My blog account has been changed to..

i have the time to write more blogs and so i invite everyone to knock at my blogdoors via www.icanwritesomething.blogspot.com

Today is an important milestone in my daughter’s life. Its her 2nd birthday and as any mom would put it, i am excited to celebrate it with her.

Party’s at Jollibee, Betterliving at 4pm.

Happy birthday Svetlana Viktoria. Mommy loves you so much.

Mommyhood

Seeing Rayah grow is one exhilirating feeling. Truly, the joys of motherhood. Just in her 6th month she knew "da-da" and "ya-ya" already. In her 7th month, she grasp objects with her two hands and shows interest for books. Earlier in her 8th month, she pursues standing up assisted.

I must say, every month is a milestone in her life. I am glad i came to witness everything, although our Yaya witnessed it first. So much for a working mother.

Healthwise, It has always been an important appointment to visit her pedia since health is one primary concern. In our latest well-baby visit, it wasn’t new anymore that Rayah weighed 11.4 pounds neither was the positive reaction we got from Dr. Milonado that ours was one lucky baby.  If there’s one consolation i take is for her to know that she’s got one loving mother.

I always read the book "What to Expect the First Years" since it comes handy. Everything there is to know i get from there. As always, first time mothers has every concern, even the tiniest of concerns we have.

Rayah is a gift. Every child is a gift. Its up for every parent to build the future for them.

BEA, OFW’S AND PINOY BIG BROTHER

“As an avid fan of Pinoy Big Brother, I am constantly glued to the television hours after work and school. I am always in track for updates about the show. Needless to say, I am a PBB-fanatic. From the time I laid my eyes on the launching until the big night of the big four.”

BEATRIZ deserves to be a winner. Beatriz Saw emerged the big winner lbecause of overseas Filipino workers around the world and their families throughout the country. She has been an epitome of our modern society where members of several families are far from each other basically because of lack of job opportunities this country can offer.

Seeing Bea in the boob tube reminds me one serious and often taken for granted issue- our OFW’s. They have collectively emerged as ”the goose that lays the golden egg,” bringing into the country some P7 billion in earnings per year.

The unstable economic and political situation in the Philippines is one of the major causes why most educated and highly skilled Filipinos prefer to work abroad. Bea’s father is one of our million OFWs.

For pessimists, Filipino workers do not see any hope from their leaders to achieve prosperity for the country. Most of our leaders in the Philippines are horsing around in dealing with the country’s economic development and growth.

Working abroad does not always give full beneficial returns for each of the Overseas Filipino Workers. Some may be very lucky to have kind employers but some may not. Some can get the perfect job that they really wanted, others cannot. Some gets high paying jobs, some do not. Some Overseas Filipino Workers have the opportunity to bring their families with them but some do not. Despite having an absent dad, an OFW in Taiwan, Bea seems to have grown into a good person — something the eight million OFWs all desperately hope for their own children even in their absence.

Rising to be a successful OFW could be by chance or by “Divine Intervention.” Most of the time, applicants would have to pay for exorbitant placement fees and other unnecessary fees prior to his departure for work abroad. Recruitment agencies, licensed or unlicensed, take advantage of poor job applicants who want to work overseas. Although our Labor Code has provisions on recruitment, placement agencies could still get away with it leaving these “hopefuls” take-it-or-leave it deals.

But the Philippine government insists that most Filipino migrants are matched with overseas jobs by agents, who charge the migrants fees that are regulated by the government. There were 960 licensed recruitment agencies "in good standing" in 1998, up from 884 in 1997. In some cases, employees of the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation operate recruitment and travel agencies.

But such is a known fact that our qualifications and experiences are oftentimes not recognized abroad. You may be an engineer in the Philippines but abroad you’d just be a cable man, a warehouse man or a laborer. You may still be in a construction or building environment, but your job is not what you wished for. Even our doctors are nurses abroad.

The Department of Labor and Employment reported that 755, 684 land and sea based Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) were sent to 182 destinations worldwide in 1998, up from 747,696 in 1997. The number of land-based workers was 562,384 in 1998, up from 559,227 in 1997, while the number of sailors rose to 193,300 in 1998, up from 188,469 in 1997. Most of the land-based migrants were rehires: 223,589 were going abroad for the first time.

