A huge pregnancy belly is also uncomfortable. Because of the added weight at the center of my body, sometimes I feel like toppling over while walking. The added weight can also hurt the lower back. It hasn’t happened to me yet, but I feel that’s coming soon.

To help support my belly and my back, I decided to get a maternity support belt. There are many versions of maternity belts. I tried two kinds — one was just a simple straight band, the other had supportive padding for the belly. There was also a girdle-type maternity cradle. I chose the band with padding because I felt the belly support more, and it felt more comfortable than the straight band.

It was a bit awkward to wear at first, but after awhile, my belly didn’t feel as loose and heavy. Yey for belly support! I also liked that I could easily wear it under my shirt. I bought this belt at Baby & Co., Powerplant. The brand is Pigeon and costs P899 (sale price!).

I don’t wear this belt all the time, but I do keep it in my bag. During work days, I’m seated most of the time so I don’t feel huge belly stress. Since I carry the belt in my bag, I can easily strap it on under my shirt when it’s time to go walk to a client’s office or go malling.

Car rides are another hassle for my big belly. The roads in Manila aren’t always smoothly paved, and more than once I feel my belly quivering like gelatin! I have to hold on to my belly to stop it from shaking around.

Here’s what I do when I’m on my way to work. I take the belt out of my bag and just strap it on over my top. I wear it the whole car ride, and just take it off when I’m nearing my office.

Car rides are more comfortable for me and my belly now. And it comforts me to know that Timmy’s more stable inside my tummy somehow.

I’d recommend this maternity support belt for women who are in their third trimester and are beginning to feel the heaviness of their bellies. Perhaps some women need it, perhaps some women don’t. In my case, it has helped avoid the stress of belly heaviness when I walk around or when I’m in a moving vehicle. If you’re considering a maternity support belt, I’d also recommend that you try on the different types — perhaps a girdle is more to your liking than this belt with padding, or the straight band is more comfortable with you.

Wear what makes you feel comfortable, wear what makes you feel most supported. A big pregnancy belly’s gorgeous on its own, but it’d be more gorgeous if YOU have the right support.

Frozen yogurt! Frozen yogurt! It is love. When out of the home, I prefer mine natural with different toppings — on the day I took this picture, I had granola and strawberries. I also enjoy toasted almonds and mochi on my frozen yogurt. Yummmmmy.

There are a LOT of frozen yogurt stalls and stands in malls now. Each one has its own distinct way of serving their frozen yogurt — some mix the add-ins into the yogurt, some top the yogurt with the add-ins. Whatever way they do it, I love it because frozen yogurt is refreshing and healthy.

But what to do when at home? I buy yogurt from the grocery, stick them in the freezer for a day, and then eat my literally frozen yogurt out of its container.

It’s not creamy in texture like the frozen yogurt available outside the home, and that’s another reason why I love it. I love scraping off the yogurt “icicles” with my spoon. My favorite flavors are strawberry and Nestle’s Buco Nata. Yum yum yum! This is what I had for breakfast this morning. I like that it’s still frozen when I get to work. Delicious.

Where do you get your frozen yogurt fix?

The bad things: (I am not going to sugarcoat the bad things because this is reality!)
Feeling:
More tired - I can’t walk long distances anymore. Walking around the grocery for an hour used to be a pleasure, now it’s not.
Tight in the tummy - I was prescribed a uterine relaxant because my uterus was getting stressed out or something last week. It was hardening, Braxton-Hicks in a weird way. It’s too soon to give birth. I’m much better now, thank goodness. My tummy is back to normal and I don’t feel as tight.
More easily irritated - My patience with the littlest things is shortening, getting hot-headed now. I have to work harder at relaxing. Ironic huh? I blame it on the hormones.
Ugly. - My belly looks like a spiderweb of stretchmarks. My cheeks make me look like a chipmunk. I’m running out of clothes to wear, but don’t want to buy new ones because I’m giving birth soon. Because I feel down a lot, I feel it reflects on my looks too. Good self-esteem is hard to hold on to, honestly.

