly. You will probably read me say this a couple more times in my future posts, but I really feel like I cannot expand any further than this, and I am only starting on my 6th month.
My mom also made me drink a rather vile tasting Chinese medicinal herb soup mix with 2 chunks of kidney after my breakfast of pork asado meat buns and oatmeal. I had to throw a quarter of the meat bun away... I swear I tasted roach shit... gross!!! I did a quick search and found out that smelling roach shit is not one of the many symptoms of pregnancy (thank God, we already have more than enough!), as is the case with vomiting, nausea, fish burps from fish oil, etc. So this must mean that it's the real thing... eeww!!!
Add to this I am frantically trying to finish 1.89 L of fat-free milk in 2 days as we bought it on sale and it will go bad tomorrow. Let the food fest madness commensurate with my belly size! I think I will skip on the prenatal vitamins, fish oil, iron pills, and calcium supplements today.
Monday, May 18, 2015
Stealth bombs, moms' stress and effects on the unborn baby
It is possible to experience joy in varying levels with anyone, friends, colleagues, and such. But when it comes to the opposite end of the emotion spectrum, no one can, in my experience, hurt me so much as from someone from my family. I will first explain that of my experience with friends, then with family.
Over the course of many years since I was 7 years old, I have learned the hard way that friends can come and go, and words like "You will be my best friend forever and forever in my whole life", may not be carved in stone. In my case, forever was merely about 4 years wherein I was forgotten and replaced with a new group of friends. This happened exactly 3 times. I have never allowed myself to be emotionally close nor dependent on anyone since then, that is, until I got married last year and can honestly say that I have found my best friend for life.
But I have taken it now with a grain of salt, and have accepted that this has shaped me to become who I am now, and though I look with yearning at friends who gather together with ties that remain strong through the years, there is nothing I can do about it, in my mind, it is better to let things be rather than beg like a poor man.
In the case of blood relations, it can be different. To some extent the expectations you have from your siblings tend to be slightly higher, and yet it is assumed that while respect should always be there, of course, the casual courtesy and words need not be always spoken, needs don't necessarily have to be verbalized. It is assumed that this bond between you that is supposedly thicker than water, would be enough to keep you close no matter the time and distance. This is not always the case though, and when we cannot always depend on our siblings for support, there is a natural and inadvertent "cooling off", though needless to say, the love is still there, at least on my part. As such, words can act like arrows that can shoot straight at the heart, and often this takes a bit more toll on the emotions of the inflicted than that from say, friends.
Allowing oneself to love and be loved makes the heart vulnerable to getting hurt as it is exposed out in the open, with the often mistaken assumption that we will be well taken cared of in our home turf, yet it is often the case that things can turn around just as quickly without a warning and drop a bomb into an otherwise peaceful existence.
Any kind of stress, be it physical or emotional, is never good for the expectant mom and her baby, especially, and it is best to keep a zen-like attitude whenever possible in order to prevent stress on the baby, which may cause pre-term delivery and possibly a host of other health problems after birth. Below is an excerpt from the www.webmd.com on fetal stress:
"Stress is a silent disease," says Dr. Calvin Hobel, director of maternal-fetal medicine at Cedars Sinai and a professor of obstetrics/gynecology and pediatrics at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Typically, one in 10 women delivers pre-term (before 37 weeks). According to studies by Dr. Pathik Wadhwa, assistant professor of behavioral science, obstetrics and gynecology at University of Kentucky College of Medicine: "When the mother is stressed, several biological changes occur, including elevation of stress hormones and increased likelihood of intrauterine infection," Dr. Wadhwa says. "The fetus builds itself permanently to deal with this kind of high-stress environment, and once it's born may be at greater risk for a whole bunch of stress-related pathologies."
Pre-term babies are susceptible to a range of complications later, including low birth weight, chronic lung disease, developmental delays, learning disorders and infant mortality. There is evidence from epidemiological studies and animal research that babies who experience stress in utero are more likely to develop chronic health problems as adults, such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Recent studies have likewise suggested that stress in the womb can affect a baby's temperament and neurobehavioral development. Infants whose mothers experienced high levels of stress while pregnant, particularly in the first trimester, show signs of more depression and irritability. In the womb, they also are slower to "habituate" or tune out repeated stimuli -- a skill that, in infants, is an important predictor of IQ.
