What's in my Diaper Bag?!

I'm actually due on February 12, but we're really just waiting for labor pains right now since Doc Cyd told us during our last check-up that Phoenix's head is already engaged so we just prepared the diaper bag we're ready to haul over to the hospital just in case it happens (labor!) all of a sudden.

I didn't think I needed to take pictures, so bad of me, since actual pictures of the contents of the diaper bag and the bag itself can help you visualize it more.

Anyway, I'll just enumerate them so you, whether you're the one pregnant or a friend, or a sister, or maybe even your mother, would have an idea what to bring to the hospital for the big day!

• Diapers. lots of them. Because newborns will pee and poop almost every hour after birth. It's sorta their cleansing thing. So bring lots and lots of diapers since hospitals here in the Philippines might provide only 2-3 pieces for your baby.
• Hooded towel or a hooded receiving blanket. I'd like to believe the baby would like a comfy and warm blanket with a hood so his/her head will not be cold too.
• Soft blanket/covered mat for the baby to lie on.
• Wet wipes and cotton balls. To clean up that chubby butt after pooing or peeing.
• 70% Ethyl alcohol. Maybe to disinfect the chord stump or something, it's the nurses that ask for this though.
• Cotton buds/ear buds. This too, the nurses will ask for this, together with the,
• Baby wash. Because they will give your baby a bath before giving him/her to you.
• Baby clothes. Be sure to bring those white cotton newborn baby clothes and some others of your choice. Something he/she will be comfortable in. Make sure they're not so thick, so the baby won't be soaked in sweat.
• Socks, mitts, cap. For protection and comfort. Make sure you've removed the stray threads, just bring scissors with you so you can trim them off just to make sure.
• Wash cloths, bibs, burping cloths. Of course, for wiping off milk for the chin or cheeks, protection for burping or from accidental spills/vomiting.

Well, basically, those are the essential things to bring to the hospital for THE big day. Don't forget mom, you have to pack a bag of your own too. Don't forget to bring extra undies, sanitary napkins or adult diapers (whichever you prefer, I'm bringing napkins with me), comb, toiletries like a toothbrush, deodorant, perfume/cologne, toothpaste, soap and/or shampoo (it's a hospital, so better be ready than sorry), change of clothes - those that are comfortable for during and after labor and birth (Tom and I suggest for moms planning to breastfeed, bring something with buttons so the baby can have easy access to milk) and also clothes for going home.

Don't forget to bring slippers too, include socks if you're the type who gets cold easily. For walking around during labor and also while you're inside the room after birth and for going home. You should even bring a towel or washcloth for of course, freshening up. You can also bring extra pillows and blankets for you to be comfortable after giving birth, and also for your husband or partner or guardian - whoever's going to be with you - to use at night or while waiting for the baby to be brought to you inside the room.

**Anyway, here's a photo of some of the stuff we've gotten from Ate Jovie, I've packed most of them into my diaper bag, except for the pump. I'll have to remember to bring that.

My Christmas Wish This Year: A NOKIA C7!

As many of you already know, I'm pretty much with child right now. Some say it looks like it's about to pop any time now, but if you ask me, I think there's pretty much enough time for this baby to still practice contractions and stretches and funny movements right until her ripe old time to "pop" out.

So what I've been doing most of the time now is imagining what I would be doing at home during my maternity leave - aside from taking care of the baby, of course. And if you haven't noticed yet, I blog, a lot, so maybe I'd be doing more of that or maybe just picture-taking or filming whatever it is that catches my interest by February or March because we currently still don't have our very own internet connection at home. It maybe more of my pretty little angel or some of her "adventures" so to speak.

So I ask, do I want a Nokia C7 for Christmas? Or maybe you're asking, why does she want a Nokia C7 this early if she's just wondering what to do in February?!

Why on earth not?!

First and foremost, the Nokia C7 is really shiny - and shiny things just make me want it more. It's made of polished stainless steel and glass - perfect for catching my Phoenix's attention for pictures, right? It has 3.5" high-resolution display, and what's cutest is that it's a touch screen thing also! Awwww....

What else caught my attention? Imagine two months (because that's how long a maternity leave is) without your usual office internet connection - no facebook, no twitter, no email, and no blog! So how can you post those lovely pictures and crazy videos you'll take with the Nokia C7's 8 megapixel camera?!

Nokia C7 has a lovely lovely feature - it has integrated social networking sites, particularly facebook and twitter. Which means I'll be alive and online most of the time - updating my status every now and then, getting comments or whatnots for pictures and vids. Oooohhhh... Fancy that!

Oh, and imagine getting lost in the village - if that's even possible - Nokia C7 has GPS.  :)


Still wondering why I'd like a Nokia C7 for Christmas?!


