EDSA traffic

After dropping off Hal to work, i braved EDSA alone for the second time. I didn't expect to see.....NO TRAFFIC!!!!!

There wasn't a bus anywhere!

So I sped off!!!! Daddy and mommy will freak out if they read this. hehehe They don't like me driving the streets of Manila either alone or with a driver.

Oh well, I'm safe in the office now. Although I hear that some of my officemates are having a hard time reporting today because of the transport strike. Some had to walk 3 miles just to get to the office. One of the secretaries had to go back home.

I didn't think it would be this bad.

A rare kind of yummy :)

WARNING! Not for the faint hearted!



up close......



These, my friends, are not larvae of caterpillars or what have you. These are what Ilocanos call "Bu-os" (spelling?). They are eggs of giant red ants and are very very delish! You saute them with ginger and tomatoes. Yum!

They look yucky, right?

That was my first impression. Would you believe, I have only eaten them FOR THE FIRST TIME last summer?!!!! And it has gotten me hooked! They taste good pala!

These things are seasonal and you have to be an expert in picking the right ones off the tree and in the market. They get spoiled too, so be careful.

Daddy was able to get me some from the farm when I went home last Thursday. I'm cooking a batch tonight :)

Lookie lookie here!

Look what caught my eye on the way to work last Thursday.....




revolting. tsk. tsk.

The operation

When: February 13, 2008
Where: Asian Hospital, Alabang
Time: 4pm
How long it lasted: 30 minutes

I will let these photos speak for themselves.....









Daddy and mommy flew in to give Hiro moral support.

The bandage came off the next day.

It was 4 microstitches.

Motherhood woes (part 2)

Hiro has been well the past 3 days already. Thank God! Last week we were able to get clearance from his pedia and the anesthesiology department. It was important that he didn't get sick at least three days before the operation, otherwise, they will have to give another set of clearance (read: lab exams, UGH!). So far so good. Tonight we will be "checking-in". The operation is an out-patient procedure but he will have to undergo 6 hours of fasting. We decided that he'll do the fasting at the hospital, meaning: I.V. :(

SIX HOURS?!!!!!! For a two-year-old, that's hard, especially with Hiro.

I hope all goes well. Please help us pray for a successful operation.

He was hospitalized for dengue before.

It's painful to have to go through this again......

Motherhood woes (part 1)

Hiro fell asleep while watching "A Bug's Life" last night. It was 10:30pm.

He has not been feeling well the past two days. Yesterday his poop was all watery and he had "kabag". We were worried he might get dehydrated so Hal bought Gatorade. Hiro doesn't like the taste of pedialyte, so his pedia suggested that Gatorade is just as good. He has no fever, no insect (mosquito) bites, so we don't know where this is coming from.

For his kabag I rubbed salt on Juthropa (Filipino term: Tuba-tuba) leaves, placed them in his stomach, and wrapped them up with a cloth diaper.

Traditional approach? Yeah, I'm up for it. Why not? I'm of Ilocano descent andeventhough my families are in the medical field, I still believe in these things. It worked for Hiro before. It may work again.

30 minutes later, he woke up and started fiddling around with his back. Apparently, the leaves and the salt irritated him I had to remove them. He woke up again at 2am complaining of a "painful tummy. mommy, massage. put oil please". So i massaged his stomach until he fell asleep only to wake up again wanting to poop.......he held my hand the whole time. As I sat beside him he said: : mommy, I hold your hand. I stay next to mommy".

That's what happened the whole night. Now, I'm back at work. Surprisingly, I don't feel tired or cranky. I just feel worried for my little boy. During times like this I want to be with him all day, hug him when he feels bad, kiss him when he cries, smile and laugh at his jokes. I want to hold his hand when he says "mommy come" or "mommy join". I want him to see me as he wakes from his nap. I just want to be there to show him that inspite of what he's feeling, everything's going to be fine.

Hay.

And to think next week will be his scheduled operation at Asian Hospital.

But that's another story.

Maternity Leave

I try to hide how I feel because life has to go on. But you can't help to think that there was once a little angel inside you, right? My last ultrasound showed that she's now really gone (yes, it was a "she" but don't ask me how I know because you'll laugh). She stayed with me for almost two months, you know.

Under our laws, miscarriage is covered by maternity/paternity leave as long as it is established that there was really a fetus, and not just a blighted ovum. There's a difference. At work I had to fill up the leave form and attach my last ultrasound report as proof in lieu of a medical certificate because it wasn't available yet. 2 weeks after, I submitted the required certificate. I also had to accomplished a page-long clearance. Since I wasn't here anymore, I asked a co-worker to have it signed for me.

As to the salary, I get paid every payday and still recieve the "extras" as usual. However, where I work, you can request for you 2-months worth of salary to be in a voucher so you can recieve it as a whole. You can use this bulk of cash to pay medical bills, etc.

'll be going back to work on the 29th of this month.