It’s 25 days before Christmas time. Have you done or even finished buying gifts for your loved ones? Well, it’s time to complete it and the bazaar events every weekend are here to help you find everything in your shopping list…from clothes, fashion accessories, toys to food!

We all know that Filipinos just love to shop at bargain prices! So, here are the list of bazaars you can go to…plan your weekend routes with your family and friends to save on fuel and even parking fees. Also, some bazaars charge an entrance fee (P50-P150, $1-$3) so if I were you, know which bazaars have free entrance.

St. James Bazaar, Cuenca Court, Ayala Alabang –> Nov 30, Dec 1-2

Venture 7, Intercon Hotel Renaissance (formerly New World), Makati –> Dec 2

American Women’s Club, World Trade Center, Manila –> Dec 3

Karl Edwards, NBC Tent, Makati –> Dec 3-4, 10-11, 17-18, 24-25

World Bazaar Festival, World Trade Center, Manila –> Dec 6-16

Ayala Alabang Village Bazaar, Cuenca Court, Ayala Alabang –> Dec 8-9, 15-16

Ex-Link’s Mega Xmas Expo, SM MegaMall Hall 2, Pasig –> Dec 14-16

Noel, World Trade Center, Manila –> Dec 21-23

Don’t forget to bring your cash and of course, always have a watchful eye over your personal belongings!

Today was no exception. The past few days, Aidan has been super duper active. He has been doing a lot of things that would just blow you up.

Come evening time, the time to slow down and sleep…Aidan started to rub his eyes, trying to deny that he was sleepy but you would know because of his slow reflexes. So, with a little persuasion, Aidan was able to sleep while having his dose of meme. After a while, he was bothered by his colds which needed to be released. Yikes, he was now awake…got up from the bed and suddenly cried! Poppa! Love ko Poppa ko! Oh no! What triggered this? It was the music that was being played while sleeping…a lullaby song which his Poppa usually sings to him. He missed his Poppa who was away and would be back after 5 more days. So, what did I do? I picked him up and cuddled him. I told him, “Momma’s here naman” and “I love you too. Don’t you love Momma?”. Guess what he answered…”No.” It strucked me. It kinda hurt. I guess I was still in postpartum stage where my emotions are still very much sensitive.

I cried a little bit and he saw my tears. AD suddenly told me, ” Momma, don’t cry.” And he wiped away my tears. I asked again if he loves Momma and still the answer was, “No.” So, I stopped asking.

After a while, when we are about to settle in again, he suddenly, embraced me and said, “Momma, love you.” He repeatedly said it several times and hugged me tightly. I don’t know what happened in between but I do remember reading articles where babies/ toddlers know and can feel what the mother is feeling.  Whatever it may be, at least I know that my toddler AD is sensitive to one’s feelings especially to his Momma.

Ever since I was pregnant with AD, I had heard so much about giving birth the natural way. I wanted to give it a try after hearing a friend of mine did it not only once but twice! I was challenged! I’m not usually the type of person to be challenged but with this and the benefits that comes along with it, got me interested. And so, I enrolled ourselves to the childbirth education class on my third trimester. Fortunately or unfortunately, I wasn’t able to apply the natural way of child birth when I had Aidan. My water bag broke and I wasn’t experiencing any contractions. So, I had to be induced and given the oxytocin to help me contract. I didn’t expect the pain to be that unbearable so panicky me, I asked for an epidural procedure to release me from shouting pain! That was 3 years ago.

With JX, natural childbirth was still at the back of my mind. It was just on my last trimester that I discussed my plan with my OB gyne, Dra. LG. She fully supported me with my decision, little did I know that she would be true to her word! haha That got me huh! Since I already had knowledge of the natural way, I decided not to enroll to a refresher course (I would only pay 50% of the fee if I did). I can surf through the internet and look for my old file but apparently, I lost track of time and didn’t have real time to finish my reading. So, in short, I kinda “knew” the concept but totally forgot the breathing technique when you reach a certain phase, how it would be painful (but of course, I still wouldn’t really know how painful it was until I experience it right? Which I also didn’t experience with my 1st child.) So, I was kinda unprepared but was still willing to undergo with the procedure because it was what we really wanted from the start.

Nov 14:

At Home: 2pm - Momma was not feeling too well. Having nausea so she opted to lie down while AD was playing with his car.

3-4pm - Momma was already having regular contractions and was having diarrhea.

4-4.30pm - Momma was doing the last minute instructions for AD. Took a cab because it’s faster to meet with HubbyBubbly at MMC than to pick me up at home. Dra LG advised me to go to MMC first to check on my status.

AT MMC: 5pm - Forgot the camera! Shucks! Arrived and proceeded to the 5/F Delivery room. I was ushered to the Labor rm then I was IEd at 5cm already! Contractions regular and getting stronger. JX’s heartbeat was almost 160-170/ minute which was not his regular heartbeat so I was not permitted to go to Asian Hospital anymore and it was already rush hour at that time! I was dehydrated so O2 supply was administered and IV too! JX heartbeat decreased but still didn’t return to his normal heartrate.

