The Reward of the Faith

Originally posted on my Tumblr Blog on Dec 2, 2010 7:10am

“Faith is to believe in what you do not see. The reward of that faith is to see what you believe.” ~St. Augustine

My favorite quote from one of my favorite saints seemed entirely too appropriate during this process. Everything the doctors told us, every instruction, every restriction was followed to a T. Outside of that, we clung on to sheer faith to keep us going daily.

And boy, were we rewarded. 

Yesterday, painful as the first few hours of the day may have seemed, I did my best to stay busy at work — projects that usually came easier and quicker with a partner were done purposely by myself, I slowed down and was much more meticulous in other tasks outside of that just so the time would go by faster. At lunchtime, I left the office and went to church nearby (actually, the Basilica where we got married) and spent a few minutes on my knees praying there before grabbing a quick drink that served as my lunch. I knew I could eat nothing because I was so nervous. Afterwards, the early afternoon seemed to be going quickly. Before I knew it, it was already 2pm … only an hour and a half to go. That entire afternoon, I kept my cell phone in my pocket (instead of on my desk) and kept the volume up so I wouldn’t miss the call. 

Immersing myself in a project in another part of the office, I was surprised to get a phone call from PRC at about 2:40 (50 minutes early), but jumped up and ran outside to take the call. It was June, who I was surprised to hear from, as in the last couple of weeks, we have dealt mostly with Debbie or Karla. Before she could go further, I asked her to hold so that I could get John in to conference the phone call, so he wouldn’t miss the moment. I was happy that it was June who called us as she was the first one who really dealt closely with us when we first started the process and I had grown so accustomed (and probably a little attached) to her. June said that she had been bugging the nurses all afternoon long on our behalf, and insisted that she be the one to call us and notify us of the news. As soon as John was on the line and June asked how he was doing (he answered “nervous”) June said, “I wanted to be the one to call you guys to congratulate you (John: Laughs in relief and excitement; Angela: Squeaaaaaaals in delight) because you’re pregnant!

She let us have a few moments to react (or in my case, scream and stop myself from jumping up and down) before congratulating us again on a very rewarded few months of hard work and patience. Shortly, she transferred us to Karla, who immediately congratulated us and gave me instructions for the next few weeks. The instructions are the same as now: Take it easy, no lifting over 10 lbs. (John’s and my rule is nothing over 7 lbs., just to be safe), no pools, no jacuzzis, no baths, no tampons, douching, or intercourse, no heating pads or laptops directly on my abdomen, etc. I am now to relax and wait patiently until our first ultrasound. We scheduled the ultrasound for December 20th, when I will be exactly 7 weeks along. Although we, of course, know that we are having [a] girl/s, we do not know how many there are, and will not know until that ultrasound appointment.

After one more set of congratulations, Karla said goodbye and it was just John and me on the phone. We decided to make phone calls immediately, as everyone has been waiting so patiently for results. He called his Uncle Mike, his mom, his grandma, and his aunt. I texted my brother Ryan (I promised him he’d be the first I’d notify), called my mom (screamed), my older brother (“Yesssss! Yesssss! Yessss!!!!”), and John’s sister (“Oh yeah!!! All right!!”). A few minutes later, my sister-in-law in Manila (my older brother’s fiancee) called to congratulate me. I then sent text messages to my closest friends to let them know. Various phone calls and texts ensued. It wasn’t until after i left the office that I was finally able to talk to my dad (16 hour time difference — he was still asleep when I called him) and tell him the news. I came back into the office where Meg was actually the one to say, “We’re all waiting!” I stood in the hallway right outside my boss’s office and I said, “We’re having a baby!” Everyone came out of their offices for congratulations. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent making and receiving phone calls and text messages to and from friends and family who have anxiously been waiting for results all week. By the time I finally got home and was able to lay down for a while before John got home, I was still on the phone, but John gave me clearance to finally announce it to everyone else on Facebook. 

We are absolutely elated at the results. All of your prayers have helped us so much in achieving our goal! For now, the next six weeks are critical in the baby’s/babies’ development. The first ten weeks of pregnancy are very critical as the fetus develops all its organs at this time. We have the ultrasound on December 20th to look forward to, and we are really hoping there would be two healthy heartbeats, although we would be thankful for one, two, or three, if God so chooses.

For now, I am four weeks and three days pregnant. Our baby is the size of an orange seed this week (last week was only the size of a poppy seed!) and looks something like this:

According to my iPhone app, my due date is August 8, 2011.

Thank you all for continuing to pray with us. I will be continuing this blog to share in our adventures in this pregnancy and after August, in parenting! Our love to everyone!

xoA