10. My fourth pregnancy was difficult. I lost a lot of weight during my first trimester. I generally felt a heaviness on the left side of my abdomen. I kidded Lucas. “What if they were twins?” He replied in jest. “That would be absurb.”
After my first trimester, I went to Manila for a check up. This time around, I thought of looking for a Catholic doctor, hoping to be delivered in a Catholic hospital; for could anything ever happen to me, I wanted to be administered by a Catholic priest. Through the recommendation of my sister-in-law Jean, I consulted Dra. Amelia Poblete at Cardinal Santos Hospital. