Glucose Challenge

This past weekend has been a pretty busy one. We woke up early saturday morning and went to medical city for my 100g glucose challenge. It's a kind of blood test for diabetes. I actually already took a similar test before, the 50g challenge, wherein they made me drink a bottle of liquid that tasted like orange soda. I had to finish the bottle in 5 minutes (that wasn't easy) then fast for an hour before they took my blood sample.

I wasn't worried about the result that time since I was pretty confident my sugar was low. After all, I haven't been eating much and I wasn't even gaining weight. So it was really a surprise that the result showed my blood sugar was high and I was at the threshold. Well I guess I shouldn't have been surprised given my luck throughout my pregnancy :( Spotting, gallstones, vomiting -- did you know that my OB's assistant told me I'm their longest-running "suka" girl (7 months and still vomiting)?! So yeah, I shouldn't have expected my sugar to be normal. Haaay...

Anyhoo, I had to take the 100g challenge last saturday, and it wasn't as simple as the 50g. First, I had to fast for 8-hours prior to the test. I had dinner at around 8pm friday night, then ate 2 bananas around 11pm so as not to overfast. We planned to be at the hospital at 8am but got there at 9:30 instead due to traffic and bad sleeping habits. We had to wait in line for another hour at the ambulatory, and I must say I was already pretty hungry then. When it was my turn, they took my blood sample and made me drink a bottle of the orange-soda-like liquid again. I was already feeling nauseous and twice I had to fight the urge to throw-up. Then we had to wait 3 hours more, each hour a blood sample was taken so I still couldn't eat. By the end of it, I was really feeling weak and groggy that a part of me believed they took too much blood sample and I had already ran out of blood! Of course it had probably more to do with hunger and the fact that I slept past 2am the night before and woke-up at 7am. Anyhoo, we'll know the result of the test next week during my check-up.

We had lunch at Pancake House around 2pm. Afterwards, Leo drove me to Eastwood to catch up on my sleep while he went to his badminton tryouts in Ortigas. When he returned, we did a little shopping at Robinsons just below our building, and I cooked us dinner. It felt nice cooking in my own kitchen again. I never thought before that I'd be the cooking type, but I like it :) Then we cuddled on our sofa and watched Gundam Seed Destiny on TV.

So that was my blow-by-blow saturday. Hmmm, looks like I've already written a lot and my Sunday story will have to wait.

Until next post!

Lola's Birthday

Last saturday was my grandmother's 93rd birthday. Yup, you read it right - she's REALLY 93 years old. Pretty amazing huh? And she's still strong and very sharp. Why, she can still play Mahjong with the best of them! And she can still party til dawn, hehehe. But you know what's more amazing? She still has a living uncle who's already 103 years old! ONE HUNDRED AND THREE! Talk about good genes. Hmmmm, I wonder if I'll live that long...

Anyway, we had the party here at my parent's house. A lot of relatives came and it was jam packed. The food was overflowing since it was potluck and the immediate family all contributed. We had lechon, pancit, spaghetti, laing, roasted chicken, morcon, pinakbet, spicy tahong, alimango (crabs), fish fillet, beef mechado, lumpiang shanghai, lumpiang ubod, tacos, salad bar, chocolate fondue station, leche flan, cassava cake, puto and kakanin, and of course lola's birthday cake. We had so much food that we had to extend the party to sunday lunch and dinner just to finish off everything. Good thing most of our relatives live in the same (or neighboring) subdivision and it was pretty easy to call for a gathering.

Anyhoo, here's a video of the cake-blowing event. If your connection is slow, you may want to pause the video first until all of it has been downloaded before playing.


And you can view the pictures here: Lola's 93rd Birthday

If you haven't figured it out by now, we're a pretty clannish lot. And I wouldn't want it any other way. Family is a gift that unfortunately a lot of people tend to take for granted. With all the stress of work or school and everyday living, it's good to take some time and celebrate and be reminded that you're not alone. From the moment that you were born, you already belong. And that's how God wants it to be.

So here's to you lola! We love you!

Kalli at 26 Weeks and 4 Days

Here's a video of our baby Kalli at 26 weeks and 4 days in the womb. Notice how she twitches her lips. Oooohhh, how cute! Some are saying she looks like mommy :)



We've also uploaded new pictures in her Online Album. Feel free to browse at http://iyaleo.zoto.com/galleries/kalli

The Preggy Look

First of all, I want to tell you that Leo's back, yippee! He arrived last saturday around 3pm and LA drove me to Eastwood to meet him. It was a busy day for us cause it was Leo's 2-year anniversary at work and they were having a banquet at Crown Plaza Hotel that night. Well of course he had to go. And, being the supportive wife, I went with him too. Ok, so maybe it has less to do with being supportive and more with me being so bored at home. I know I am supposed to be on bedrest but I didn't think one night of "partying" could hurt me, especially since it was just a formal event. I mean, how much partying can we actually do at a banquet, right?

So off we went in our formal wears. That was a bit tricky for me cause of course I'm looking like a small elephant now with my potruding tummy. I say small cause I still have 2 months more to grow into the big elephant. Still, I didn't have any formal gowns handy. Obviously I couldn't borrow from anyone I know either. In the end, I had tita Vangie whip me up one.

Here are a couple of pictures of Leo and me at the banquet. My mom's been scolding me for not wearing make-up. I guess I should have worn some, I looked quite washed out :( My eyebags didn't help either.

Anyhoo, my back ached throughout the night and I was pretty exhausted when we got home. That was a bit annoying cause I didn't really do much except sit down and eat :( Oh well... just another one of those pregnancy quirks.

I Miss My Hubby

Tonight is the first time that I'm sleeping alone since our wedding. Leo's currently in Malaysia for a conference and will be there until saturday. I miss him already! It's funny how I've spent almost all of my adult life sleeping alone in my room, and now, with just 8 months of marriage, I don't ever want to sleep without Leo anymore. I've become so attached to him, I feel lonely now with him far away. Well I guess it would be worse if I'm staying in Eastwood, all alone. At least right now I'm at my parent's house in my old familiar room. Still, I do miss my hubby...

Well, technically, I'm not sleeping alone now. Kalli's with me, and I must say she's keeping me awake with her very energetic movements. It could get very uncomfortable sometimes, with her kicks getting stronger everyday. And yet it's also comforting to know she's there and healthy. Right now her kicks are telling me not to be lonely that daddy's far away cause she's keeping me company. So I guess I should stop feeling sad, right? :)

Ok, I should try to go to sleep. Kalli has stopped kicking, meaning she's letting mommy sleep now.

Until next post...