pregnancy chronicles vol. 2

darn it... Varekai's run is from June 22 to July 23! i wonder if it's too dangerous to be out watching Cirque De Soleil while 8 (going on 9) months pregnant by that time...

and in more pregnancy updates... i'm now on my 5th month and in between clothes, seasons, and work. nothing seems to fit me these days, and i've started wearing aldo's track pants for comfort! i'm starting work in a couple of days so i am desparately in need for maternity work slacks and tops... oh and of course shoes too! yaay!

we just had our 5th month doctor visit and she said the baby penguin's slightly bigger than normal - uh-oh! other than that, everything's perfectly normal... the maternal serum screening test result was way below the danger cut-off for chromosomal abnormalities. it's slightly sad though that i won't be having any more doctor-ordered ultrasounds just to know the baby's gender... apparently in BC, people in the medical profession are tight-lipped about baby genders because there are cases where parents terminate pregnancies because it's not a boy/girl... how cruel! now the only way to know if baby penguin's a girl or a boy is to go to a private ultrasound clinic a bit later in the pregnancy (to make sure the $200 fee is worth it!).

notes from an irked new immigrant

lately, i've had estranged friends sending me e-mail to ask about how life in canada is, and what the quickest way to get here is. having been lucky enough to work in thailand prior to vancouver, i sometimes find these friends to be, quite bluntly, a bit arrogant and blind in their emigration expectations. one friend, for example, was quite suprised when i told her that our erstwhile-prestigious UP education will not get us anywhere near a managerial position in north america, especially if you're fresh off the boat. she seems to think that since we enjoyed a relatively easy way up the work ladder back home, the same applies anywhere in the world.

but really... if that were true, then i would have been back in the corporate world since last september. instead, i find myself answering questions such as "so do you speak in english in the philippines?", and "what's your level of english?" - while presenting a portfolio of ad materials written in english.

all of which has gotten me thinking... is the grass really greener on the other side of the tropics? the past 5 months here have taught me that ironically, in this big city, life is much more simple. there is no such thing as snickering behind a co-worker or new friend just because he/she says particular words in a non-sesame-street way. nor does it matter if someone works at Gap, Old Navy, or McDonald's.

i guess it goes with the fact that when you move, you are invisible, and will inevitably at the start of the race all over again. and it's never easy to keep on starting all over.

incidentally, i found this article on inq7.net:

Man About Town : Emigrate expectations
By Chuck Dy

"If people leave their homelands (and believe me, this is NOT an easy choice to make), it is not because they lack patriotism or because they will financially better off abroad, it SHOULD be because they are pursuing a path they believe will make them improved versions of themselves. Is this for everybody? Of course not. Some will discover that emigrating is not a solution to anything, and that the course to self-development is right in their backyards. Many of my friends who have had the opportunity and papers to go abroad have chosen to weave the fabric of their lives at the local loom of the Philippines, and they have produced magnificent tapestries."

hmm magnificent tapestries at indeed possible at home... because in the philippines or in asia, it's relatively easy to make your mark and reach your career goals. because we are all aligned culturally somehow, and our education backgrounds have, more often than not, given us a good starting point. but out here, it doesn't really matter whether you graduated from a top school... heck, people here wouldn't really care less if you earned your degree from an obscure technical school in the philippines.

but in exchange for all the humble pie everyone gulps down when they get here is the security that healthcare is free, and everyone is on the same platform in terms of the clothes and shoes they wear.

*excuse the cynicism... it's just annoying how some people think they are such bigshots because they've made it in the phils. let's see how they fare when they move out here. hmph!

domesticated valentine's day

happy valentine's day! (i knew wearing red in prenup pictures would be useful one day!)

the last time we were together for the marketing-initiated day of hearts was in 1998 - our first date, and i had morphed into Garfield because i accidentally ate anchovies. the 8 v-days that followed were spent online minus the frou-frou of expensive flowers, dinners, and gifts.

come 2006, v-day felt weird... for the first time, i didn't have to check the clock to see what time it is in his part of the world, nor did i have to make a long distance call. instead, i gave aldo red tulips and a bag of chocolates that i got for free at starbucks. LOL.

we didn't go out for dinner either... instead, we popped a frozen pizza in the oven and watched a movie at home... and i wouldn't have traded them for anything else! hmm well maybe breakfast at Josephine's or an overnight stay in Sonya's Garden all over again. hehehe.

pregnancy, steady sunshine, and the husband

i normally don't drink water in the morning - the lack of taste, texture, and color makes me queasy even pre-pregnancy - so i started the day with a 27oz. cup of decaffeinated coffee and half a litre of water to ensure a healthy bladder that was required at the ultrasound clinic. drink up i did - and when we finally got to the clinic, i was ready to run to the nearest washroom. when my name was called, and i got settled into the exam bed, the first thing the technician said to me was "you look like you really need to go to the washroom. i don't really need you to have a full bladder anyway so you're free to empty it out." argh, all that liquid for nothing!

a mad dash to the washroom later, the ultrasound started. i didn't see much, save for the right side of the screen, and aldo's animated face glued to the monitor. somewhere between 15-20 minutes, the technician flipped the monitor and gave us a guided tour of The Belly.

apparently our baby penguin (penguin stuck after we watch The March of the Penguins) is secretive and shy - the technician said it would be better to go back at 20 weeks to know if it's a boy or a girl. we didn't see anything protruding to suggest that he's a boy so we'll have to check again in a few weeks. he/she was also facing downward during the ultrasound, thus this picture.



hmm, an early non-conformist just like its parents?! hehehe.

too bad there aren't as much 4D ultrasounds here, it would have been something to look forward to in a few months. but 4D, 3D, or whatever D... we no longer have a beanie cooking in the proverbial oven, but a baby with a spinal cord, limbs, and a beautiful round face.

*****



this week has been great weather-wise. we've had another full day of sun.. ergo, this week it's not soggy vancouver, but sunny vancouver. it's still cold though, but at least it's above 6 degrees C. i still can't wait for warm weather so i can wear my manila clothes again - that is, if i don't like Pooh Bear in them yet. LOL.

*****

i've learned that aldo's an even better husband than a boyfriend. LOL. last week he came home with an apple he picked up from work because he knows i always have to have some fruit everyday. then yesterday he went home with a pretty gift box from Fruits & Passion - with a Berry bath set (which smelled yummy enough to eat hehehe). when i asked him why he gave me bath salts and foaming bath creme, he said the sales associate at the mall told him it'll relieve sore muscles (been having backaches the past weeks)... and he chose the particular scent because among the variants, it would have been appealing if it were a drink. hehehe.