no chocolate binge ever goes unpunished

i knew it!

all those chocolates couldn't be good for anyone. no one is allowed to be that happy and not suffer any consequences.

at my last prenatal check up last tuesday, my bp reading was 165/80!!!!

i got so scared i called my OB in cebu. (the one i have here just told me to exercise more and eat less. needless to say wa koy salig. hahahaha) she told me i need to have urine test, which i already did. fortunately there was no protein in my urine, so that means i don't have preeclampsia. (for now). i just need to take it easy. she says it's probably just stress-induced hypertension worsened by my weight gain.

so yes, i do have to cut down on the sweets. but she also told me to take it easy and not do brisk walking anymore. oh, and no heavy lifting either. the good news is, i don't need to take any medication. whew!

but i think i do have to cut down on my projects. i've been working late the past few months because of the sheer volume of orders i've been getting. now i'm actually turning down clients, esp the ones i anticipate will be difficult. i don't need more stress in my life.

it's all chelo's fault

that basket of goodies she sent me started it all. i was such a good girl, eating only healthy food (albeit in great amounts), when i was confronted with boxes of chocolate covered biscuits from harrods. no self-respecting girl can ever refuse that you know. esp not when they were sent by a dear friend. to you. on your birthday!

i've been gobbling them up, day and night. and when they ran out, i ran to marks & spencer to buy the closest substitute i could find. and gobbled them up as well. woe unto me! or rather, my scale! 3 kg in 2 weeks. yes, the numbers don't lie. and i know where it all came from.

all of a sudden i have nothing to wear.

the bebe also grew a lot, i think. i can see his movements under my clothes now. and the once light flutters are now ass-kicking bumps. inconvenient at times, like when he kicked my bladder while we were in church. lol. the hubby is frustrated that the bebe stops moving whenever his hand is on my belly. well, i have 4 more weeks here before we leave for cebu, so that gives him plenty of time to let his daddy feel his movements.

warning: contains suggestive language

there are only two things on my mind nowadays: food and sex. but while my cravings for food change every few weeks (what i'm crazy about one month will nauseate me the next), my appetite for sex has remained constant and unchanging. i'm horny all the time! i even dream about it!

this is probably one of the nicest things about being pregnant (for me). i desire my husband so much, it borders on obsession. i can't sleep if i don't smell him or touch him. when he's away at work, i can't stop thinking of being with him again at night. it's like the heady flush of early love, i tell ya. he finds it funny, i think. he laughs when i grope him any chance i can. yes, my prudish husband doesn't know what to do with his nympho pregnant wife. lol!

he's like a drug to me, sometimes. as the day wears on, my energy stores get depleted like a cellphone's battery after a 2-hour call. i feel tired, sleepy, listless. and then he walks in the door and i feel alive again! i don't know what i'll do when we go to cebu. i told him he should give me a worn shirt, something with his smell on it, so i can take it with me and sleep with it. i'm glad i won't be going home until the last possible moment i can. i don't know if i can survive being without him for a so long.

momnesia

peripartum amnesia.

it started out really funny, just minor lapses in short term memory like forgetting to turn on the rice cooker, or not knowing where i put my phone. last week, i went to the bathroom to put on my contact lenses, as i usually do after i clean the flat. i panicked when i saw that my containers were open and empty. and then i glanced up at the mirror and saw that i was already wearing them -- but i had absolutely no recollection of ever doing so!

another day, i wanted to call my sister about something important. i usually only call when it's really urgent, otherwise i'll send her an email. so i was holding the phone and sat down in front of the computer when she suddenly when online in ym. great! i thought, now i don't need to call. except that i had already forgotten what i needed to ask her. until now i can't remember.

it's crazy! really crazy! yesterday it turned dangerous. i turned on the stove to cook eggs for vito and forgot to turn it off. an hour later i was smelling gas all over the flat.

how am i going to deal with this? should i carry post-its and stick them on my arm every time i need to remember something important?

i don't think i'm just imagining this. or that this is a result of my not using my brain, because i do use my brain often! i'm teaching myself web design and development (and we're not talking just css codes here) and believe me, it's not as easy at it looks. i read about a study that shows the hormone oxytocin has selective effects on memory. i'm more inclined to believe that it's hormonal. i don't know any other explanation for it!

