Daddy Daughter Christmas Fun

I find it difficult to find out what is going on in this city, which is too bad because there is a lot happening. We learn about most events through word of mouth or through MADS (not a member and have kids under 5? Highly recommend you join). I also frequently check TicketWorld to see what's playing at the theaters throughout Manila. 

The Shark recently attended a work event at the Fairmont Hotel and found out they had some kid's Christmas activities. Two weeks ago he took Toto to a gingerbread house event. She had a blast.  Not only did they decorate the house (and eat some candy), there was a choir, Christmas movies, and Santa.  

For P925, each kid got a beautiful house, 2 tubes of frosting, and a cup of decorative candy.  I have enjoyed picking at it all week.

Last week the Shark geared up again and took Toto to a Teddy Bear Tea while I stayed home to get ready for our Christmas party. On her way out, Toto waved goodbye to me and said, "Bye Mama, I'm going to have coffee with teddy bears." She came home on a sugar high and added to it with some cookies at our party. By the end, she was bouncing off the walls and shrieking with her friends. All in all, some great daddy daughter memories!

Having a Baby in the Philippines

Hi! We had a baby who we shall call Genki on this blog because that is what her big sister, Toto, named her when I was pregnant.  

I debated for a long time whether to go back to the USA to give birth or stay "home" in Manila.  Toto's birth was such an awesome experience that I was afraid I would be disappointed if I had a less than perfect experience here.  But I am so glad I stayed.

My keys to having a positive birth experience overseas:

1. Find a supportive doctor.  Dr. Theresa Henson is amazing.  She was extremely respectful of our decision to have a natural, unmedicated birth.  I felt confident that she would offer the best care possible and would be able to deal with any complication that arose - and I was right.  I felt completely safe under her care, which made the whole experience easier.  Another bonus of delivering in Manila - your doctor is always the one who delivers you, unlike in the US where it could be another OB in the practice.

2. Consider a doula.  While The Shark is seriously the best labor partner ever, it is nice to have someone else to help.  Especially someone from the country you are delivering in.  Granted, I have lived in Manila for over 2 years and am familiar with the culture, but despite the Starbucks on every corner, there is lots I will never really understand.  Doula Betty was a big help by liaising between us and the hospital staff, covering for The Shark when he needed to eat or rest, suggesting positions for pain relief, reminding me to stay hydrated, and taking photos. 

Pretty much the only comfortable position I could find for 3 hours straight.

3. Make a birth plan.  Not only does this help you mentally prepare, but it also gives clear guidance to the staff on how you would like your labor and delivery to go.  Here's mine:

About Us

We spent the first two years of our marriage in a rural African village living very simple lives.  That experience changed us and we continue to try to live as naturally as possible.  I delivered our first daughter naturally and unmedicated in September 2011 in the U.S.  We really want to bring our second baby into the world without medical or chemical intervention.  We have been working with our doula, taken a natural childbirth class, and I have practiced prenatal yoga to help prepare ourselves for a natural birth.  We would love to be matched with nurses who like working with couples attempting a natural birth.

Labor and Delivery
--My support people are my doula, Betty, and husband, The Shark.  I would like them to be present during labor and delivery.
--I would like to try whatever I can before receiving Pitocin.
--I know what my pain medication options are, so I ask that the hospital staff please not suggest medication options to me unless I ask.
--Please offer The Shark the opportunity to catch the baby and cut the cord.
--If possible, please delay clamping the cord for at least one minute after delivery.

Cesarean

--If my primary care provider determines that a Cesarean delivery is indicated, if possible, I would like The Shark and Betty present at all times.

--If I must have a cesarean section, I wish to have an epidural for anesthesia.

--If possible, I would like skin-to-skin contact with my daughter immediately after birth.

Post Partum

--We are planning to breastfeed; please do not give my daughter bottles or pacifiers.

--I want to have as much skin-to-skin contact as possible – I would like to have my daughter placed on my stomach/chest immediately after delivery, and have any evaluations be done while I am holding her.  If possible, please wait to administer the Vitamin K and eye drops until 60 minutes after the birth.

