Scout started taking his unsupported baby steps at  months. People say boys start walking at a later time as compared to girls. I guess he's in a hurry to explore the world. So, we set out to explore the world of walkers.

I gave birth before our country was hit by the wrath of Supertyphoon Yolanda. I was in my 38th week and A was at work when I started having contractions. Although I did have my emergency contact list of people whom I could contact when I'm by myself and go into labor, I opted to go to the hospital by myself. Stubborn me, I guess, plus the hospital was just a few blocks away...but, I did take a cab going to the Emergency Room.

I spent the next 11 hours in labor, but just spent 15 minutes in the delivery room (normal delivery). Apparently, my OB cum drill sergeant had a bootcamp program for me in the delivery room...she had me do situps as I try to push Scout out. Believe me, it sounded so crazy when I heard her give me that instruction while I was having contractions. But between trying to make sense of what she wants me to do and being at the height of labor pains, I just wanted to get Scout out. So, there I was...inhale, hold, situp, push. Repeat a few times, and out the boy went. By the time A went into the delivery room, we were already done...to everyone's surprise.

All's well that ends well...thanks to Dr. Angela Sison-Aguilar and the rest of the hospital crew.

I've been going through my checklist of items for Scout's arrival and noticed that Mothercare is his dominant brand. Proximity to their branches can be attributed to that: I live quite close to one branch and work in between 2 of their other branches. Apart from that, whenever I go shopping for baby things, I end up seeing what I like there.

I call my belly tenant Scout, but that's just a maternal nickname. We still have a major task of coming up with Scout's legal name. As if that isn't difficult enough, my boss had to give me (well, she gave it to me more for A ) this article to read: Tricky Job - Choosing the Right Name For Your Child by Teh Kok Tiong. She just had to remind me that Scout will have a Chinese name.