"Who you are and what you're like when you're pregnant will affect who that baby is," says Janet DiPietro, a developmental psychologist at Johns Hopkins University. "Women's psychological functioning during pregnancy -- their anxiety level, stress, personality -- ultimately affects the temperament of their babies. It has to ... the baby is awash in all the chemicals produced by the mom."
If our unborn baby could talk to stressed-out moms, they would say " Mom, you're stressing me out!" You wouldn't want that to be your baby's first words, would you? Mental note to myself and a message to all moms, relax, and keep a positive attitude for the sake of your unborn child.
Over the course of many years since I was 7 years old, I have learned the hard way that friends can come and go, and words like "You will be my best friend forever and forever in my whole life", may not be carved in stone. In my case, forever was merely about 4 years wherein I was forgotten and replaced with a new group of friends. This happened exactly 3 times. I have never allowed myself to be emotionally close nor dependent on anyone since then, that is, until I got married last year and can honestly say that I have found my best friend for life.
But I have taken it now with a grain of salt, and have accepted that this has shaped me to become who I am now, and though I look with yearning at friends who gather together with ties that remain strong through the years, there is nothing I can do about it, in my mind, it is better to let things be rather than beg like a poor man.
In the case of blood relations, it can be different. To some extent the expectations you have from your siblings tend to be slightly higher, and yet it is assumed that while respect should always be there, of course, the casual courtesy and words need not be always spoken, needs don't necessarily have to be verbalized. It is assumed that this bond between you that is supposedly thicker than water, would be enough to keep you close no matter the time and distance. This is not always the case though, and when we cannot always depend on our siblings for support, there is a natural and inadvertent "cooling off", though needless to say, the love is still there, at least on my part. As such, words can act like arrows that can shoot straight at the heart, and often this takes a bit more toll on the emotions of the inflicted than that from say, friends.
Allowing oneself to love and be loved makes the heart vulnerable to getting hurt as it is exposed out in the open, with the often mistaken assumption that we will be well taken cared of in our home turf, yet it is often the case that things can turn around just as quickly without a warning and drop a bomb into an otherwise peaceful existence.
Any kind of stress, be it physical or emotional, is never good for the expectant mom and her baby, especially, and it is best to keep a zen-like attitude whenever possible in order to prevent stress on the baby, which may cause pre-term delivery and possibly a host of other health problems after birth. Below is an excerpt from the www.webmd.com on fetal stress:
"Stress is a silent disease," says Dr. Calvin Hobel, director of maternal-fetal medicine at Cedars Sinai and a professor of obstetrics/gynecology and pediatrics at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Typically, one in 10 women delivers pre-term (before 37 weeks). According to studies by Dr. Pathik Wadhwa, assistant professor of behavioral science, obstetrics and gynecology at University of Kentucky College of Medicine: "When the mother is stressed, several biological changes occur, including elevation of stress hormones and increased likelihood of intrauterine infection," Dr. Wadhwa says. "The fetus builds itself permanently to deal with this kind of high-stress environment, and once it's born may be at greater risk for a whole bunch of stress-related pathologies."
Pre-term babies are susceptible to a range of complications later, including low birth weight, chronic lung disease, developmental delays, learning disorders and infant mortality. There is evidence from epidemiological studies and animal research that babies who experience stress in utero are more likely to develop chronic health problems as adults, such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Recent studies have likewise suggested that stress in the womb can affect a baby's temperament and neurobehavioral development. Infants whose mothers experienced high levels of stress while pregnant, particularly in the first trimester, show signs of more depression and irritability. In the womb, they also are slower to "habituate" or tune out repeated stimuli -- a skill that, in infants, is an important predictor of IQ.
"Who you are and what you're like when you're pregnant will affect who that baby is," says Janet DiPietro, a developmental psychologist at Johns Hopkins University. "Women's psychological functioning during pregnancy -- their anxiety level, stress, personality -- ultimately affects the temperament of their babies. It has to ... the baby is awash in all the chemicals produced by the mom."
If our unborn baby could talk to stressed-out moms, they would say " Mom, you're stressing me out!" You wouldn't want that to be your baby's first words, would you? Mental note to myself and a message to all moms, relax, and keep a positive attitude for the sake of your unborn child.