--Please administer the HepB immunization, but not the BCG.

We thank you for taking the time to help us achieve a natural birth for our daughter.

I put in bold the most important aspects, and kept it to one page in order to not overwhelm the staff. Kudos to the Makati Med staff for never once mentioning pain medication. Of course, I realize that complications can occur and I was prepared to alter the plan if necessary.  (Note: The Shark opted out of "catching" the baby. End Note.)

4. Prepare yourself mentally and physically.  Honestly I was much better about this for Toto's birth when I had less to do and no toddler to chase after.  But I did spend time writing a letter to Baby Genki, doing some meditating, light yoga, walking, and meeting with Doula Betty.  Being in shape gave me the stamina I needed to get through 6 hours of painful active labor.  Being mentally prepared allowed me to completely let go of any fear about giving birth and just use the pain and contractions to open up and bring Baby Genki into the world.  Not to say that the pain wasn't almost unbearable at times, but never once did I feel afraid - mainly because I trusted my body to do what it needed to do.

5. Have a support system in place for your other children.  We are so lucky to have an amazing nanny for Toto, Yaya, who took great care of her in our absence and brought her to the hospital to visit us. Having Yaya continue with her normal routine made Toto comfortable and calm while we were in the hospital for 3 days.  That's not to say that she adjusted immediately - we are still working through some issues, but overall she is doing great as a big sister.  When I got home she said, "I'm happy you're here, Mama."  We have also made time to do things just with her to remind her that we still love her and Baby Genki has not replaced her.

6. Research hospitals.  I chose Makati Med because it is close to where I live (did not want to sit in traffic in labor) and my doctor prefers it. But we toured the birthing suites beforehand just to make sure we were comfortable with the set-up.  The only downside is that the rooms lack a tub.  I didn't want a water birth, but I did enjoy the tub during Toto's laboring or pain relief. (From what I have heard, St. Luke's has really gorgeous suites with tubs.) The Makati Med staff was overall great, everyone washed their hands before coming in the room, let us rest when we were asleep, and provided good care and explanations whenever they did anything--I even ate most of the food, which will be a shock to anyone who has seen me place an order in a restaurant.  Not to say it was perfect, there were a couple of instances when staff didn't show up to do an oxygen test or weigh Genki.  But I had those frustrations in the US as well.

7. Do your research. I have O- blood, which is a rarity in Asia.  Well before the birth, my blood type had to be found and banked.  Unfortunately, for privacy reasons I can't know the donors, so therefore can't thank them. But next time someone needs O- blood, I will donate. Because of the negative blood, I also needed Rhogam once we determined Baby Genki's blood type was A+.  To everyone's surprise, there was no Rhogam in the ENTIRE country. So, we had to order from Singapore and it arrived within the last 24 hours of the 72 hour window.  

8. Know what comes next. It is not The Shark's responsibility to get all the Philippine paperwork done before Genki gets her real birth certificate and passport.  More on that if we ever finish the process...

Baby Genki's birth story to come!

Wet Lunch

On the recommendation of a friend, we braved Monday traffic and headed down to Hacienda Escudero, just past San Pablo City.  It took almost 2 hours to get there, but only about 90 minutes on the way home.  A day visit includes a tour of the museum, a carabao ride, lunch at the waterfalls and a bamboo raft tour (I think).  

The museum was not air conditioned and lots of the artifacts - religious, stuffed animals, old clothes and weapons - were looking a little rough.  One chimp was degrading so badly that his foot was all bones (they did not allow pictures or this part would have been well photo documented).  The carabao ride was fun.  A guitar player and singer serenaded us for the 3 minute ride to the resort.  We checked out the swimming pools, but they were not clean, so we headed to lunch. 

At the awesome waterfall restaurant.

It had been described to me as a "floating restaurant," but turned out to be tables in a river.  We started out sitting at the table, then Toto wanted to dip her toes in, then we peeled her down to her undies and she was full out swimming in a couple feet of water.   

The food wasn't amazing, but Toto loved it - chicken, fish, pork, and her favorite, WHITE RICE. She's a Filipina.  The total price for 2 adults and a 2-year old was P2,500 ($58).  While the rafting looked fun, Toto was ready for a car nap. 