*photos from Nokia Europe

Finally! Caught Phoenix's movements on Cam!

At last, my pretty girl has finally allowed me to catch some of her movements on cam.

Because I', wearing a patterned dress in the video, just watch out for distortions on the patterns...  :)

I also had this thing made to cover up the ugly "vase" I used for my office plant. Plus, something pretty special to look at every now and then..

Baby Bed for Phoenix

Tom & I both think this was a better investment than buying just a crib.

*forgive our floor though, we haven't had the time to "renovate" just yet*

instructions

Tom assembling the thing

still on it!

frame's done!

added the mattress and removing ugly sticker

finished! with sample beddings and a guest..  :)

We got this baby bed for only P2,799.75 at Baby Company during SM's Thanksgiving Sale, include the mattress and a bathing sponge and we paid just about P3,800 all in all.

We can now conclude that we both love love love SM Advantage Card now!  Lol!

Proving Old Wives Tales Wrong!

Remember my posts about old wives' tales for predicting the gender of an unborn child? I tried the suspended ring test and the Chinese Birth Calendar.

According to the suspended ring test, if the ring swings from side to side, it's a girl, and if swings around in circles, it's a boy. Well, guys and girls, my bad.. I read it the other way around. So to cut it short, that old wife's tale is true with Phoenix (yes, we're naming the baby Phoenix, just that, no second names). The ring from my video swung from side to side which means it's a girl. How come we know that it was correct?! Because we finally had that sonogram last Saturday! Here's a snap on the printed film (I actually hate CUPSI for not having a better ultrasound machine or printer and also for being so stingy they didn't give us more snap shots of Phoenix! Hmph!)

Phoenix sorta looks like me, doesn't she?

The Chinese Birth Calendar was altogether wrong. Boo!


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Unboxing the Avent Starter Kit

Bought a newborn starter kit (Avent) online via ebay.ph... Which reminds me, I still have to leave feedback for the seller...  :) Anyway, here's a link to her online store in ebay.ph --> http://shop.ebay.ph/i_heart_sg/m.html

This purchase almost didn't push through because of some scheduling problems for the payment, but thank God, it did, and here it is! I saved, let me see, about 32.5% of the current mall price since I just paid P1,889 (including shipping fees), in SM this set sells for P2,799.75.

first level unboxing... hehe!

First of all, I commend Karisse (the seller) for wrapping it up pretty well. Although the box had one of its corners "harassed", the contents were fairly untouched. And it was sealed. I inspected the plastic wrap, and it was not just something re-attached or re-wrapped, see the pics below too.

the contents have peeped through!

By the way, I apologized to Tom for being so excited. I hurriedly opened the package without him. He was also excited to see it though (since last Friday!) and even sent an SMS this morning that maybe we can open it together, but it was too late. I was already into the contents when his message arrived. Sorry nie!
*I just placed everything back together so he can open it again later at home...*

inventory time! avent newborn starter set contents

So above are the contents of that magical box, same with what was indicated in the box, all looked brand-new and untouched. All in all, there were 8 items (2 x 9oz bottle with 2 hole slow flow teats each = 2 items, 2 x 4oz bottles with 1 hole slow flow teat attached plus 2 extra 1 hole slow flow teats each = 4 items, 1 pacifier and 1 brush).

Overall, I was satisfied with this online purchase. The seller was reliable, and the items complete and the packaging neat and well-cared for. Props for honest sellers with good items and a professional attitude!

So if you want to try to buy something online too, try registering with ebay.ph  and if you're looking for a baby stuff like this newborn starter set, here's Karisse's online store.  :)

Also for more information about Avent products, 'coz maybe you're wondering why go to such trouble looking for an affordable Avent set, here's their site --> http://www.usa.philips.com/c/about-philips-avent/36537/cat/

Help me Win a Babyshower!

Johnson's Baby World of Firsts has started an online contest for moms-to-be to get a chance to win a luxurious baby shower. So I joined. I nominated myself. lol! What the heck, right? Help me win by first praying that my nominated gets chosen, and then when that happens, to help me gather as many likes as possible to win!

For more details on the said contest, please click on this link: http://www.facebook.com/johnsonsbabyPH?v=app_4949752878

Johnson's Baby World of Firsts' facebook page is here: http://www.facebook.com/johnsonsbabyPH

In the Office and Still Sleepy

Recently I've been finding this time of the morning too...annoying. It's already 9+ AM and I'm just starting to feel that my body's trying to get back on sleep mode. Ugh. I.....need...to...stay....awake....

Whatever. Anyway, I took some shots of my tummy. It's ok, my staff haven't arrived yet when I took these, it was still almost 8AM...

