Thinking Baby Names

I am on my 23^rd week of pregnancy and I never had a good night sleep so far. The back pains and severe headache especially with the kind of weather that we are having right now… I have been dreaming the wildest dreams, such as different animals – frogs, goldfishes, horses…

Recently, I have been browsing online looking for a nice name for my baby. It is our family tradition that the father should give the child’s name. For instance, my dad named me and my siblings with names starting with “H”, Lynn Holly, Hallette, Harold, Hannah, Phil Harvey, Hector and my late older brother, Hyrum Joseph. Each of our names has its origin and story. Mine was from Lynn Holly Johnson, the main actress from the movie “Ice Castles”. I got to see the movie, I even bought a DVD, since its’ my mom’s favorite especially the theme song, “Looking through the Eyes of Love”.

Now, with Eric and I, I usually name pets. Our first dog, I named her July, since we bought him on the month of July and it's my birth month. The puppies that we had, I named them, “Mayo” and “Pattie” because of their colors, aside from the fact that I love burgers. Naming pets is far different from naming your own babies… Eric named our first baby, Mikee, named after his late father, Miguel – Mike who passed away due to colon cancer.

I barely can’t wait for Eric to decide on what name should we give our child. But as my doctor predicted, according to the portable ultrasound, that we are having a baby girl and just to be 100% sure, I will be having my next appointment next Wednesday. Knowing that it might be a girl, I was thinking of, “Hermia”.  Two names? Maybe, Hermia Elise. What do you think? 

My Second Trimester - I'm halfway there...

My recent couple of visits with my OB-Gyne, Dr. Joyce Bascara was quick but detailed information were notes of. Like the usual appointments scheduled, I usually arrive at around 10:00am to 10:30am, then I would be the third patient on the list. Her schedule is from 9:00am to 12:00 nn, but since she needed to do her rounds in the hospital wards, she usually arrive at 10:00 am.

The usual question from Dr. Bascara every time I open her office door was, “How’s work?”, then the usual answer, “Everything’s fine...”, with my sour face and still smiling. She really doesn’t want me to work anymore since we are looking forward for this pregnancy to be successful. She kept on reminding me to act pregnant and always think that I am pregnant, and not to make any sudden movements. She’s really a good doctor and very keen to details. Even if I am not telling her anything, it seems that she can read my mind. Her experience and dedication to her job is amazing. As I previously mentioned, she was my mom’s doctor when she gave birth to my younger brother last 1988.

Dr. Bascara mentioned that there is a big difference between doctors who simply makes a living out of their job (businessman) from doctors who really do their best.

She asked if I’m still experiencing lower abdominal pain, any vaginal discharge, took my blood pressure – 120/70 yes! (Compared to my initial bp of 140/90…) everything went well. She still needed to do IE (Internal Examination for 4/4/12 appointment – since I am working and she’s concerned about my cervix) but no IE for my next appointment (5/2/12 appointment). And for every check-up my abdomen is noticeably getting bigger. I can see people looking at my belly, especially the neighbors, and having my colleagues touching my belly every time which made me uncomfortable at first, and calling me, “buntis”.

The greatest part that I liked was not paying 1400 php each for the ultrasound for those 2 appointments since Dr. Bascara has a hi-tech gadget – the portable ultrasound! It is similar to an ipad which is compact, portable and has considerably good image.  As she scans over my belly, we were able to see my baby’s head, then back, then feet. Her last statement was, “it may be a girl since there is a hamburger between the legs...”. Mama was able to see it as well. So I only paid 400 php for the appointment and saved a lot of money because of that device. It was really cool.

I have new vitamins since I stopped gaining weight, which I liked, but my doctor did not. I have ferrous sulfate as an addition to my daily dose.

Being pregnant and far away from Eric is difficult, but knowing that I have my family, especially my mom, and knowing that I am in good hands with my good doctor, makes my pregnancy experience worthwhile.