No reservations in advance, just showed up around 9:30am.

Villa Escudero Plantations and Resort

San Pablo City, Philippines
(632) 521-0830
(632) 523-0392
(632) 523-2944

E-mail: info@villaescudero.com

Take the South superhighway and exit at 50A (Lucena, Legaspi, Batangas exit).  Turn left at the Sto. Tomas junction. Head straight down, by-passing the town of Alaminos and San Pablo City proper. Slow down upon seeing Quezon arch and turn left immediately after.

Fun Farm

The Fun Farm really lived up to its name.  Visiting requires a reservation, which is unusual for the Philippines.  Some months are literally booked everyday, but this weekend with Typhoon Santi expected to make landfall, no one had booked for Sunday.  We left Makati at 7:45am and were there before 8:30am.  We spent the first half hour playing in the sand house, which is fun except for the duck poop.  There are tire swings and a slide.  Afterwards, we fed rabbits and guinea pigs, checked out the pigs, walked over the bridge on the fish pond, and even rode a horse.  Then they put a wagon on the caribou and we took a ride around the grounds.  The only downside was there was nowhere to go to cool down or even buy a cold drink.

The Fun Farm is open everyday from 9a-4p and costs P300 per person over 2 years old.

High five, Manila

After our visit to the "conservation" zoo (have I gone into that horror?), I set my expectations pretty low for Museo Pambata, the children's museum. I mean for $2, broken, rusty and generally unsafe exhibits must surely be the case.

Imagine my surprise when we arrived and not only was it clean and air conditioned (thank god), but it was well done and clearly maintained. Bring your kids here! They won't need a tetanus shot, or therapy.

Lots of information on protecting the environment.

An herb garden!

The human body.

Interactive Philippine street scene (Toto spent a long time cooking for me).

Big Girl Room

Toto has been a bit apprehensive about the upcoming arrival of the new baby she has named Baby Genki. But the big girl room has helped a bit. The Shark transformed her room while Toto and I were in DC. 

Urban Recreation: Ortigas

Finding ways to entertain children in Manila is not easy. Taking advantage of the lack of traffic on Sundays, we headed to Ortigas. What would be a 45 minute ride on a weekday took only 15 minutes. We started with breakfast at Cafe 1771. Cute setting and decent food.

Afterwards we were among the first to arrive at the Ark Avilon Zoo. Their website was misleading, marketing it as a conservation organization when it was actually a dismal zoo with tiny cages. Redeeming factors were the guinea pig feeding area-it was fun watching Toto hold a carrot on a stick-and the play area which included rocks and sticks. Always a winner with two year olds. We will not be going back.

We also discovered a closed off street full of bike rentals. Toto had fun riding around with The Shark.

Just another Manila experience...

Cebu City

Although I was in Cebu for a work trip, I managed to squeeze in a little sight seeing. Side note: we stayed at the Parklane instead of the Marriott to save money. If money is not a concern for you, avoid the Parklane. There was nothing special.  And on to the sights.

Magellan's Cross is worth a stop. Wikipedia says it is cased in a protective layer because people were chopping off pieces of the wood. But my local guide said rumor had it the cross is not inside. Who knows? For a fee you can buy a candle and someone does a special dance with it to make your wish come true. I passed.  Just next store is a huge church--Basilica del Santo Niño (Church of the Holy Child)--which I did not photograph, but you can see pics and read more here. Apparently the feast every January draws more than a million and the pilgrims sleep in a park. I also heard things get a bit wild with some non-Christian type activities.

The San Diego-Yap House is an interesting place to visit, despite the lack if parking or sidewalk. For $1 a guide lets you touch all the fading antiques, but gives a good tour. Apparently the current owner still sleeps there on the weekend. And put an a/c unit in. Also the street is old. Is that why there are no sidewalks?

And non-history related, Tablea, a chocolate cage with 7 branches in Cebu is amazing. Apparently it is traditional breakfast drink and the owners are bringing back as a gourmet snack and also preserving tradition. Please come to Manila.