Thinking:
“I wish I weren’t so helpless.” - I miss puttering around the house without getting tired. Getting up in the middle of the night to pee (and it happens 3-4 times) is a struggle now with my added weight.
“I’m not yet ready.” - There’s still a lot on my to-do list for the baby that I have not done. The perfectionist in me is screaming “What are you waiting for!?!?!” and the realist in me is screaming back “I’m too tired to do anything!!!”

Doing:
Resting more - Because I get more stressed out easily, I have to relax more. I try to go home earlier if all the work for the day is done. On weekends, I choose to stay at home than do my usual malling.
Trying to learn how to delegate - This has always been a struggle of mine, pregnant or not. I like doing things a particular way, but the truth is I can’t do everything myself. So I’m carefully letting go of things I can no longer do myself.

RAWR! But it’s not all bad, okay? There are more good days than there are bad days, honestly. The negativity of bad days is hard to deal with, but with the support of loved ones, friends, and H, each day gets easier. Now let’s look at the happier side of this rollercoaster:

The good things:
Feeling:
Amazed and amused. - I think of this growing baby inside me and it just moves me to tears. His movements are getting more obvious. I see my tummy make waves and have pointed corners now. He responds to my voice and my caresses, and it’s just an AMAZING feeling. It’s like your heart wants to explode.
Blessed. - My close friends know that I’ve been waiting for this beautiful blessing to come into my life for a long time. Someday I’ll share my Trying-to-Conceive journey with you. Each time I feel my baby kick, and each time I see a new stretch mark grow, I’m just honestly grateful and thankful to the universe, to God, for this baby blessing. To be a mother was always my ultimate dream. It’s not to be CEO of some company or a famous author, but to be a Mother. I am very thankful I am experiencing pregnancy now and will experience motherhood for real soon.
Excited. - You know who I’m excited for? Naturally, H and myself. But other than us, I’m super excited for my parents! Timmy is their first grandchild. I love it when my Mom feels Timmy kicking. I love it when my Dad tells stories of how he’s going to be “kulit” or silly with Timmy. I am truly excited for them. So excited I want to cry. Hormones again, yes.

Thinking:
“I can’t wait to meet you.” - I am just so excited. I see H playing with the baby doll in birth class and I know we’ll be a good family for Timmy. He’ll be a good baby, I am certain, and I cannot wait to say “Hello” to this wee one.
“I’ll be the best Mom I can be.” - I talk to Timmy a lot when we’re alone. I tell him my worries and the possibilities we’ll have together. I’m absolutely clueless about motherhood but I believe I will do the best I can. I have to. I want to. I need to. This is all for the baby boy I’ll love forever and ever and ever.

Doing:
Getting my baby bag together. It’s halfway done. I aim to complete it this week and just place it in the car. If I place it in the hallway, we’ll probably forget about it. So better to put the bag in the car already!
Writing in my baby journal more. I keep a handwritten journal for Timmy, which I hope to share with him when he’s old enough to appreciate it. I write to him about family, about what I’m feeling, about my journey with him. Writing online is more convenient, but writing by hand is still more personal. It’ll make a good gift to him someday.
Seeing my OB every two weeks now. As the 8th month comes, I will see him more frequently. I always look forward to my OB visits because I get more and more enlightened about what’s happening to my body and the baby.
Graduated from birth class last weekend! The past 6 Sundays have been very educational. I will miss sharing stories with my classmates and I do hope we still stay in touch. I’ll write about the wonderful benefits of birth class separately.

There you go. 7 months in a huge nutshell. Now that July is all about celebrating 8 months of pregnancy, I hope hope hope that things continue to go smoothly and happily.

Image credit: Square 1, Square 2

The game is easy! I will ask a question. The first person who comments will answer my question, and will leave a question for the next person to answer. This next person will answer that question, and leave a question for the next next person to answer. I am sure you get it!

