the pirates are here

in the "notes" bit on my facebook account, i had proudly said that i do not patronize pirated films and  pirated music discs. i have had to go back on that. i still do not buy pirated copies of music/cds/albums, but we have now succumbed to buying pirated films to watch at home. 


APOLOGIES


we are doing it for convenience. blame being pregnant, being busy, and not wanting to go out during the day (or even late at night) to catch a film. plus, blame the fact that sometimes i'd rather watch old films that i know are good rather than put up with the latest hollywood blockbuster. please. i'm one of those that used to camp out at greenbelt 1 on cinemanila days, armed with sweater, food and drinks to watch one artsy film after another. so...


we have bought some pirated dvds and have been having good evenings watching them after dinner. i think it was in "the expectant father" where i read that having dvd nights is a good idea. and i certainly don't expect to see the inside of a cinema in the year the baby is born (as i don't expect to hire a babysitter) and likely that the first film we will watch after all this is a kiddie one targeted at our future little one.  


GUILTY. now press the play button. 


cost: one pirated DVD costs anywhere between Php 50 and Php90, depending on
1) how good the copy is
2) who you are negotiating with
3) some reason i have not figured out. 
yes, it can be random. 

moving office

i'm moving office. nobody else is. just me. i am giving up my big desk and am moving to the living room couch. 


you read that right. i have no core muscles to help keep my back straight to sit up and my back muscles cannot take the brunt of that. also it doesn't help that my desk chair is a freaking backless monoblock chair. because i don't like our space age bungee-chord office chairs, and BBB has not figured out what to replace them with. i keep looking at the japanese surplus shop next door to see if they had some suitable cast offs but no such luck. fortunately, all my work can be done on my laptop with some occasional paper support. we have a wireless router so all i really need to plug to the wall is the power for my HP. so to the sofa i shall go, to lean back on the down cushions and put my feet up. 

green purse tip #9 use 2nd-hand baby furniture & goods

the lucky thing about having friends with children is that they know what you might need and are willing to turn over items they don't need anymore. 


so we have been lucky because now we have two batches of 2nd hand baby furniture & goods that would otherwise cost an arm and a leg--


batch #1 from tomas & clara


+ graco pushchair. i don't know what the model is but its certainly less than 3 years old. it has a thing in the bottom to stash bags, the main seat has 3 settings (flat for sleeping, halfway for reclining & upright for sitting up. comes with a detachable food/cup tray and a folding canopy. it has lockable rear brakes and lockable front wheels. good height. its not lightweight tho but its great. now i don't have to look at all these chunky graco monsters with the removable car seat/carrier


+ irdy brand playpen. it folds down to about a 10-inch square about 3 feet tall. its quite clever and can be used as a travel cot. has its own mosquito net. almost new condition


i know, those two aren't immediately needed by a newborn and we still intend to buy some kind of crib. i think we will opt for the old-school wooden variety. have i said it before? yes, we like contemporary designed stuff but we like old school too. why redesign something that is working well?


cost = totally free. 




batch #2 from our french friends
+ avent Isis breast pump. holy camote. breast pumps have come a long way since i first saw my aunt's one in 1988. this one can be manual or plugged in or battery operated. how cool is that? not that i know how to use it yet.


+ baby first baby travel day bed. neat it folds to about the size of a small suitcase and comes with a little led night light, and waterproofed mattress. the thing is entirely washable (just the light bit is removable. 


+ mothercare brand microwavable sterilizer. these things have come a long way too from the stove top or plug in kind. this is just a gigantic microwavable container. you pour in some water in the bottom, place the dismantled baby bottles and pop it in the microwave to let the steam do the work. nifty


cost = these were not totally free, but the whole lot was purchased for Php 7,000. still great value considering the avent isis alone is Php11,600 when bought brand new.


there is another item given by friends that i failed to mention. our visiting friends from canada bought a car seat for their 9month-old who was used to traveling in car seats. they were worried about what to do with the seat after their 3-week stay last march. we said no worries, we would have a use for it. heehee. so they were among the first to learn that we are expecting a baby. the car seat is evenflo brand and can be both rear and front facing. it is not meant for newborns though because it is quite upright. not sure what we are doing for a newborn carseat yet. 


yey for friends. 

tetanus shots & letters for delivery

went in for my check up today and was given the first of 3 tetanus shots. they are to prevent tetanus infections when its time to delivery the baby. no big deal to me as i am not afraid of needles and see such as useful precautions. i just thought i'd mention it here as a note of interest to whoever is reading. 


other than that, the check up went without issue. we listened to the baby's heartbeat which sounds like some kind of machine thumping through slush. we've also asked for info about what to do since BBB is interested in being in the delivery room. apparently, chong hua allows it but you need to get written consent from the hospital director and the head of the ob/gyne department. also, in case the delivery has to be a c-section, the father will NOT be allowed in the operating room. i've read (tho not in chong hua) of fathers/husbands to be going berzerk at the idea that the mother to be is about to be sliced open to get the baby out. not an ideal situation.