Hugs to all pregnant moms who are going through the same struggles. <3
Sunday, May 17, 2015
A woman's body
Our body* was created and designed for motherhood.
Note: You must biologically be a woman for
this to hold true.
My body has been changing drastically over the course of a few weeks... needless to say, my belly looks like it is about to burst, they have officially gone over and beyond my now (much) bigger boobs (I am not complaining, some good things do come out of pregnancy after all). My lower spine is shaped like a convex to allow my uterus to expand, I feel the urge to sit like a man most of the time, that is, with my legs spread out. Somehow it provides me a better sense of balance. I like to sit at the edge of the seat as well, if I know I am not intending to stay put for long, or way, way deep into the sofa and lean back with pillows supporting my butt and back, when I am reading or watching the telly. Crossing my legs is almost impossible. My legs, hands and feet look as if air has been pumped into them, though unfortunately I don't feel any lighter...
For the first time ever in my life, I am having a bad case of back-ne (my term for back acne), and my facial acne has been quite persistent as well with making their presence felt.
I am more calm, almost on an automatic zen autopilot most of the days, though my alter-ego, whom my husband calls, "Miss Justice", manifests herself in times of , well, potentially unjust situations, such as it has occurred twice yesterday (first with the Uber driver, and second while falling in line at the supermarket). My parents got so worried that my sense of making things right and fair (only to them they can only see the manifestation in the form of an "argument", which is really a pointed short spat in mature, sensible tones), yet they are most afraid this will possibly get me killed. They have suggested that I be banned from taking Uber and going out as a result of these recent incidents, almost as if I am a rabid huge bellied beast who can get out of control and wreak havoc with perfect strangers (not totally untrue if they are rude to me first), and bring about my own demise.
As I type down the above letters I feel a
few reassuring kicks of agreement in my belly, Oliver seems to agree with me.
Nice to know that someone is on my side...
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Birthday wishes
Today admittedly, was not the best of days... the Uber taxi driver took me and my mom for a spin, and was perhaps the rudest, most unprofessional taxi driver I have ever encountered in my entire life. Felt a bit better after shopping at my favorite American goods supermarket, S&R, though it isn't the most pregnant- friendly place with no chairs and seemingly endless rows and aisles of goods that beg the shopper to go deeper and deeper into its recesses....
However one good thing does happen every year on this day... my hun's birthday.
As we are apart from each other this year, I decided to surprise him with this greeting on social media:
Palju õnne minu üks ja ainus armastus, tänan teid teha mul saada isegi parem inimene, aitäh tuua rõõmu ja armastust oma ellu ... Ma tänan Jumalat iga päev tuua sind oma ellu. Võib te jätkuvalt leida rõõmu, edu, head tervist ja soojust armastus sõprade ja perega, sa väärid seda kõik! Soojem ja palju armastust heart emoticon
生日快乐，我唯一的爱，谢谢你让我成为一个更好的人，感谢你带来欢乐和爱到我的生活。我感谢上帝为每天有你在我的生活上。希望你继续得到快乐，成功，身体健康，热爱朋友和家人的温暖，你值得拥有这一切！拥抱，多爱♥
Happy birthday to my one and only love, thank you for making me become an even better person, thank you for bringing joy and love into my life... I thank God everyday for bringing you into my life. May you continue to find joy, success, good health, and the warmth of love from friends and family, you deserve it all! Hugs and much love heart emoticon
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Not-so-last minute superstitions
As I am made to realize that I am on the last month of my 2nd trimester, I feel a bit of a panic (I like to prepare in advance most of the times, hence though I am not on my last trimester, I feel the urge to prepare in advance and exhibit my slightly panicked state).
And no, I do not mean panic overall. Rather, I realize that this is almost my last chance to subscribe to some pregnancy superstitions, just for fun and with a bit of precaution as well. First is the belief that listening to music while pregnant will make your baby smarter. Hence, beginning tonight, I have:
1.) Attempted (as of writing have not succeeded yet) to download cute baby photos under the yet another cliche search phrase " cute baby boy". If what I have read is true, that babies take after their mothers' IQ, then ours will be smart in a very practical, obvious way.