38 things to do before i die

tomorrow i turn 38. *gasp*
thoughts of my mortality always crop up near my birthday, and this time, it got me thinking of the things i want to do before i go (not so) gently into that good night:

1. join an archeological dig somewhere in the mediterranean
2. eat paella in valencia, spain
3. eat pizza in naples, italy
4. go on a luxury cruise (preferably on the queen mary 2)
5. ride the orient express (the venice simplon-orient-express that goes from istanbul-budapest-bucharest-venice)
6. learn how to make soufflé and macarons in paris
7. watch les miserables on broadway
8. ice skate in the lincoln center on christmas day
9. learn to make pasta from scratch, in tuscany
10. tour a winery in france
11. go to the top of the eiffel tower
12. spend an entire week touring the louvre
13. build houses for habitat for humanity
14. plant 100 trees
15. go to venice before it sinks and feed the pigeons at piazza san marco
16. visit rome, tour the vatican, look at each one of bernini's sculptures
17. eat a hotdog in the streets of new york while watching the macy's thanksgiving parade
18. watch a couple of matches in wimbledon (preferably with federer playing) --- i'll bring daddy along.
19. host a party at a vineyard in italy, in the fall, and invite all my friends
20. take a course in a very obscure subject that the world has no use for, like ancient egyptian bread-making or something like that.
21. go to london with mommy, it's got to be with mommy; and have afternoon tea at the ritz
22. tour all the castles in ireland
23. learn dressmaking
24. bring my kids to a dinosaur museum
25. spend a week at disneyland (with the kids, of course)
26. go to the opera (preferably la traviata or la boheme)
27. see all the major works of monet, gaugin, van gogh, and renoir
28. go on a gastronomic tour of italy and france
29. watch the sun set over uluru
30. fly a plane (it's one of my ultimate fears)
32. read all the classics
33. have my portrait painted
34. ride a camel in egypt and see the pyramids
35. teach someone illiterate to read (oh wait, i've done that with vito. hahahaha!)
36. drive a convertible with the top down and music blaring, or let manuel drive and i sit on the passenger seat. that's good enough for me. =)
37. go to walden pond and read thoreau while drifting on a canoe (manuel has to hold the oars, of course)
38. listen to beethoven's 9th symphony played live by the new york philharmonic orchestra

how about you? what's on your list?

preparing for raoul

i just realized that in about 6 or so weeks, i'll be leaving for cebu. you would think that gives me enough time to finish everything i need to do, but i feel panicky. i haven't even started buying baby essentials. as i said before, raoul is an unexpected and (unplanned) gift. we had already decided that we weren't going to have any more kids after vito so we gave away all of vito's baby things. we're back to zero.

i'm posting a list of things we need so i can refer to this as the months go by. maybe i'll purchase some of them in cebu. or maybe i'll start buying them slowly while i'm still here. i still haven't decided on whether we should set up a nursery. maybe a portion of our spare room (my office is here, and so are vito's toys) can be set up for the baby. i'll have to clear out some of the bookshelves to make way for raoul's things. where i'm going to transfer the contents, i have no idea! =)

things to buy:

SLEEPING

Complete Cot set - (pillows, blankets, sheets)

Baby-Safe Cot Mattress (needed in sg)

Cot blankets

complete bassinet set (needed in cebu)


BATHING & CHANGING

Baby bathtub (for cebu)

baby towels and washers (needed in cebu)

baby grooming set: hairbrush & comb, digital thermometer, nasal aspirator

FEEDING

breastfeeding pillow

breastfeeding bib (for me, so I can breastfeed in public without flashing anyone)

a few baby bottles, preferably avent newborn ones

avent breast pump

GENERAL

toys

baby mobile

nappy stacker/diaper caddy

baskets

going out clothes

onesies

booties and socks

GOING OUT

Pram/stroller

Baby carrier/sling

Nappy/Diaper bag



whew! i have to work doubly hard to afford all these things! that's why i've been accepting more orders than i can handle. don't wonder why i've been quiet lately, i've just been really busy and exhausted. manuel is saving up for the hospital expenses, so i said i'll take care of the baby's stuff.