Just turned 22 weeks, and my belly button's starting to shrink and look like a line instead of a hole. Don't bother, didn't take a shot of that... Just so happens that I didn't have much to do this early...  :)

Another OWT to Test - Chinese Birth Calendar

The Chinese Birth Calendar is said to be also so accurate that it can predict the gender correctly almost 99% at a time - according to the Chinese. So how to do it:

• Determine the month of your conception. If you're like me who's not so sure, then use a conception calculator. The internet is full of these kinda things, y'know. You just have to know how to search for them. So I found one, and took screen shots of the different results, 'coz as you can remember, some inconsistencies with the due dates have come up because of that spotting episode early on this pregnancy. So here are the screenshots (I based my calculation on the expected due dates):

first due date given by first OB was Feb 12.

next was given by Doc Cyd, Feb 19.

So I averaged the 2 and got Feb 15.

So by these, we can now safely say that conception occurred more or less in the month of May.

• Next, determine the age of the mother by the time she gives birth, so for me, that'll be 26.
• The ages are enumerated in the vertical axis left-most column, and the month of conception in the horizontal axis top most row. Where 26 and May intersects is the predicted gender of the baby, which is, in my case. Male.

Still, to be absolutely sure, we'll still wait for the ultrasound results... :)

Trying Out an Old Wife's Tale - Baby's Gender

Saw in an article online about this one old wife's tale on predicting the gender of an unborn child, and found this particular one not so hard to do and not so absurd too.

This OWT (old wife's tale) said that if you suspend the mother's wedding ring on a chain or a strand of her hair or the husband's hair above her belly and watch for the direction of the swinging of the pendulum, you can predict the gender of the baby. Per OWT, if the medallion moves in a circular motion, it will be a girl. If it moves back and forth in a line, it will be a boy. It also says that this method is quite accurate. Hmm, let's see.

Does this mean we're having a boy?

We'll have to wait until after the weekend to know for sure.

:)

ps: I suspended my wedding ring on a strand of my hair. The video was taken inside my office.

And I have a cool trivia. While loading the video, pause it for while, there's gonna be the blinking circles in the middle of the video screen. Press your keyboard's arrow keys, and voila! You can play Snakes while waiting for it load.  :)

10-10-10 and that Strong Kick!

What a historic date!

Of course, this day won't come by in the nearest future, so that was pretty special already. Plus a friend of ours delivered her baby boy via cesarean on that date too, at 10 o'clock. Imagine. Congratulations Val & Tonton, welcome to Sean Khaleb!

And of course, we also have something to remember 10-10-10 by! Last night, while we were already lying in bed, talking a bit, waiting for sleepiness to knock us off, Tom asked why in the world I was giggling even though what he was saying wasn't at all funny. So I told him - it's because the baby's moving too much! Night time is when this baby particularly likes to do somersaults and flips or just let us know that it kicks and flails its arms around. So I took Tom's hand and placed it over the spot where he can probably feel the movements, and he talked to the tummy and said, "Strong kick daw beh?"

And so we waited for about a few seconds, and the baby suddenly gave one hard kick! I was laughing and Tom was shouting "Waaahhahaha! It kicked! Kusuga uy!"

Hmm, what do you know, a very obedient baby while still in the womb! I was so proud... Lol!

Anyway, we still have no idea what the gender is, but we have scheduled ourselves to finally have an ultrasound on Saturday, perhaps after our check-up with Doc Cyd.

:)

Formally Welcoming A New Member of the Family

Yes, you're thinking quite straightly. But may not be interpreting correctly though. lol!

This is just to follow suit on Tom's facebook announcement that he has just formally turned into a father-to-be. "Formally" because the first 2 tests we did were just over-the-counter testing kits and we wanted a more formal way of being confirmed so we went to Hi-Precision to get tested. I'll upload some more pictures of the kits and Tom's excitement when they become available for upload.

I was a bit worried too because I couldn't feel that I was in the mood for sharing urine samples, but heck, Tom gave me 3 cups of water just so I can go through with it already.

After 2 hours, we went back to the lab and got the results, the releasing person was all smiles with her congratulatory releasing of the paper that said it was POSITIVE. And so started Tom's shouting and smiling while driving along the roads of Cebu City going back to Ken's house. He was going almost ridiculously berserk.

So anyway, to cut it short, I guess today, I'm on my 4th week when the method of computation used is based on the day of conception or the "actual" fetal age of the baby. If you want to try this out, you can get the conception date and other details by using this Due Date Calculator and then inputing that date into this Weekly Pregnancy Calculator to determine how far along you are.

I haven't gone to an OB yet and I haven't bought any pre-natal supplements or vitamins. All I'm taking now is Anmum. I accept donations too. Hahaha! The OB should be Cebu-based and affordable too.

Do you have any recommendations or suggestions?   ;)