2.) Downloaded at least 10, (or I could have omitted one "0" there) baby versions of classical masterpieces
3.) Downloaded two very blatantly labelled albums, the first being " Classical Music for Pregnant Mothers to Enhance a Smart Baby", and the second album aptly titled, "Baby Loves Chopin: Sleep for the Intelligent Baby".
Somehow, the album producer for the first aforementioned album thought that the songs "My Heart Will Go On (Made famous by Titanic), and "Crush" by David Archuleta will make our baby smarter. Also, I am quite sure that the true great musical geniuses of Strauss, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Wagner, Vivaldi, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, etc. also included in the album and pitted side by side with the above-mentioned "popular" songs will turn in their graves and spit gutter oil*.
*Those who have read about the gutter oil scandal in China's street food will get what I am talking about.
Here are some photos I have narrowed down for my phone wallpaper. There is a superstition that moms need to keep looking at cute babies so that the baby will come out cute. I can't decide which is the cutest! Any thoughts?
.jpg)
These are my top 3 choices. Well, top 2. As I was saving the first photo, the file name "cute baby girl.jpg" popped up, even though I clearly Googled "cute baby boys". I guess even Google is confused with these cute little ones , them starting out being predominantly bald and round face and all, irregardless of gender.
The third one, I feel, ranks pretty high on the reality/possibility scale of what Oliver may look like, as I am a big-almond-eyed Chinese gal, while my husband is blonde haired and blue eyed. And yes, needless to say, he is not chinky-eyed. The third baby does kind of look a bit mixed race, doesn't he? :)
Here are my other 2 pickings. You probably can understand now why it has been so difficult for me to choose the right...cellphone and laptop wallpaper, right? (P.S. I am also a Virgo)
By way of these photos, you might have already guessed the result of today's ultrasound test... you guessed it... I won the bet...it's a boy! :D
Here are his ultrasound photos from today's visit... baby Oliver Markus is 24 weeks, 3 days old today :D
Oops. Sorry this had to be the first photo here, as it was the first to have been transferred successfully to my drive. It is, though a bit too blunt...the most important determinant of our baby's gender after al! :D My Ob Gyne Dra. Lagman has made it a point to take a screenshot of our baby's package.
Here are the rest:
Our baby's head
Our baby's stomach and bladder (I didn't understand why this was hand-picked by our doctor to be photographed...for some reason she thought this was more important than the torso and face). I guess, it kind of figures when you really think about it... without the stomach holding the food, how can the body even afford to feed a face?
I have a slightly huge mass of myoma on my right uterus, but doctors in Shanghai and Manila told me not to worry. On the right of the photo is another emphasis on the all important determining factor for a male baby, and if that "thumbs up" wasn't clear enough, three bold letters "B-O-Y" are likewise spelled out clearly for the visually challenged.
This is what our doctor's office's waiting room looks like. You can tell she loves anything that portrays a mom and her child.
You can also pretty much guess her age by subtracting the dates of the newspaper features about her on her wall and the current year :) She still looks very beautiful and elegant though. One more thing, when my mom found out that it was a boy, she slapped my doctor silly several times, and litterally did small jumps of joy. It was quite funny :D
This is such good news to us, we are all looking forward to buying little Oliver some new clothes and stuff in shades of baby blue :) No more purple or yellow this time! (see previous post)
And no, I do not mean panic overall. Rather, I realize that this is almost my last chance to subscribe to some pregnancy superstitions, just for fun and with a bit of precaution as well. First is the belief that listening to music while pregnant will make your baby smarter. Hence, beginning tonight, I have:
1.) Attempted (as of writing have not succeeded yet) to download cute baby photos under the yet another cliche search phrase " cute baby boy". If what I have read is true, that babies take after their mothers' IQ, then ours will be smart in a very practical, obvious way.
2.) Downloaded at least 10, (or I could have omitted one "0" there) baby versions of classical masterpieces
3.) Downloaded two very blatantly labelled albums, the first being " Classical Music for Pregnant Mothers to Enhance a Smart Baby", and the second album aptly titled, "Baby Loves Chopin: Sleep for the Intelligent Baby".