Bea’s father and the million OFWs have bailed their families and the country out of economic difficulties and greatly boosted our gross national product (GNP). And for that feat, the government has officially called overseas Filipino workers (OFW) as "modern heroes." Such recognition is heartwarming. But many OFWs still live in harsh realities and not in fantasy world. Hence, our government needs to give them more protection and assistance. Better working conditions and more social legislation benefits, amnesty and speedy repatriation should be worked out in appropriate cases.

Greater protection and assistance should be extended by our embassies and consulates abroad, as allowed by international law, especially when our OFWs end up victims of illegal recruitment, maltreatment, other forms of abuses and worse, rape or murder. We should not allow another Flor Contemplacion, Sarah Balabagan and similar tragedies to happen without raising a questioning voice or a protesting finger.

Watching Pinoy Big Brother brought a lot of realizations for my part. I have come to distinguish reel from real. Indeed, Bea represented a grateful child of an OFW, gave justice to the hard work of his parents and manifested genuineness in character fitted to be a role model to every Filipino youth.

Reality television shows such as PBB, wasn’t bad after all, It is not just the plight of Bea this country has made us realize but the numerous “Bea’s” who are still with high hopes that through his father and the many OFWs, this country will rise from poverty.

Sources: www.ofw-connect.com

F-I-N-A-L-S

As the word is spelled out from the title of this piece, i cannot help but to be reminded of my pending priorities all planned for this week. I am completely overwhelmed by the fact that its not yet a done deal for i might just fail or pass. One things for sure, i am not getting all the relaxation a typical busy person might need just in time for summer.

Oh well, this is all for this time. I should be going now down to the halls of this school up to the library in the journey of what is known as L-A-W-Y-E-R-I-N-G.

On my way to the third.

In this blog i’ve got three things to blab about,specifically, 3 short-topics. Since it has been quite a period that i have never laid my hands on a computer keyboard,i have decided to make this worthwhile, though. No, i am not on my third month of pregnancy, again. not now.

First of the "third" series. ON BEING A MOM to 3-month old Rayah.

    Numerous people have already told me how they admire the status i am in right now, that of a working/schooling mom. They have never passed on the chance to ask me how i am able to manage time completely. Since i am also in law school, time is of the essence and the irony of it all,i never get to plan my itinerary for the day. Sometimes its the willpower that drives you crazy, err, i mean, a-goin’. It is my willpower that tells me to pursue futher studies. It is that drive that makes me wanna go on. like a rechargeable battery.

Being a mom requires you to be hands-on. There are some things that you need to give up and i have overcome those. Italics on late-night partying. This is what i love most about being a mom to rayah, ive become stronger and matured. In the process, i see things in its very essence, like, so this is life, the nature of it.

What keeps me up during the night to read tons of cases is not my love for reading law books, but because of Rayah. I see her so fragile and innocent, so pure. Despite the many learnings i have received, i devote everything to her. I wanna be able to give her wisdom in such a manner as to make her love truth and reality. I want to impart on her not idealisms but the bitter reality in this world. Lastly, i want her to be proud of me.

Second of the "third" series. On being a Third year Law student.

Times are hard and so is law school. I am in great thanks for being able to keep LAW within my reach. They say, this year level offers the hardest subjects and the most terror professors. A make-or-break pill to swallow. How i wish i would still be able to take those subjects with grace. Being all calm and positive. I still maintain positive attributes towards my dream and i know, it all depends on me.

I oftentimes fear professors who play the game of darts, not literally. Darts, in such a way, they grade you as they feel like grading you. Anyhow, i am still not disheartened by the widely accepted fact. It still depends on me.

Last of the "third" series. 3 is a crowd (TJ, I, and Rayah)

Before,we used to walk in a restaurant eyeing only two seats and 1 table. We go to the mall in a fast pace and we watch movies by two’s, now its hardly possible. Actually, we go by fours now, including the yaya, and it has now become a change of lifestyle for us.

But one thing i am the most proud of is the fact that i am able to  share life with two wonderful people. I wanna be able to spend time with them not discounting the fact that i might be pregnant in three years time which makes us four by the way. The good things in life have now become an easy thing for me because i have them.