Toddler Fractures and UTIs (or How Not to Spend Your Vacation)

Want to know a great way not to spend your vacation? At the hospital. After noticing several of Toto's pee diapers (I know, we plan to start potty training as soon as the potty arrives in the mail!) smelled strange and googling "weird urine smell toddler" I was convinced she had a UTI. So we headed to Munson Urgent Care in Traverse City. Warning: do not take your children there if you value their life. First they gave her a toy fan to distract her, which promptly began smoking. Then they took a non-sterile urine sample and spent the next week calling me to change her antibiotics as the culture results came in. That was awesome. After talking to our real pediatrician, it turns out most of the bacteria in the culture are normally found on the skin and she may not have had a UTI at all. But so glad we got to dose her with tons of antibiotics. The smell is gone, although it may have something to do with the new Seventh Generation diapers - they get super bunchy and maybe give off a strange smell??

Then a couple days later Toto tripped over a cord and cried harder than usual. Clearly something was up when she wouldn't walk on her left foot. So, we packed up the Green Lake cottage and headed back South to see her pediatrician. After an x-ray showed a minor fracture, we headed to the ER for a splint. Despite the fact that she couldn't bear weight on the leg, Toto was a champ and spent lots of time crawling wildly with my parents, sister, and brother-in-law. After five days, we saw a pediatric orthopedist who took the splint off and said that the fracture was so minor that if Toto would walk on the foot she was free to go. Did I mention she is a bit stubborn? No matter what I promised her - ice cream (at 8am), a bike, watching movies - that child refused to walk on her foot. Probably because she was freaked out to be at the doctor's AGAIN and have everyone staring at her begging her to walk. In the end they sent us off with a removable walking boot, which she seemed to love.

We made the long drive back up North to The Shark's childhood home where Toto immediately ripped off her boot in order to ride the new bike from Grams. And that's the end of that story.

Despite the medical drama, we managed to squeeze in lots of fun.

The Henry Ford Museum. Lots for Toto to look at while sitting in her stroller wearing a splint.

Cranbrook's science museum. 

Birthday breakfast at the Original House of Pancakes - oven baked omelette. You need extra protein at 33.

Birthday dessert - lemon meringue pie. Delic.

Lots of butter at The Shark's family reunion.

Back in Manila. And happy to be here.

The Last Two Months

So, I guess I disappeared for a while. But I have good reasons. Namely getting pregnant while on vacation in Japan and the ensuing 16 weeks of brutal morning sickness. That was awesome. There was lots of crying and eating of Cheerios.

Then Toto, Yaya, and I packed our bags and flew to Washington DC for 6 weeks of training. Toto had a blast doing American things like playing on grass and going to the library. She also had lots of first tastes like raspberries, blackberries, peaches, and nectarines. She loved visiting the zoo, Lincoln Memorial, Botanic Gardens, riding the metro and bus, and eating her weight in gelato.

Her grandma and grandpa and two titas (aunts) came to visit, we spent every Saturday morning at Eastern Market eating pancakes, I caught up with old friends, found a prenatal yoga class, and we all had fun despite the dry heaving in the shower (water was a major trigger). But we missed The Shark.

After six weeks in DC, Yaya headed back to Manila (hard for both Toto and I) and we (with Tita A's help) flew to Detroit. I won't get into how badly Delta botched that short flight because, well, it's to be expected on Delta. The Shark flew in the next day and we were so happy to have him back!

We spent a week in Brighton swimming and running. Oh, that's another story. After running hard the first four weeks of pregnancy, I ran a total of .5 miles the next 12 weeks. Granted I did lots of walking and yoga, but I missed running terribly. In Brighton, I got in three runs--2 miles, 2 miles, and 3.4 miles. I was real slow and had to take several pee breaks (reminder: do those Kegels), but it felt awesome. And while I am ranting about pregnancy, what the hell second pregnancy? Why did I start wearing maternity clothes at three months instead of six, and feeling like my hips were breaking at 16 weeks instead of 30? The first pregnancy was awesome, this one, well not quite as easy. December 2 seems like a long way away.

