Back with News

I had to review my blog just to recall the last time I wrote something--July 1st. August 9th today and I can't believe I haven't blogged for more than a month.

Well so much has happened since then and it would be impossible to tell you everything, but I'll share three major events that have happened recently.

Iaine got hospitalized for the first time on July 21st. A few days before that, she had a fever for 3 days that spiked up to 39.4 on the 2nd night. She also had diarrhea, vomiting, and she was so colicky. It was hell. That was probably the most irritable I've seen her. My MIL was kind enough to help calm Iaine down though but when we both had a night of almost not sleeping, we knew we needed to take her to the hospital. We took her to the pedia to get checked up but it was no use.

My first choice was SPHMC but because we were 25th in queue (room reservations), we had no choice but to take a chance at other hospitals in the city. I called my aunt who's a stockholder in another hospital and she immediately helped us reserve a room in JON.

JON's ER was busy but thankfully, not busy enough for us. After I was interviewed by the nurses and resident doc about Iaine's condition, I proceeded to the admitting office. After several minutes of going back and forth from the ER to the admitting office, I was back in the ER for Iaine's IVF insertion. We had to wrap her with a blanket to keep her from moving and I had to hold her close as she was crying a lot. Everytime she screamed, pangs of pain crushed my heart.

The first attempt was successful, giving me huge relief. Iaine cried some more but not for long. After about 15 minutes of waiting, we were finally wheeled to our suite room and there, Iaine's road to recovery started.

Side story: Because of Jai's employment in his generous company, we have been entitled health cards, giving us the assurance that hospital and other medical expenses wouldn't be a problem... except, for example, if transferred to a room not covered by the health insurance. Well, we did just that because we were so terribly misinformed by the staff on our first day there. We were told that we only had to pay in cash 30% of our total hospital bill so we were confident about moving to a suite room. But we were wrong. On the first day in the hospital, the insurance company called and informed me about the real deal: We had to pay for incremental cost, excess doctor's PFs, and excess room rates. I mean WTF, right? My daughter has a health card and I don't want that to go to waste just because we were misinformed by hospital, so I called admitting, I called the insurance representative, I called EVERYBODY I needed to call just so we could move to a room covered by the card. We were transferred at 11 frickin' pm. Communication: nobody does that anymore?

Anyway, Iaine had a hard time adjusting to the setting. She was hooked to an IVF and we had to drag the IVF stand everywhere she went. She's also so active that she pulled out her IV twice by accident. Her attending physician wasn't her pedia (health card conditions) but in 2 days she was doing all better and we were sent home.

Iaine is fine now and I'm trying to gradually decrease the amount of milk she consumes in a day and increase her solid intake.

. . . . . . .

On July 28th, my MIL called and told me some very sad news. Jai's only living grandparent passed away.

I chose not to tell him immediately because he was at work and it was very busy night, so with a heavy heart I went to bed and tried to sleep although I couldn't. I tossed and turned in bed, so bothered by the news and so afraid of telling my husband because I know how much Jai loved and idolized his grandfather. It really felt like I was keeping a very big secret from him, but of all the grandchildren, Jai was one of the most deserving to know what happened. He is a legitimate grandchild and the first grandchild of Papang. They shared so many memories together.

But, around 1:30am Jai called and told me that an unknown number texted him, saying that his grandfather has died. His voice sounded a bit shaky so I knew he was afraid of hearing what he didn't want to hear, but I was left no choice. I confirmed the bad news.

He broke down and I couldn't help but cry myself. He was so hurt and heartbroken and he was in so much disbelief. We all knew it was possible but nobody really expected it to happen. Nobody wanted it to happen. Papang seemed so active and healthy at 82 years of age. His tragic passing was just too unbelievable for everybody.

My husband and I were miles away that night but all I wanted was to hug and comfort him. He was in so much pain that he had to take a moment on the phone with me, to just let his tears run down his cheeks and compose himself before he went back inside his office.

Papang's body was buried last Saturday, August 6. It was a very sad day for the family and everyone else whom he shared his generosity. The cemetery was crowded with hundreds of people, and I'm sure that on this day, everyone is still heartbroken from losing him. He touched so many lives with love and kindness.

I've only known Papang for a few years, but in that short time I saw how great of a man he was.

