I found out I was pregnant last March.
I spent the following weeks browsing at websites, books, and magazines about baby stuff and pregnancy. By April, I stopped reading them altogether. I still take advice from other mothers, there are some real gems of advice from moms around, but in general I decided I will do this on my own.
Why did I reach that conclusion?
I hate to sound too anti-capitalist but the whole baby/ pregnancy literature out there seems propelled by market forces. A lot of times it is hard to see what is necessary from capricious. If I were to follow baby magazines or websites, I am expecting to plunk down 50k PhP just to clothe, shelter, and feed my baby for the first few months.
The literature on pregnancy is even worse. In general, all those advice from ‘experts’ will render a pregnant woman immobile because everything is potentially dangerous for the baby. Again, the medical industry and maybe pharmaceutical industries keep on pushing products on me and my partner that I absolutely must take or I risk harming my baby forever.
I have a confession to make. 3 months ago, I had a threatened abortion from the heavy workload I was doing while on field assignment. I was prescribed 2 weeks of complete bed rest, supplements, and medication to keep the baby to hang in there. I took the 1 week of rest and the supplements, I passed up on the medication.
Is this an ugly mommy confession to make? Will my daughter (yep, we checked already) tell me that I do not love her enough that was why I was unwilling to spend extra money to further ensure her safety?
I hope not. All I knew was, during that time, I knew my body more than anyone did. I was tired, it was rigorous work. I rested and the bleeding stopped. So I figured that as long as I rest, the baby will heal on its own. I was right.
I think that set the tone on how I have carried myself so far in preparing for motherhood. Check with my body (I have always been attuned to it anyway). Keep myself happy.
And there is a second ugly confession, I counted on my baby as well. I know that they are supposed to be protected, but I figured it is a human being as well even when it is still in my womb. So I asked him (I wanted a boy then), ‘life will always be hard kid, sometimes it is not enough to be there. you have to want to be there. so please i need you to hang tight.’
She did. 
Two weeks ago, we saw her happily playing around my tummy with the ultrasound. She turned out great. Normal even if I have been throwing up non-stop, even if I have lost weight, even if I had to take medication for my thyroid and acidity, even if I had to suffer with second hand smoke while I was on field, and all the other boo-boos. She is fine.
I couldn’t be prouder.
