Look Who's Pregnant?!

As usual, I am late again for this week's Couple's Corner. I hope that Marce Liz won't boycott my Tuesday meme for failing to post my CC entries on time or for not posting religiously every week!

Anyway, I am happy that this week's theme is about pregnancy. I guess I never really got the chance to blog about up until now.

Doing the jump shot with Kikit in Odaiba.

I guess I got pregnant on my first night in Japan. (big grin!) If you were physically separated from your spouse for a long period of time, you really won't be wasting your time over chitchats, right? So anyway, that's my guess. I found out that I was really pregnant when I noticed that I was a week delayed. I noticed a few changes too but just ignored them at first, thinking that it was just PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome)... I even went to Odaiba by myself to meet my friend and we even did a jump shot. But of course, I still didn't know by then although my stomach was a bit queasy when we grabbed a bite at the Tokyo train station.

A few weeks after that, I did a test at home and it returned positive. I couldn't explain my initial reaction but it was certainly a warm fuzzy beautiful feeling after I was able to let it all sink in. Everything seemed to turn around 360° for Hubby and me. I was filled with fear and excitement and awe. Imagine a life growing inside of me? I couldn't really believe it at first that I took another test the next day just to be certain that it wasn't just an illusion.

We went to Yokohama to celebrate after my first OB appointment.
Little did we know that it was to become our home after I had Sam.

August 4th, 2007. My first appointment with my OB. That was the day when everything really became REAL. Seeing the image of my baby from the sonogram all the more convinced me that this is the real deal! I no longer thought of the life growing inside of me as an "it" but rather as a "he/she". He/She was so tiny then, at 8.6mm in diameter, as tiny as a pea but is REAL and GROWING. I was about five weeks pregnant then.

Just a few of my baby's sonogram images:
L-R up-down: 5W, 9W+5d, 20W+2d, 36W+2d

From then on, I had my regular check-ups and already registered at the hospital where I wish to give birth to my child. Blogging was still unknown to me so I whiled away my time teaching English at an conversation school (Eikaiwa) on a part time basis. We needed to save for my delivery and it was a nice distraction. When I don't have classes, I just stay at home and play War Craft or watch movies. That explains why I grew so big and the baby inside me didn't... I didn't get enough exercise.

Pimples were all over my face during my pregnancy!

What of the morning sickness? Well, I also had my fair share during my first trimester. I realized that fish isn't for me the one time I made fried fish and then threw up. I felt so sick that Hubby vowed not to cook fish while I am pregnant. Everything else was okay for me as long as the smell is not so strong. My favorites though were adobo and pineapple. And oh, I have got pimples all over my face! Blame it on the raging hormones!

I was supposed to deliver my baby on March 17th but the OB decided that I must deliver him/her earlier than expected. They noticed that my baby was no longer growing inside me and that her head was smaller than the average size. I was 36 weeks pregnant then. They decided to have me confined at the hospital for a week to observe if there will be any significant changes with the baby's growth. Then the OB found out that my amniotic fluid level is very low so that the baby has to come out. And so it was that my contractions were induced. My OB explained the procedure to me in English. They ran a test they called the "Stress Test" to determine if my baby can survive the stress through normal delivery. Then they also had to force my cervix open by inserting a balloon inside me. I have never felt such excruciating pain in my life... I felt like I was beaten by a thousand men. But that was all part of the plan.

And so on the 28th of February, at 37 weeks and 3 days pregnant, I was already crying while praying because I felt that I have been in labor for the longest time when in my baby book, I only had 7 hours and 38 minutes of labor. My tiny little Samantha Ysabelle came out into this world at 1:00 pm. I can't explain what I felt the moment she was totally out: it was as if all the pain and the aches just suddenly vanished and replaced by a very tender and soft emotion. She is indeed a miracle... an angel sent to us by God.

Our first family photo... Just a few hours after my delivery.

Look where we are now?

Just the three of us. Two years, one month, and twenty-five days later...

Of course, I wouldn't be able to make it through without the love, support and care of my Hanhan. He was always there by my side, seeing to it that I am never alone. He would take time off work just to accompany me on my check-ups. He would make dinner if I felt too sick or too tired to do it. He would entertain me when I am feeling low. He would interpret for me because I do not understand Japanese. He was even with me during my delivery, pushing with me when I needed to push, feeling my pain, and witnessing everything when I delivered our little Sam. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why he doesn't want me to have another child... at least not just yet.

So, how was your pregnancy? Come share it with us!

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