The waiting game

My wife, Aires, reached many milestones in her life this year.

She finally got pregnant. She finally finished reading a novel. She finally YM-ed her friends. She finally realized that her husband (that’s me) really loves her. She finally learnt that God never forsakes. That He simply waits for the right time to give you the right wish for the right purpose.

Aires says that her life has been a life of waiting. Waiting for real friends --- when she was in grade school. Waiting for a head start after college. Waiting for a satisfactory career. Waiting for the right partner. Waiting for the chance to celebrate motherhood.

She would be the first to admit that patience is not her virtue. She does get cranky if she doesn’t get what she wants. But when she reflects on how she waited for the finer things in life, she realizes that she is indeed patient.

Today, she still gets cranky but she has finally learnt to count her blessings, the small triumphs, the inconspicuous milestones. She is preparing herself for the milestones that Heaven Czar, our first born-to-be, will achieve. In the meantime, the waiting continues.

Aires

isang palaisipan
marahil
bulong ng hangin
sa kislot ng ulap
sambit ang dalangin
takot kilalanin
kahit ngayon
kipkipin

isang bugtong
pasakalye
litanya ng ale
sa takda ng orasyon
sambit ang dalangin
tiwalang didinggin
kahit bukas
manimdim

palaisipan
bugtong
takot
tiwala
ngayon
bukas
lagi kang
mamahalin

My heart

Once I drew a heart
With a pastel chalk
A perfect shade of red
With gentle contours.

But the color didn’t last.
The heart faded away.

Then I drew another heart
With a child’s crayon
A pointed tip of red
With bolder strokes.

But the crayon broke.
The heart looked empty.

Then I drew the last of hearts
With my own blood
What a mess I made
With crimson drips.

The bleeding didn’t stop.
The heart was wounded.

But at last, now, I have my heart.

Heaven on earth

From head to toe, Heaven is doing well.

Aires and I are amazed at the images we are seeing. The sonologist probes and probes, finding the best view to check if our baby is doing well. The procedure is called congenital anomaly scanning, done through trans-abdominal ultrasound. Such a scary term for such an amazing test!

The doctor walks us through the scan for almost an hour. He shows Heaven’s head and face. Heaven’s eyes are complete. So are his nose, lips, and ears. And he yawns! What a sight!

The doctor searches for Heaven’s hands. They are a bit hidden. The right hand is touching his right ear. We count his fingers with anxiety and excitement. He has five fingers in both hands!

A few adjustments here and there and we see his pulsating heart. No heart hole, check! We see his diaphragm. His lungs are forming. We see a gastric bubble, what is to become his stomach. We also see his kidneys.

The doctor measures his leg bones, the femur. The length of this bone, plus the size of his head and torso will estimate his gestational weight. He is now almost half a kilo.

The doctor moves the probe and searches for Heaven’s weenie. We see it and the doctor freezes the image and keys in the letters B-O-Y. There’s no mistaking now. Heaven Czar is indeed a boy.

We see his feet and count again. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 toes. Complete, check!

The Doppler test follows next. This test measures blood flow to the brain, heart and kidney. Everything is okay. Heaven is getting all the nutrients he needs. His development is within the range expected for his gestational age of 24 weeks or six months.

After the uncertainty in the first three months of the pregnancy, seeing Heaven through this ultrasound keeps our hopes up high. Our Heaven indeed is here on earth.

It takes 12

"You are always smiling, Nilo."

I was scurrying along our office corridor one day, hopping from one department to another, when I bumped into a colleague. I said sorry and blazed to my next destination. I heard her holler at me, "Great that you are always smiling, Nilo!"

I looked back at her and smiled again. I moved on with my day's hustle-bustle sked, still remembering what my colleague said.

Why do I smile a lot these days?

There are many reasons to smile and be happy despite the never-ending assignments and tons of work. I am happy because I will be a father very soon. I am happy because Aires and our soon-to-be first-born Heaven are doing well. I am happy because my work team will be finally complete soon.

Experts say that it just takes 12 facial muscles to smile and only 11 to frown. What's one extra muscle to show how happy you really are. So, smile and spread the cheers.

Heaven is waiting

It was a toss up between the sky and the heaven.

On April 18, my wife, Aires, and I had one full day with our gynecologist and immunologist. We first went for our ultrasound. We were very anxious to know if our firstborn will be a boy or a girl.

Our doctor exclaimed: “May lawit!” (Something’s dangling). Our baby’s a boy. We will christen him, Heaven Czar.

He is truly a gift from heaven. Czar is to honor, Aires’ father, Cesar, whom we all believe interceded for us when he went to meet our Maker about 10 weeks before we learned that Aires was finally pregnant.

Were she a girl, she will be named Skye Czarina. But for now, Heaven Czar sounds really fine.
Our trip to our immunologist also brought pleasant news. Aires’ immune system was in check. Her numbers read A-ok.

This Sunday, we heard a solemn mass at Christ the King church. In the Gospel, Jesus said to his apostles: I am the way, the truth and the life. In his homily, the priest said that “Heaven is waiting for all of us.” Christ the King. Heaven. The signs are there telling us that we made the right choice.

Welcome, Heaven Czar.

Whew! What a week!

What a week it has been!

I am currently the lone communication specialist for our country office. My former boss was transferred to China. A long-time colleague migrated to Canada. A reliable consultant finished his contract. I was left to manage three big projects for the time being.

My new supervisor and a new recruit will report in mid-April. I have a new technical assistant who is still on part-time. Our program assistant fell sick on Monday and requested to go on leave.

Monday was post-Holy Week but there was no time to take things easy. I was immediately on full gear preparing for a big outdoor launch event (Children Against Violence campaign) on Tuesday. I was not worrying that much because we got an agency to help us out. But when I could not locate my agency account executive, I went into panic mode. She was stranded in Boracay and could not be reached by phone. My yellow stress ball became handy. Just when I felt doomed on Monday night, I got a call from my AE. I was saved and assured that the Tuesday event would be a blast.

Tuesday came and I was in high spirits. I went early to the site to see how things were being set up. There were minor slip-ups but I was pretty confident that the afternoon event would be again a blast. Lunch time came and I had to scurry away to a lunch meeting with Gary Valenciano, our ambassador who would perform and speak at the event.

Two hours passed and I started receiving panic calls from the event site. Things were not yet in place. I took all in stride, knowing that these things do happen. The event started and we were going smooth sailing when I learnt that a big technical boo-boo was waiting to ruin the event. The sun was so bright that afternoon that the projector could not lucidly project our stunning audio-visual presentation and TV ad. Now that is something that I could not take in stride. The faux pas ruined the event, at least by my standards. The event still went well despite the major glitch. But I was totally frustrated.

I was tired but I had to wake up early on Wednesday to go to Pampanga for a presentation about the rights of indigenous children to an audience of leaders and teachers belonging to various indigenous groups. I aced my presentation but while I was presenting, my wife, Aires, kept texting and calling because she felt something painful in her womb. When I finally read her messages, I asked my driver to go super-speed. We bridged Pampanga and Marikina in just a little over one hour.

I watched over Aires that night and spent Thursday morning with her. She may have had cramps but thankfully there wasn't any bleeding. I had to report back to the office because of all our deadlines.

Friday was a day of donor reports and work plans. I had four donor reports and 30 work plans to complete. But I had to admit to myself that I could not finish everything. So when the day ended, I finished one donor report and all work plans.

Whew! What a week it has truly been. Looking forward to our Monday's date with the ob-gyn. Here's hoping that it will jumpstart my next week into a different kind of high.