To make things more fun, the questions have to reflect the chosen theme. For example, if the theme is RESTAURANTS, all questions should relate to that topic. What restaurant in your book serves the best fries? Do you play Restaurant City in Facebook? As much as possible, let’s not repeat the questions for added fun! You are welcome to play more than once.

Let’s go take a hike on our 68th weekend soiree!

The theme: NATURE

The question: Where would you prefer to take a one-week vacation: the beach or the mountains?

Click here for past themes.
Credit: Image by Bruno Monginoux

Why hello there! Do you think Cujo wants to get out where he is or he wants to get in to your side of the pic? What do you think the story is behind this picture?

This Cujo pic a week is my little tribute to this fuzzy wuzzy family friend. 52 weeks in a year brings you 52 Cujo pics! Here are the past Cujo snaps:

1. A Late Given Rose, 2. Who knows,Maybe one day spring will come…, 3. llibreria - bookstore - Amsterdam - HDR, 4. Love at the courthouse, 5. new bike, 6. One for all and all for One, 7. This Year. . ., 8. river, 9. napstation, 10. Finally Springtime!, 11. Hoop-ty, 12. Pennsylvania Road, 13. Mess, 14. there’s no way to escape, 15. Yes! y otra vez Yes!, 16. Seize the Cupcake

Have you seen Mary Poppins? There’s this scene where Bert was drawing scenes with chalk on a sidewalk. When he, Mary Poppins, Jane and Michael jumped into the chalk scene, they were transported a place where the drawing came alive.

Sometimes when I’m stressed out I go to Flickr and just look at all their pretty pictures. These are some of the pictures I’ve marked as favorites. They make me smile, always. And that’s when I wish I had Mary Poppins’ magic. I’d jump into the scene and immerse myself in a charming, new place. Stress goes away and inspiration comes in.

These are the pictures I would love to live in, even for five minutes. What pictures make you feel this way?

Me: (irritated and whiny) “Husby! I hate my feet! They’re so huge and flat! They look like Donald Duck’s feet!”
H: (in a nonchalant tone) “More like Dumbo’s.”

I doubled over in bed laughing when he said that. Arrrrgh! I couldn’t even get irritated with him because it’s true. Rawr. Sigh. Laugh.

The sleeping Dumbo’s probably what I look like too when I’m fast asleep! Heehee.

Another swelling story. During birth class last weekend, our teacher checked our legs for swelling. And guess who was the poster child for manas (swelling)? You guessed it.

She taught me how to prop my feet up to alleviate the swelling (and that’s how I spent the rest of the class — with my feet elevated!). And best of all, she taught H how to massage my feet to get rid of that Donald Duck look.

It’s simple — have your partner massage the length of your foot with his thumb in strong, lengthwise motions. Ask him to massage the top part, not the sole and from top to bottom, toes to where the ankles start. It felt really good, like he was washing the swelling away.

Other things you can do to help get rid of that swelling:

Raise your legs. At work, I prop my feet up on the edge of a trash can, or if available, a chair. At home, I prop my feet up on a pile of big pillows when reading in bed, or on the ottoman when on the living room couch.

Walk, walk, walk. This is great especially if you’re sitting down the whole work day. Take quick walks around the block or your office during breaks. You not only rid yourself of swelling, it makes for good exercise for you and the baby.

Drink lots of water. Fluids in, fluids out? The more water you drink, the faster salt and water is flushed away by your body. So drinking water to get rid of water retention sounds kind of ironic, but it works that way.

Watch what you eat! Fatty and salty food causes water retention, so maybe you can opt to go without those potato chips first. I’m talking to myself here, yes. Remember, Donald Duck is cute but we don’t want to have feet like his.

What caused MY swelling? I spend most of my work day seated. While I prop my legs up, I do need to walk around during the day more. I’ve started propping my legs up as soon as I get home, and I’ve noticed that the swelling has lessened. Now they don’t look to Dumbo-esque.

