My Third Pregnancy Journey

A surprise Baby Shower pulled off by our Dgroup Family

My third pregnancy was unplanned but as we know, there's no accident in the Lord, this is another qarah moment and I embrace this new season of motherhood.

At the start of this journey, I was on bed rest for two weeks due to brown discharge. I had several laboratory tests and by God's grace, everything was normal. I was cleared by my OB from bed rest and I was told that it was only due to implantation.

When the 6-12 days-old fertilized egg attaches to the interior lining of the uterus, something known as implantation bleeding may occur. This movement of the egg can result in light bleeding or spotting, which is completely normal and should not require any kind of medical attention. ~ americanpregnancy.org

I decided to change OB because I felt the one I had previously is not very supportive of my birth plans. When I asked her about my chance of having another normal delivery, she told me that there is still a 50% chance of having a C-section due to my previous pregnancy history (emergency CS).

I prayed to God to lead me to the right OB and Birthing Home. This is my first pregnancy in Cavite and I am not very familiar with the hospitals and clinics in the area. I was so blessed to stumbled upon Mother and Child Cradled of Health on Facebook while browsing for birthing homes. It was located in Bacoor, over one hour's travel from our house. I've read good feedbacks about Dra. Bev Ferrer, one of the OBs in the clinic. So, I decided to look for her.

When I told a sister in Christ about Dra Bev, she mentioned that she is actually a Gentle Birth and VBAC advocate and in fact very popular in the Gentle Birth Philippines FB Group. I've learned that she is also a fellow CCFer! Yay! What an answered prayer. You can follow her here: https://www.facebook.com/GentleBirthAndVBACadvocate/.

I had my prenatal with her on my 13th week and we talked about my birth plans. After knowing my previous pregnancies, she assured me that I am qualified for Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC). I asked her if I need to attend a birthing class to help me prepare for it but she said, "kaya na natin yan" since I already had NSD - Normal Spontaneous Delivery with my eldest (with no complications). She is confident that I can have another one.

However, she needed me to get my post-operative record during my emergency caesarian birth. She needed to know what kind of uterus cut was done to me since it cannot be seen via ultrasound. Unfortunately, the hospital (where I had an eCS) has been closed for some time.

I tried reaching out to my old OB but she couldn't remember the procedure anymore which is understandable. I also contacted my mid-wife Tita who assisted me during my recent delivery but she wasn't able to provide the information needed. But praise God because a brother in Christ helped us get the records from the closed hospital. He talked to the guard and was able to retrieve my files. Another answered prayer! God is good!

During my first and second trimester, I was very active physically. I did some exercises at home and followed a workout video. Here it is in case you want to know:

I was also attending Dance Training once a week and I quit eating rice because I don't want to gain too much weight.

At 17 weeks, I can feel my baby's small kicks already. I think he is my most active baby in the womb. At 22 weeks, I was back to working at home again. I was so grateful to God for allowing me to get hired despite being pregnant. I got two part-time jobs and worked for 2 hours each at night. The plan of going back to work has been decided even before I got pregnant.

We had the gender checked on my 25th week and I had a simple gender reveal for Dad and my eldest son, Gabi. We desired to have a baby girl this time, but God has other plans in mind. He gave us another boy. We were a bit disappointed but we know that God knows the best for us. It took a while for Gabi to be able to process this since he really longs for a baby sister. But we already embraced God's will for our family. We gave our third boy the name, James Gadiel. His Kuya Gabi gave the nickname Gadi.

When I entered my third trimester, I needed to leave the Dance Ministry as agreed with hubby. Whether I will come back to the ministry or not is up to God. But for now, I know in my heart that He is leading me to a different path.

This last stretch of my pregnancy makes me feel so lazy to do some exercises, although I still do most of the household chores. I'm always sleepy and probably another factor is because I'm working at night for a couple of hours.

Last October 06, on my 34th week, our small group pulled off a surprise Baby Shower for me. I didn't expect it but I am so grateful and my heart is full.

I really prayed to God to have a smooth and easy pregnancy because I want to be functional. Having no helper will be difficult if I won't be able to move around. I'm just grateful to God that He enables me and sustains me.

This pregnancy reminded me that God is in control. There are times we felt sad that we don't have the resources to buy our new baby with new stuff. But I am thankful that God uses others to bless us with hand me down baby items. Whenever I am getting anxious, I keep reminding myself that God Himself will provide for our baby.

The thought of giving birth made me feel afraid and sometimes doubt if I choose the right birth plan. I feel like I'm not yet ready but I'm fixing my eyes on God because, in Him, I can do all things (Phil. 4:13).

In my next post, I will share our DIY Maternity Photoshoot and my Gentle Birth Story. Stay tuned!