While my HubbyBubbly lost his composure and was asking that he see me immediately when he got to the MMC. He was losing control while I was having labor pains and I can hear his voice outside the room. We had no choice but to stay there and he keeps on blabbering (hahaha) how he was truly unsatisfied with the hospital’s process. It was a funny situation but added to my worry that the staff might get mad and get back at me instead.

6pm - IEd at 8cm! Contractions still regular and stronger at around 70-80 ( I don’t know its unit of measurement though). Water bag still intact. Worried that we might not get a photo documentation of my delivery to JX. Camera please Uncle Rommel!

7pm - Decide to rupture my bag because our concern is JX. He might be in danger. He might have eaten his own poo and that would be bad for him! And the REAL experience begun here…

I had not cut my nails shorter. It deepened unto HubbyBubbly’s arm and hands. I had to shut him up when he cries in pain, after all, who is in the real pain here? HubbyBubbly silently cried in pain. He was very patient with me. I was already shouting in pain. Afraid, scared whenever the pain would go back every so often. The pain became unbearable on my hips, on my back. I cannot contain it any longer.

At 9cm, I was already asking for anesthesia. I was still in control of myself. From what I remembered from Aidan, I thought it was already impossible to have anethesia at that time so I was kinda testing my OB on how to get rid of my pain. She calmly told me to wait and concentrate and they have called the anethesiologist. I was half believing her and half not believing her. I even told her that she was kidding me because I thought she was just killing time. But she still calmly told me to wait and just concentrate on my breathing as I kept on shouting. Doc, Doc, stop the pain, I want anethesia! Keep quiet please! (My pedia was giving instructions then.) I wanted a quiet room but they were buzzing all around me. I wanted to shout, to erase my pain but that didn’t work either! It was only the breathing that did it! The support I got from my HubbyBubbly helped me a lot. Actually, I wanted him to stop telling me to breathe because at that time, I was natatawa sa kanya. He was soo serious….I remembered the time when we were reciting our vows…It was the same feeling…natatawa talaga ako…But I was glad that he continued to support me because I know I would not have made it without him. His hands were already black and blue. My OB had to remove my hands from his but I reached for it again because it was my way of “transferring” the pain.

Where is that anesthesiologist?! Ok, Momma R, breathe slowly…when I tell you to push, push hard ok? We will count one to ten and then you’ll push! Push! I did it thrice! All those times, it really hurt but I gave my very best because I want it done quick! The pain was unbearable. I even saw how fast Dra LG’s was “cutting” me while JX was coming out. I didn’t feel the pain there because I think it was minimal compared to JX’s head coming out (I was told that I had local anesthesia for that procedure). The anesthesiologist was nowhere to be seen! It was only after that they told me that he was also giving anesthesia to someone who’ve asked for it earlier. Was it fortunate of me or what?

7.25pm - JX was seeing the DR of MMC! HubbyBubbly was already clicking his camera for JX’s photos of JX. The placenta was taken out and other “insides”. Cleaning and stitching was being done on Momma. Now, I can rest and sleep in peace…but I didn’t. I want to see my new baby…Joshua Xavier.

P.S. My OB gave me a new idea for my next baby (if we decide to have one more)…try water birth. Hmmm, that’s something to REALLY think about!

Meet the two boys in my life. Aidan Dominic and Joshua Xavier. Can you guess who is who? Do they look like brothers or not at all? Don’t ask me because of course, I’ll tell you they are! I’m the mom after all!

The very first time I saw Aidan, I was overjoyed! Nothing can replace the feeling of a mother in seeing her baby who grew in her tummy for 39 weeks and 6 days. And now, I have another bundle of joy to boast of! JX was inside of me for 40 weeks and 2 days. Boy, was it the longest pregnancy period I had! Not because he reached full term or past the 40 weeks of gestation but because we were already expecting him since 25th of October (37.5 weeks) when I had my prenatal check-up. I was told that I can give birth any time.

At that moment, everything went still. Everything changed. I was in an emotional turmoil. If I was about to give birth any time, where would Aidan be? Oh yes, I have thought about it several times but this is a different situation now because this is the actual scenario! I was also very excited as we would soon see JX. How could this be? Admittingly, I even cried because I was worried for Aidan, not because he would not be properly taken care of ( I know he will be!) but because this is the FIRST time we would not spend the night together. How would he feel? Would he feel abandoned? Can he sleep without me? I know, I should have prepared him somehow because this was an inevitable situation but I didn’t. Why? I just don’t know, kept on postponing and now, it’s there. No turning back this time. Excitement and wishing there was another way for me to spend the night with Aidan while giving birth to JX. Time to face reality.

And so, meet my two sons. AD and JX.