Somehow, the album producer for the first aforementioned album thought that the songs "My Heart Will Go On (Made famous by Titanic), and "Crush" by David Archuleta will make our baby smarter. Also, I am quite sure that the true great musical geniuses of Strauss, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Wagner, Vivaldi, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, etc. also included in the album and pitted side by side with the above-mentioned "popular" songs will turn in their graves and spit gutter oil*.
*Those who have read about the gutter oil scandal in China's street food will get what I am talking about.
Here are some photos I have narrowed down for my phone wallpaper. There is a superstition that moms need to keep looking at cute babies so that the baby will come out cute. I can't decide which is the cutest! Any thoughts?
.jpg)
These are my top 3 choices. Well, top 2. As I was saving the first photo, the file name "cute baby girl.jpg" popped up, even though I clearly Googled "cute baby boys". I guess even Google is confused with these cute little ones , them starting out being predominantly bald and round face and all, irregardless of gender.
The third one, I feel, ranks pretty high on the reality/possibility scale of what Oliver may look like, as I am a big-almond-eyed Chinese gal, while my husband is blonde haired and blue eyed. And yes, needless to say, he is not chinky-eyed. The third baby does kind of look a bit mixed race, doesn't he? :)
Here are my other 2 pickings. You probably can understand now why it has been so difficult for me to choose the right...cellphone and laptop wallpaper, right? (P.S. I am also a Virgo)
By way of these photos, you might have already guessed the result of today's ultrasound test... you guessed it... I won the bet...it's a boy! :D
Here are his ultrasound photos from today's visit... baby Oliver Markus is 24 weeks, 3 days old today :D
Oops. Sorry this had to be the first photo here, as it was the first to have been transferred successfully to my drive. It is, though a bit too blunt...the most important determinant of our baby's gender after al! :D My Ob Gyne Dra. Lagman has made it a point to take a screenshot of our baby's package.
Here are the rest:
Our baby's head
Our baby's stomach and bladder (I didn't understand why this was hand-picked by our doctor to be photographed...for some reason she thought this was more important than the torso and face). I guess, it kind of figures when you really think about it... without the stomach holding the food, how can the body even afford to feed a face?
I have a slightly huge mass of myoma on my right uterus, but doctors in Shanghai and Manila told me not to worry. On the right of the photo is another emphasis on the all important determining factor for a male baby, and if that "thumbs up" wasn't clear enough, three bold letters "B-O-Y" are likewise spelled out clearly for the visually challenged.
This is what our doctor's office's waiting room looks like. You can tell she loves anything that portrays a mom and her child.
You can also pretty much guess her age by subtracting the dates of the newspaper features about her on her wall and the current year :) She still looks very beautiful and elegant though. One more thing, when my mom found out that it was a boy, she slapped my doctor silly several times, and litterally did small jumps of joy. It was quite funny :D
This is such good news to us, we are all looking forward to buying little Oliver some new clothes and stuff in shades of baby blue :) No more purple or yellow this time! (see previous post)
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
A job for a boy, a dinner for a girl
Today I am on my 24th week and 4th day, having just entered my 6th month of my 2nd trimester of pregnancy.
Perhaps one of the more exciting phases of pregnancy is coming up in just a few hours... our baby will finally reveal himself/herself as a boy or a girl, and we will finally be able to make the following choices:
- Finalize our baby name
- Decide on the appropriate color scheme for the nursery
- Begin to purchase baby clothes appropriate to his/her gender
- Do away with the oh-so-limited choices of either yellow or purple (Chinese moms automatically suggest these two colors as safe colors for both a boy and a girl---)
Note: It is forbidden to reveal an unborn baby's gender in China... I know...PREPOSTEROUS!
Also, purple and yellow reminds me of the traditional Filipino rice cake dessert "sapin-sapin" which though is not bad tasting, is cheap and nothing but a lot of food coloring covering mashed rice. And I certainly don't want to be reminded of this mashed rice disguised in a colorful masquerade party every time I see our baby's things. Plus, I just don't have a sweet tooth. I have quite a salty tooth actually, if that term exists at all..
Does this mean that if I were to be stuck with a purple and yellow scheme, that we would have to pair it with a green bed sheet as well??? (such as above) Oh, Lord help us...