True, when all else fails, your family is there.

My Rayah (in flesh and blood)

It took me 1 month and 2 days to finally compose my thoughts about this overwhelming feeling of motherhood. If i have to rewind everything this would still be the same experience i’d blab about, this is the story of the expected.

As i was laid to the Internal Examination (I.E.) Room, feelings of joy and nervousness envelope me. I ask myself things like, "so, this is the feeling?", "why am i not in pain?", "is this how the delivery room looks like?". My continuous search for answers was interrupted when one of the senior OB residents came in and did an I.E on me, after a while she told me that my cervix has not dilated yet and that i have to be induced. What the heck! This is not part of the plan. All along i wanted a normal delivery.

Since i was not among the usual moms-to-be who experience painful labor, i was wheeled to the lamaze room (lucky enough for me that i was able to discuss this with my OB and that the hospital has this kind of facility.) As i was being prepped up i ask a lot of things to the nurse on duty. I was "makulit" in fishing out whether i will undergo cesarean or not since i was very prepared for a vaginal delivery, emotionally. As i was attached to the fetal monitoring machine, doses of Oxytocin and Buscopan was administered to me intravenously. I knew it was to help speed up the dilatation of my cervix since it was already my term. After 10 routines of an every hour I.E. my OB told me that if by the next day there’ll be no improvement yet, i’d undergo the knife so to speak.

and oh, I was told not to eat plenty, an added suffering.

The day came, me and my unborn was closely monitored since the medicine might have some effect on both of us. I did not anymore bother the discomfort since i was close to seeing rayah. Finally, i met with my Ob and Anesthesiologist together with TJ, my mom and Tj’s dad to discuss the very important phase- delivery. I was given an "ultimatum", that if by 9pm no progress will occur, they have no choice but to do a cesarean with the aid of a spinal anesthesia (I was half-awake). And so on the 26th of October 2006, about 9:05 pm i finally gave birth to a 7.7 lbs. baby girl.

I saw rayah bloody and crying, the nurse who held her told me that she knew "close-open" already. I cannot exactly remember the details since i was groggy of the anesthesia. All i remembered was she was placed beside me after her umbilical cord was cut and that she wont stop crying.

Although the hospital allows immediate rooming-in, i only got to hold rayah out of the nursery after 1 1/2 days. Visitors and close friends told me that rayah was the " most fat" and most lively baby amongst the many babies in the nursery. I knew all along, she got it from mommy.

The very first time i saw my baby, i was speechless. I immediately counted her extremities, i could have been the most paranoid person in the room. Thank God, she’s a normal beautiful creation. I immediately tried to wrest my doubts about breastfeeding as i tried it myself. As we were preparing to be discharged from the hospital, my mom (Rayah’s Grandma- la lolla, for brevity) accompanied rayah to the newbornscreening and hepa b vaccine among the many SOP’s the hospital recommends as TJ settled the bills.

I wanted to write everything about being a first-time mommy and i knew, the next thing would be, being at home with Rayah and that would be another part of the story.

Now, as i write this "litany", i must say, i have given up all the worldly things since nothing can anymore complete me except for my TJ and Rayah. There’s nothing more relaxing than coming home to a beautiful baby. As of this writing she is now 1 month-old.

I am a mom now and admittingly, I will not change my mom’s ways of raising kids, in fact i came to understand her better.

Beer/ Bar Month and RAYAH’s first frat shirt

This is the month we, law students look forward to- the BAR Month. Although, i myself have not participated much in this year’s bar operations due to my "condition" nevertheless i have devoted all my efforts to my Fraternity/ Sorority, the Triskelion Order of Law.

I have high hopes that my fellow brothers and sisters in the law con-frat will make it to the roster of successful bar passers come 2007. They all deserve the distinction, after all, hundreds of sleepless nights they have devoted including the pressures of making it have prepared them for this ordeal. I too, have imagined myself walk down the streets of taft onto the halls of La Salle to be a bar examinee a few years from now, and even though i will be having my Rayah next month and a wife to TJ already, i still haven’t relinquished that lawyering dream although i would want the best of both worlds- A happy family life and a fullfilling career in law very soon.

