Baby Fever

On Sept. 25, Rene and i will celebrate our 5th year wedding anniversary. Since then, we have not had any luck in conceiving a baby. Stress, busy schedules, different sleep patterns, and a polycystic ovary are cited as known culprits. Rene being Dutch only makes matters worse as people would say "sayang naman ang lahi niyo, maganda yung combination (What a pity! You have a great gene pool!)." Which leads me to wonder whether the opposite is true, ok lang ba na pag panget kayong mag-asawa, wag na kayong manganak? On some days, I turn philosophical and reason that maybe it will come when it comes.But sometimes Mother Nature is a bitch, and you need to gingerly nudge it in the right direction.

So it has come to pass that last Tuesday, a trio of pregnant women wanted to schedule a photoshoot with us. The girls are colleagues at work who attended a Family Planning seminar together. One of them is married for 4 years now and has not conceived until after attending said seminar. They invited me to join the program, held every friday for free. I was so inspired by their success stories that i decided to go and check it out for myself.

The Servelife office is located in a non-descript part of Cogon Market. It's on the second floor of a storage facility for rice and palay. But once you step inside their office, you are at once greeted by a warm and cheerful vibe of yellows and greens, and the welcoming faces of its staff and volunteers. I was quite nervous and expected a class-room type seminar. Happily, the atmosphere was relaxed and congenial. It turned out to be a one-on-one type of discussion on a first come first serve basis. Their main facilitators are Ate Mimi and Ate Dolly. They are very helpful, non-judgmental, and knowledgeable. I was also glad to know that my husband could participate in this activity since it doesn't have to be conducted in the Visayan dialect.

Ate Mimi started me off with the basics, giving me a starter kit containing all the basic info and some fertility charts based on the Billings Ovulation Method. Servelife is lucky to have someone like Ate Mimi as she got ther training from Dr. Billings himself! So wish us luck guys and I promise to log-on my thoughts and observations in this excting journey we're undertaking...