If our baby turns out to be a girl, she might be named: Sophie* Anne
And if he turns out to be a boy, he will be named: Oliver Markus
*Our Parisian flatmate has contested the validity of this name pairing, as most French like to contest and argue about most things, and has stated matter of factly that "Sophie" is supposed to be a middle name, not a first name, as is the custom in France. Well, we are neither French nor will ever be one, so I suppose we could make our own rules... :)
...and my number one rule is, no ambiguous color schemes that resemble cheap artificial-color-laden rice desserts. :p It is just too much for my gestational diabetes (perhaps more on that later)
Lastly, my husband and I have made a bet. When he learned that I will be visiting my OB Gyne today in Manila (where, like the rest of the world, we are allowed to know our unborn baby's gender), he said "Oh you know what that means?" (No...what?) "That means it is our last chance to make a bet on whether our baby is a girl or a boy!" Right. How can I forget this crucial bit?
Since I have been getting a lot of kicks (the ones that remind me of David Beckham), I am betting that our baby will be a boy. I might have also seen a teeny something jutting out in-between our baby's legs that the Shanghainese sonographer hurriedly tried to glaze over, and which my husband may have missed. So a boy it is, for me. And because of this, obviously there wouldn't be a bet if my husband bet that our baby would be a boy, too, right?? He therefore bet on/ " was surreptitiously "assigned" to bet on our baby being a girl. The prize, if I win, is that he finds a good-paying job in the IT sector that can take advantage of his Big Data market research training with IBM. Should he win, I shall cook a lovely dinner for him (which of course I can partake in, as well, he was quick to add).
Sounds like a pretty fair deal to me. My journey to motherhood has indeed arrived.
Perhaps one of the more exciting phases of pregnancy is coming up in just a few hours... our baby will finally reveal himself/herself as a boy or a girl, and we will finally be able to make the following choices:
- Finalize our baby name
- Decide on the appropriate color scheme for the nursery
- Begin to purchase baby clothes appropriate to his/her gender
- Do away with the oh-so-limited choices of either yellow or purple (Chinese moms automatically suggest these two colors as safe colors for both a boy and a girl---)
Note: It is forbidden to reveal an unborn baby's gender in China... I know...PREPOSTEROUS!
Also, purple and yellow reminds me of the traditional Filipino rice cake dessert "sapin-sapin" which though is not bad tasting, is cheap and nothing but a lot of food coloring covering mashed rice. And I certainly don't want to be reminded of this mashed rice disguised in a colorful masquerade party every time I see our baby's things. Plus, I just don't have a sweet tooth. I have quite a salty tooth actually, if that term exists at all..
Does this mean that if I were to be stuck with a purple and yellow scheme, that we would have to pair it with a green bed sheet as well??? (such as above) Oh, Lord help us...
If our baby turns out to be a girl, she might be named: Sophie* Anne
And if he turns out to be a boy, he will be named: Oliver Markus
*Our Parisian flatmate has contested the validity of this name pairing, as most French like to contest and argue about most things, and has stated matter of factly that "Sophie" is supposed to be a middle name, not a first name, as is the custom in France. Well, we are neither French nor will ever be one, so I suppose we could make our own rules... :)
...and my number one rule is, no ambiguous color schemes that resemble cheap artificial-color-laden rice desserts. :p It is just too much for my gestational diabetes (perhaps more on that later)
Lastly, my husband and I have made a bet. When he learned that I will be visiting my OB Gyne today in Manila (where, like the rest of the world, we are allowed to know our unborn baby's gender), he said "Oh you know what that means?" (No...what?) "That means it is our last chance to make a bet on whether our baby is a girl or a boy!" Right. How can I forget this crucial bit?
Since I have been getting a lot of kicks (the ones that remind me of David Beckham), I am betting that our baby will be a boy. I might have also seen a teeny something jutting out in-between our baby's legs that the Shanghainese sonographer hurriedly tried to glaze over, and which my husband may have missed. So a boy it is, for me. And because of this, obviously there wouldn't be a bet if my husband bet that our baby would be a boy, too, right?? He therefore bet on/ " was surreptitiously "assigned" to bet on our baby being a girl. The prize, if I win, is that he finds a good-paying job in the IT sector that can take advantage of his Big Data market research training with IBM. Should he win, I shall cook a lovely dinner for him (which of course I can partake in, as well, he was quick to add).
Sounds like a pretty fair deal to me. My journey to motherhood has indeed arrived.
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