baby furniture

we've been checking out the shops for baby furniture but have not bought any yet. when we first started looking around, i really had to tell myself to NOT do the math, because the cost could spiral to anything you think you could spend. being pregnant, as i can see, can make you vulnerable to marketing ploys, turning you into emotional suckers with empty wallets. 

case in point. crib options. Php5,000 wooden crib (without mattress & net) versus top of the line graco branded ones that are under Php20k inclusive of a newborn changing basinnet, mobile, mosquito net, and some place to put nappies and other accessories. gah. never mind that the models in between those two prices are horribly kitschy, corny and just generally not passing the tastes and standards of a designer father to be.

case #2. strollers/pushchairs. i've obviously never ventured into the children's section of department stores since i was a kid myself, and i was shocked to discover mclaren pushchairs going for about Php18k. gah. for that amount, i expect to be able to ride it myself, not have to push the damn thing around!

those are just the top 2 items, and we have not gone to the nitty gritties of bonnets, nail clippers and the like. oh joy. i love shopping. but i don't want to spend money. 

  

green purse tip #8 ukay maternity wear

in general, thrift-shopping for clothes is called ukay-ukay here. from the tagalog word "hukay" which means "to dig." however, the real hardcore ukay where you literally have to dig through piles of dusty used clothing is beyond me. multiply the badness of that by cebu's heat+humidity and the fact that i am pregnant, and hardcore ukay is an absolute no. i go to these airconditioned places that have the clothes on hangers, grouped as sleeveless tops, sleeved tops, skirts, pants, dresses, etc. and if it sounds like i am omitting too much info here, why, yes i am! i could write the style bible on ukay, but that's for another day. 


i am what i would call an ukay connoisseur, having had tons of practice that would require a separate blog page, if not a separate blog altogether!


the need to get maternity clothes was obvious from the day it was confirmed i was pregnant, but i've held off buying as long as i could, mainly because i was too busy with the telecoms commercials which are now thankfully done. i am not intending to buy brand new maternity clothes unless i think i can wear then after the pregnancy, so the easy option, really, is to go ukay-ukay. 


i have a few favorite places to go to (but you might have to pay me for me to reveal them!) and suffice it to say that i have got a few more things to wear that can accommodate my still growing belly. bought a couple of cotton dresses (with no waist) and a an office-y top by a brand called mothercare. 


cost: if a dress is "new arrival" it can cost as much as Php180. if the place is doing a clearance sale to make room for new arrivals, i've been lucky to get good finds for Php50! or better. my cheapest find is a black linen ankle length dress (in great condition after all the dust washed off) that i got for Php10. strange but true. 

not like a butterfly

books and websites describe the "quickening" (the baby's first movements in the womb that the mother feels) as something like having a butterfly fluttering in your belly. i first felt it around march before we left for morocco. i was not consciously anticipating it, but at the same time, i knew it was supposed to happen around then. 


truth be told, i wasn't sure if it was just the stuff in my intestines moving around, like when you have gas or you eat something you're not used to. seriously. except it was the baby moving. i'm not the type to jump for joy with such things though. yeah, corny mother to be me. but that is how i am. 


sometimes it gets hiccups, which the doctor says is normal. now IT moves, nudges and bumps me along from inside, and it is a strange funny feeling. hey, IT seems to say to remind me, i AM in here.


i know. see you in august.  

beating the sugar monitor

i've been very good at monitoring what i eat and testing my blood sugar as advised by the diabetes expert that my OB recommended. so far, i've only gone over the limit 2 times since i got the monitor. having been for my follow up check, i've been told that no, i do not have pregnancy-related diabetes. to which i heave a sigh of relief, not because i was scared, but because i was glad it was one complication i did not have to worry about. this pregnancy having been one of the easiest i've ever heard of, it reminds me of how surreal it all is. 

not a teetotaler

it is strange how, once the pregnancy is obvious, people seem to think they can tell you what to do and that their advise is welcome. mostly i guess they do so in reaction to the idea of "what if they were the pregnant party."


case in point, i still occasionally drink beer or wine. and by occasionally, i do mean like one serving once every two weeks. in the rare instances that i am caught with some alcohol in hand, concerned people broach the subject in various ways, but always with the same summary--"you're pregnant, are you supposed to be drinking?" and my response is inevitably:


"let's put it this way. do you think all the pregnant women in france and italy totally give up alcohol until the baby is born?" 

core no more

bending over to pick up things is becoming more of a challenge, and getting up from the bed and the sofa tells me how good my core WAS thanks to yoga and the bit of pilates i did the couple of years before getting pregnant. i have to remind myself to use my arms to push myself up instead of relying on my core. easier said than done. and worse, i imagine if my body will ever be in the same good condition as it was a year or two ago. 


