Anticipating our baby's gender

Our family is so excited to know if it's a boy or girl for us. His/her position during the last ultrasound makes it so hard to confirm the gender. He/she is in face down sleeping position, I find it so cute! Just like his/her daddy! My OB shook my tummy and his/her head moved a bit. Our baby is a sleepy head! :)

My friends have been asking me if I want a boy or girl for our firstborn. I honestly don't know. Or maybe I just don't want to have any preference. I should be equally happy if it's a boy or girl. As long as our baby is healthy.

My sister wants a boy, and I feel my dad wants a boy too as his first grandchild. He's been dreaming of the day that he can teach his apo how to play golf. My friends say, it looks like our baby is a girl, because I look happy and beautiful. Whatever that means, haha.

Hopefully, we will be able to confirm next week during the 20-week detailed scan. :)

Officially changing my surname

Last Thursday, I went to Philippine Embassy in Singapore to apply for my e-passport and at the same time amend my surname to my hubby's surname. In 4 weeks, I'll be officially Mrs. Ferrera! :)

I was patiently waiting for my turn, and when they called my number, I told them that I am also changing my surname in passport. Then they told me that there was a separate procedure for amending my (green) passport particulars (Fee-S$34.00) which takes 3 days to process.

What?!?! Somehow my pregnancy hormones instantly made me feel so upset. But I tried to control my anger, and begged them to let me finish everything now because I'm pregnant. Huh! Luckily, this kind embassy officer told me to pay the cashier S$ 50.00 for expedite process. Whew! Then after that I can queue for my e-passport application.

You can find the requirements for e-passport application here and passport particulars amendment here.

If you still have the green passport and you need to amend your passport particulars and you don't have the pregnancy excuse like me, you will need to spare one more day for the passport amendment before you can apply for your e-passport. Once you have all the requirements ready, you need to submit via email to passport-appointment@philippine-embassy.org.sg for the e-passport appointment. You will receive your appointment slip in a few days.

If your appointment is @ 2pm, then it's better if you arrive around 1:30pm because once you enter the embassy the guard will give you a number. I arrived around 1:45pm and I was number 9, meaning there were 8 people (with the same appointment time) ahead of me.

Wait for your number to be called, then you will proceed to the e-passport encoding room. Remember to photocopy all the original documents like e-passport appointment slip, passport, employment pass and e-passport application form. An embassy officer will encode your particulars and take a photo for the e-passport. After that, you will be given a date to collect your passport and you will need to pay S$102.00.

The whole procedure for e-passport approximately takes 1 hour! Thank God the procedure is much more efficient now. :)

Our baby's 3rd ultrasound picture

I'm almost at my 15th week!!!

Our last ultrasound is quite exciting, we saw our baby's eyes, nose, hands and feet. My OB-gyne said he/she is waving his/her hand at us, to say hello! How cute!!! And he/she is actively moving while my OB-gyne is doing the ultrasound. What an amazing feeling!

There is a possibility that we will know our baby's gender next week during our next check-up! I honestly don't have any preference, maybe because it's our first child. Whether it's a boy or a girl, it won't matter as long as the baby is healthy.

Touching my tummy and having my quiet moments relaxes me. As soon as my hubby sees me, he lights up and kisses me and the baby. What a joy it is! Thank you Lord for this wonderful blessing. :)

Feeling much better @ 12 weeks

We're so excited to share to all of you the good news that we are gonna have a baby soon!!! :) I'm now at my 12 weeks of pregnancy, almost the end of first trimester, which they say is the hardest part of pregnancy. In my case, I did have the so-called "morning sickness" or should I say all-day sickness. It started a week before I learned I'm pregnant.

I vividly remember it was the first week of March 2012, I was delayed for a week. And my period does not normally get delayed that long. Hubby and I opted to wait for a week before taking the pregnancy test. I tested around 7am of March 11, 2012, and it turned out positive! Or "pregnant 3-weeks" as my digital pregnancy test said. High-tech na pala ngayon! :)

Hubby and I were jumping up and down, I wanted to scream because of overwhelming joy but it was too early and I don't want to wake up my neighbors. Hehehe. Instead I woke up my brother, who was still sleeping in the next room, and shared to him the good news. We were all crying out of happiness! Such a wonderful blessing! :)

We called our family, and my in-laws were very happy to have another baby in the family. My sister-in-law is pregnant too and expecting to give birth in September. Yey! I can hear my parents cry on the other end-of-the-line when I called them to share the news! My sister screamed for about a few minutes, I guess she was too happy to have her nephew / niece soon. :)

From the day I learned I was pregnant, our lives changed completely! My appetite was messed up. I could not eat anything good. I was feeling dizzy, nauseaous, headache, back pain, body pain etc. I was sick most of the time and I had to get a day-off from work almost every week because of pregnancy related discomforts. But as I said, the baby will always have to come first. :)

As I type this blog entry, it's obvious that I am feeling better and almost back to normal. Hopefully, it stays that way. I just hope and pray that we will be safe and healthy all through out. We have family and friends to support us, and we're so excited! :)