I’m a huge water drinker, but I’ve noticed salty food creeping into my diet, so I have to be more conscious of that. No matter how many liters of water I take in, if I continue this stubborn salty food streak, I might resemble Dumbo’s Mama. No, that is not a good picture, nor a healthy one.

Take note that I’m talking about MILD swelling. If at any point of your pregnancy you notice a sudden swelling, contact your OB right away. You might be having pre-eclampsia, which is dangerous for you and your baby.

So stay healthy, avoid swelling lest you want Donald Duck or Dumbo feet!

Image credits: Donald Duck, Donald Duck 2, Dumbo, Dumbo Mama

So there we were at the SM Mall of Asia, renting a wheelchair for an unlimited time. You can rent strollers and wheelchairs by the hour too. We paid P180 for the “ride-all-you-can” rate. All he had to do was leave a valid ID, pay the fee and off we went.

Oh, the stares, the stares. I don’t like attention, and boy, I didn’t realize a wheelchair attracted attention fiercely. Maybe mallers aren’t used to seeing people without grey hair in wheelchairs. It made me uncomfortable. Some were really staring to the point of rudeness. C’mon people, just because a pregnant woman’s in a wheelchair doesn’t make me a circus freak. I know I shouldn’t have let it bug me, but it did made me think — do I stare at people in wheelchairs too?

There ARE good people. H did the pushing, but not all doors in the mall are wheelchair-friendly. When he needed an extra hand to open the doors, a helpful maller would hold the door open for us. Thank you kind people! Bless them, bless them.

We got our chores done and chilled out together! Usually, I’d sit in a bookstore or in a chapel when I’d get tired, and H would continue walking around the mall. This time, we did everything together. We were able to pay the bills, get some documents photocopied, and got some quiet time gazing at the calming Manila Bay.

Two hours in a wheelchair was enough. While H wasn’t tired from pushing, I was tired from sitting. The two hours helped me rest AND get chores done, but my lower back began hurting. I knew I needed to walk it out. It was time to go anyway, and so we walked slowly towards the parking lot together.

Would I do it again? Sure! I still need to get some shopping done, and if I find myself feeling too heavy to walk but not too tired to stay at home, I’d consider using a wheelchair again. It was an efficient use of malling time — you get your to-do list done without straining yourself.

Thanks again to LadyCess for the idea!

Image credit: Sam Felder

I thought you’d be a better option than watermelon seeds (”butong pakwan”). Those awesome black seeds were favorites of mine. Alas, I couldn’t eat them anymore because they were too salty for me. Sure, I could crack them without licking on the salted shell, but then what would be the point of eating butong pakwan? The saltiness was part of the eating experience.

And when I was gifted with you, squash seeds, I thought you’d be a good substitute.

In the beginning, you were sweet. I think you were from Taiwan or something. Imported pa! I had half a handful of you after one meal, and you tasted great. I apologized for dissing you before.

But then last week, I ate about a handful of you and sadly, I don’t think I’ll be eating you again. You gave me gas.

Just like kimchi, I don’t think I’ll be enjoying you during my pregnancy. You may be sweet and yummy, but the tummy ache you gave me just isn’t worth it.

Till we meet again, squash seeds!

The game is easy! I will ask a question. The first person who comments will answer my question, and will leave a question for the next person to answer. This next person will answer that question, and leave a question for the next next person to answer. I am sure you get it!

To make things more fun, the questions have to reflect the chosen theme. For example, if the theme is CRUSHES, all questions should relate to that topic. Who is your celebrity crush? Who do you wish had a crush on you? As much as possible, let’s not repeat the questions for added fun! You are welcome to play more than once.

Let’s go down the catwalk for our 67th weekend soiree!

The theme: FASHION

The question: What color dominates your wardrobe?

Click here for past themes.
Credit: Image by coda