Being in the bar site for two Sundays now has made me a witness to different classes of emotions from all sorts of people both bar or non-bar takers. But what has made me realize more is that i have decided to focus on what i would want for myself in the next five years. As i write about a journey of a bar-hopeful, i am equally excited that i will be getting my baby’s first frat shirt next Sunday from a sis. As early as now, whether Rayah decides to become a lawyer or not, i want her to embrace the tenets and codes of conduct of a Triskelion, since i am confident, that living by it will guide her through afterall, she’ll be the first ever Triskelion Order of Law baby.

It’s a fun month actually. Beers are everywhere although complete abstinence is the name of the game for me. 

Where the party’s at?

I have been quite busy these days. You see, im organizing this little surprise party for my hubby and my baby shower too. I must say i kinda feel strange to be suddenly taking a leap from a once not-so-fond-of-surprises to the queen of surprises. Maybe this is one positive of all the many positives of a happy married life. I am doing this not because i longed for the feel of a night-life but to make this as my habit of making my partner feel good atleast about us, together,  sharing one common event not as singles looking for someone to hook up with but as a married couple enjoying every moment with friends.

One thing so special about being in touch with the world is that you see how much you mean to some or better yet to everybody. Seeing me sporting a huge belly before made me quite not so comfortable, but being with them all the time (friends) has made me realize that yeah! i’m one heck of a preggy woman. I have never been this excited, although i have to limit my physical activities, i am still thrilled by the thought that without my husband’s knowing, he’s gonna be caught off guard with this surprise i have for him. He doesn’t read my blogs often, and i wish he won’t read this before the celebration.

I just wish he would appreciate everything in his special day. Only if my baby inside understands what mommy’s doing, i am sure, she’ll be thrilled too. Happy Birthday Thomas Joseff Mari M. Roxas, you’re a year older and wiser now.

Those of back pains and sleepless nights

Being on the family way is the most complete feeling any woman, be it in her early 20’s or late 30’s, could have. It’s not the usual trip or place one who’d have gone into. No amount of fainting, stress, fatigue or dizziness could replace this exhilirating stage of conceiving an unborn. i may complain frequently about back pains, since then on, i have been wearing 3-4 inches stillettos or school shoes for that matter. i guess, old folks are right.

Anyway, i do not mumble about being in pain most of the time, since i prepare myself to a more painful stage- that of labor and delivery.  (Photo credits from: pregnancy.org)

RAYAH

Constant visits to my Ob-gyne excites me. Along with the usual check-up, i get to see rayah in a 2d format or what is known as Ultrasound (by the way, there’s this 4d format now which costs around 4,500 wherein you get to see your unborn in a colored format and you can actually check who-has-who features approximately 90% accurate than the old-style, nonetheless, it entails a large amount of cash to be intouch with your unborn nowadays). What proves more important than the normal pre-natal visits is that it actually binds me and my husband to a not-so-usual experience of seeing an unborn and preparing for her arrival.

Seeing rayah’s heartbeat double as mine gives me an unexplained feeling. I have observed her turn from one side of my tummy to another for the past 7 months now and i must say, she is one hyper fetus. I have survived listening to beethoven, bach and mozart everyday to work while inside the car just to support a scientific claim that it indeed helps one’s baby become brilliant, smart, witty etc.  Now, while posting this blog, rayah won’t stop kicking me. I can feel contractions in my stomach, medicine explains it as the Braxton-Hicks. It’s my Rayah saying "mommy, can we go home now?" (You see i have gone shopping for her things today and it took me 5 hours to finish everything, and yesterday we just bought her stroller with her dad for another 6 hours. wew! That’s the kind of exercise that i need though.)

Just as we were glued in the ultrasound monitor, Dr. Carmela Dy told us that its 100% baby girl and that she looked more like I am.

Rayah’s my mini-me. (oh well, not to mention unsolicited stares from my husband, since he have been wanting to have a baby boy).  Overall, my weight and blood chemistry are normal. Rayah’s in breech position as of the latest ultrasound so it gives me an assurance of a possible normal delivery.

Overall, nothing can compensate for a wonderful feeling of going through pregnancy. I have never regret this feeling, not even once.

I felt very blessed since the day i knew about Rayah- our Svetlana Viktoria Cortez Roxas.

(photo credits: pregnancy.org)