My husband looked up to him in the highest regard, so breaking the news to him was the hardest thing I've ever done, but I promise to be always here for him in this time of loss.

. . . . . . .

August 1st was our 2nd wedding anniversary. At that time, Papang's wake was still ongoing so Jai and I chose not to have an extravagant celebration. He even skipped seeing Captain America that week.

But on August 1st he made me so happy with sweet simple things. He woke me up at around 6am with a tray of Pancakes, butter, syrup, bread, and hot chocolate. Breakfast in bed! And that afternoon we decided to take Iaine with us to the mall just to spend some quality time together. When I asked him where we were headed first he told me he was gonna have a haircut. Ok what. His hair was almost as long as mine and I just couldn't believe it. I've been bugging him for months to get his head mowed and on our wedding anniversary he finally did it. Now he looks way more handsome and I couldn't get enough of touching his hair and nape now! So anyway, our mall date ended with dinner. I had roasted chicken, rice, a side of corn and carrots and a muffin. Burp!

We went home so in-love and happy. A simple celebration like that was really enough to acknowledge the day we said our vows and promised to be one for eternity.

The next day I posted this as my Facebook status: "Yesterday was August 1st, and I can't believe it's been two years already since i married him! I really couldn't have chosen a better man to live the rest of my life with. I love you so much, Jai! Happy 2nd wedding anniversary! ♥"

And Jai posted this on my Fb wall: "when im feeling small, you're my super mushroom. when im bruised, you're my adamantium. and when im bereft of answers, you're my 42. marrying you was the best butterfly effect i have ever started. happy second anniversary, love. i love you through all universal reboots."

His way with words always takes my breath away...

. . . . . . .

This post ends here and I'm leaving you with this:

No matter how often we experience the happy and the sad, simply being with your family is really the best way to go through it all.

Drowning

First of all, I am blogging from my smartphone because I can. Second of all it's 12:51 in the morning and I can't sleep. And third, almost 2 hours ago it was still June and I must say the month ended like crap.

I just felt like crap the entire day, you know? Even with Iaine pooping less frequently than usual and kept being the cheerful child that she is, I still felt so shitty and exhausted. Maybe I wanted to get out and get some sun, or I wanted some sort of spa treatment, ot retail therapy, or just sleep for hours just to compensate for the sleepless nights Iaine's been giving me. She usually sleeps past 12 midnight and I know it's not a good thing (I can see your nose flaring from here) but there's really nothing I can do about it. She's like an energizer bunny, she'll play for as long as she wants to. Believe me, I don't like it one bit. Sleeping late gives me a headache when I wake up and makes me cranky, and in the past couple of weeks, that has happened like 95 percent of the time (talking about the headache). I don't know if it's just PMS, but whatever it is I'm not happy about it.

I did get a chance to go out today, by the way.I just finished sterilizing Iaine's bottles and I realized that we ran out of distilled water. So I took a bath and dressed up, walked to the nearest store with her stroller in tow and purchased 2 big jars of distilled water, 6Liters each (Iaine's still having diaper issues.) And whaddaya know, it was raining super hard when I checked out. Like, thunderstorm-hard. I took Iaine's stroller by the way so I wouldn't have to carry the jars all the way home with my bare hands, but I guess what happened today could have been just as difficult doing that under the bright sun. Like I said, there was a thunderstorm, and I had to push the stroller with one hand and hold my umbrella with the other.

Maneuvering the stroller w/ 1.2Liters of water strapped in was like walking a rabid stray dog. The winds were crazy, the road was uneven and bumpy, and he umbrella was no use. After just making a few steps from the store I was already soaking wet and so was the stroller.

I got home safe but completely drenched and tired. I took another bath and resumed doing what good mothers do.

You can probably guess that thunderstorm experience didn't make me feel any better. I guess I'm pretty lucky though because I didn't end up dying from a lightining strike, falling trees or electric posts or something.

I know that life's not always happy. It's just that today is one of those days when I get a hard slap on the face and shake all the optimism out of my soul. The experience could have been funny on any other day, but I was already feeling like shit so I couldn't really laugh about it now. I usually love it when it rains, but no, not today.

I need to unwind, badly. We all do. Sometimes.




Ps.
Exactly a month from now, it's August 1, our 2nd wedding anniversary. I wonder what will happen.