Where was I? Oh yes, Michigan. Toto had lots of fun at the beaches near my parents' house. We caught up with lots of good friends and spent dinners chasing kids around while sneaking in sips of wine and reminiscing about the past. We celebrated the 4th with a BBQ and some grocery store fireworks. Just like my childhood.

Also got to see lots of doctors. Toto weighs 25 pounds and is 3 feet tall, putting her at 50% for weight and 97% for height! We also got to see Baby Genkee (did I mention that's what Toto named her unborn sibling?) who is growing along.

After a week of doting by the grandparents, we headed up to East Lansing to remind Toto of where she will go to college. Despite the Africanized mosquitoes (I made that up, but it might be real. I don't have time to do the research), we had fun seeing Sparty, the stadium which Toto deemed "too loud," the Red Cedar River, and the gardens where we got married 10 YEARS AGO.

Now we are lounging on Green Lake in Interlochen. More to come.

Last Japan Post: Osaka

We had a day and a night in Osaka before we flew back to Manila so we decided to stay in an airport hotel. It was fine, but it was a 30 minute train ride from Osaka. Our flight wasn't until the evening so we got up bright and early to head into the city. I beelined for an adorable "slow food" cafe for breakfast, but realized it didn't open for another hour. The rest of our traveling party was not thrilled. We managed to entertain Toto for an hour then stood pathetically near the doorway until the let us in. Toto promptly whacked her head on a table and screamed for a while. The donuts were worth the wait.

One of the main goals was to see the moss buddha. After walking for about 20 minutes, there it was in all its mossy glory. We poured some water on it.

Then we stopped by the must-see Dotonbori street, full of huge mechanized and brightly-lit signs.

 And then sampled the local fare - Okonomiyaki - a pancake. Maybe shouldn't have gotten the cheese.

Japan was an adventure. A clean, organized, rule-oriented adventure. Hopefully we make it back before we leave Manila in 2015.

Japan: Yudanaka

And back to Japan, folks. Yes, this trip occurred in March and it is now May. Carry on.

The original plan was for The Shark to do some skiing in Nagano (shocker: there is no skiing in the Philippines), but since we had limited time with Sister and her Hubby, we decided to nix the snow and stay in a traditional ryokan in Yudanaka, a small town outside of Nagano.

From Nagano it was another 30 minute train ride out to Yudanaka. Our tiny van pulled up and all 6 of us crammed in. Our driver spoke mostly no English and it was hysterical when we tried to ask him how far the hotel was from the station. He held up 5 fingers, then 4, then 10, while we shouted out guesses, Kilometers? Miles? Minutes? Hours? It turned out to be pretty close. Then we saw this cat. Maybe it was better he couldn't understand us.

Just, why?

The hotel was amazing. The whole room was covered in tatami mats and we slept on thin futons. The best part of the hotel was the many hot spring baths you could relax in, including the one attached to our room.

Every night we had an elaborate multi-course dinner.

That's Toto's seat in the middle with the Hello Kitty silverware. She mostly ate the rice.

It always looked pretty and tasted fresh.

The highlight of the trip, besides seeing Sister and her Hubby, was the snow monkeys. We decided to forego the bus and head up there on foot. There were lots of signs.

The monkeys were adorable soaking in their hot tub. And so docile. I am generally very wary of monkeys, especially after I saw one grab a woman's glasses off her face in Bali. But these guys were way used to humans and weren't looking to snatch any of our stuff.

And luckily there was a sign warning of us, you know, this:

We sampled some local soba and it was delicious. Funny story about this place. We had to wait outside for a table, so obviously we bought some beers while we waited. There are no trash cans in Japan, so we put all the bottles in a bag and stashed them under our table while we ate. And of course mine wasn't empty and may have spilled a little. I didn't even want to have that non-versation with the restaurant lady so we left a good tip, and got out of there.

Because more drinking was in order, we went to a sake brewery. This man was very nice. It was self-serve, which seemed like a bad idea. But was awesome.

Yudanaka was a nice break from city life, even if it did snow our last day. I, being from Manila, immediately assumed someone was burning something and that was ash in the air. It was Toto's first snow by the way. At least now she can recognize it in books.