*sigh*



also i am started to feel tired faster than normal, with some occasional back pain and discomfort here and there. nothing that rest can't handle, but i am just noting what's different from before i was pregnant. the laptop feels much heavier and i loath lugging it around and do so only when absolutely necessary (not that it is a monster at 2.2 kg). i feel the heat more than i used to and i'm bent on getting an aircon for our bedroom. unfortunately, it seems the heat is really something i am having issues with as everybody else in this home/office is carrying on as usual (i.e. natural ventilation). truth be told, i cannot stand wearing leggings because of the heat and end up wearing shorts and skirts that still fit, or dresses. i will have to find me some forgiving linen pants with stretchy waistbands.

moisturise moisturise moisturise

i'd read a friend's blog who wrote that she was so deathly afraid of stretch marks around her belly when she was pregnant. i would guess that all her worrying was for naught as today she can rock a bikini and the only proof that she was ever pregnant is the toddler walking beside her!

people swear by moisturisiers and body butters with cocoa butter, saying it totally prevents stretch marks around the belly. i'm not one to suddenly run out to get myself some as i was never the lemming type. besides, i happen to have a stash of moisturisers here so i use what i have. 

current on this rose-scented stuff that BBB's mom bought in morocco. that in itself was interesting, because we were headed to Essaouira on the coast which required driving through the countryside. one of our stops was already in the Naturally Morocco itinerary--i think--but if it were not, it was no big deal as the place was right on the highway anyway. we also needed to get out of the car to stretch our legs so we conveniently stopped at this women's coop that processes argan oil. 

in short, argan oil is morocco's answer to olive oil. it is their health oil and use it for everything--cooking, as peanut butter, soap, and you guessed it, moisturizers. BBB's mom was convinced to purchase something to support the coop (while BBB and i did choose a few bars of soap to bring back as pasalubong). the moisturiser was in the neighborhood of 20Euros. in the end, she gave me the pot of rose-scented argan oil-based moisturiser because my face started to suffer from the non-tropical weather and i, totally not anticipating temperatures would dip below 15 degrees, failed to bring any stuff for my face. 

in short, i'm using the stuff on my sometimes itchy belly. its light and rose-scented so i can't really complain. when that runs out, i have a pot of Asquith & Somerset ayurvedic body butter which i happened to buy from Beauty Bar for Php 50. that's right, it used to be Php 550, but since no one knew the brand, it went for a low down sale that i snapped up. 

will these things work? 

of shoes and swollen feet

one of the things about being pregnant that i've read often about is the swelling of the legs and feet. it was not something i'd imagined would happen to me, but then again, i never imagined myself pregnant either. 

after the flight back to morocco, i was appalled to discover (when i took my pants off) that my bony ankles had disappeared. i unlace my shoes during long-haul flights and wear boot length socks, so i didn't notice/feel/see it happen. i'd heard of people needing compression socks when flying to avoid swelling, but it was strange to see it on my own body. fortunately, it only lasted for a day, but now I am also careful about eating salty stuff. We ate at Big Mao in ayala once and my ankles swelled a bit. that was the first and last time i am eating in big mao. note to self: stay away from salty food and stay away from restaurants with msg.

my friend in hongkong said her feet went up an entire size when she was pregnant, which resulted in her giving me a very nice pair of brazil-made black suede peep-toe pumps that were sitting prettily in her shoe closet (she has a shoe closet!). she was a size 6, became a 7, then went back to 6 after the pregnancy. not sure which baffled me more when she gave them to me--the fact that her feet went up a size bigger, or the fact that she still wore high heels when she was pregnant. i am not a fan of high heels since i tend to do a lot of walking. i do wear them, so don't get me wrong. but i only really do for dinners and some nights out. and oh, i have worn that very pair she gave me--for the Creative Cebu launch in Ayala back in March, when i was about 19 weeks.

i also did buy a pair of Tsubo mary janes last March. they're about 3 inches high, plus a slight platform. as advertised, they were quite comfy. and i bought them because they were on sale (50% off, from Php 5,000 down to Php2,500). if i must justify, they are very well made, very comfy, and the style is a funky twist on a classic that will look good for a long time. i just don't have any desire to wear them lately.

my defaults are my slim havaianas, the beige puma doll shoes, the suede rockports, and my nike bowerman series sneakers. walking on air is good when you are pregnant. 

maternity leave

i can imagine not doing anything for 3 months, but that just means not doing anything that equates making an income, which i would loathe. i am difficult to bore, so I could be sewing and making things when the baby is new. or i could be reading books. finding some kind of work out to do. something something. the list of inconsequential things to do could go on. 

what i am mentally preparing for are the months i give birth and the month or two after that. because from what i’ve read, routines practically stop once the baby arrives. because i am freelance, the word routine remains a vague concept because the tasks of the day vary from day to day, depending on what projects i have going. in reality, i have no concept of “maternity leave” although that is what i am preparing for.