Road to Zion

My "Road to Zion" had never been that smooth. Just like any other journey, there are humps and bumps along the way. The first few months were full of excitement, the mid months were my so called "depressed mode" stages (and I guess these were the times with the most humps) and the last month was of anticipation as it was the longest wait ever. But it was a journey all worthwhile.

This is our first glimpse of baby Z (short for Zion obviously ^_^). I was on my 2nd month when we had this transV ultrasound. I had mixed emotions the first time I saw her. I felt excited that I'm starting to nurture a new life inside me and at the same time, I also felt nervous and all too scared that I might not be able to enjoy life as much, not to mention look ugly and fat (Ugh! How vain of me!) as I go through this pregnancy. But a second look at Z (who was only just a little dot then) with Pau (the most excited Dad ever!) beside me, I felt a sense of security that everything will be just fine.

And so the pregnancy goes...

I started craving for food that I didn't use to eat before except for grapes, of course, which was one of my all time favorite fruits. Everytime I went to work, I craved for Jolly Hotdog (obviously from Jollibee) during breakfast. I was also fond of their Black Forest Sundae (which until today I haven't really gotten over. Good luck to dieting! Lol!). I ate a lot (as in a lot!) during this time (and yeah as I've mentioned, I'm now having a hard time getting over not only sundae but food in general!). Prior to my pregnancy, I was wary of eating way to much because I was sooo figure conscious but when Z came along, my diet just crashed...kaput...all gone...so it was goodbye. I ate everything from pizza to pasta to ice cream to lots and lots of chocolates and oh, more, more rice! There was even a time when I craved for Guyabano ice cream but Daddy just could not find any in the middle of the night so I settled for yogurt instead and the next day, I got Guyabano shake from DQ. Haha! All these and more, all throughout my pregnancy.

Carrying Z in the mid months were the "lowest" times for me. I felt really depressed most of the time and I cry apparently for no reason at all. If there was any reason behind it, I created it I guess. I entertained bad thoughts and always made issues on a lot of things. During these stages in my pregnancy, I felt deprived of attention. I felt Daddy didn't love me that much anymore. I even thought he didn't like me anymore because of the way I looked and the pounds I've gained. I had too much self-pity way back then. It was so hard for me, really hard. I did not want to feel all too sad because I didn't want Z to feel it too but I just couldn't help it. I guess some really go through that experience at one time during their pregnancy.

It was such an amazing experience though when on my seventh month, we saw baby Z moving in real time inside my tummy. Z's features during that time we're not that clear yet, but everything is visible, so we were really excited and happy after the ultrasound.
During the ultrasound, Z keeps on moving that the Doctor had a hard time getting a good angle of her. She was also on breech presentation (feet first) at this time so I sort of panicked, scared that I might have CS labor. I did not want to go under the knife and besides, hospital expenses are triple, if not double, the normal delivery charges. Not that we didn't have savings for that (we were ready for it financially of course); it's just that we didn't really expect it late at this stage of my pregnancy. My OB though assured us that there was still a long way to go and the baby will be in a normal position prior to me giving birth (EOD was 21Feb2010). The OB even joked, "I promise she will turn around." And so we believed her...

On my final month, which as I've said was the longest wait ever, we had the last ultrasound. And indeed, as promised by my OB (haha!), Z was already positioned normally. This was probably the time of my life where I could have sung Waiting in Vain as it really felt like that. I even experienced false labor during this month which scared the hell out of me because I had blood spotting. I thought that I was gonna give birth earlier than my term (full term was 36 weeks, I was barely on my 35th week back then). Good thing, Z waited until she was on full term. (Good girl!)
On the 13th of February (V-day almost!), Jordin Zion Cordova was born via NSD at the JDMH, 4:30pm.

And so the Road to Zion has ended and our journey to a new life with her has begun...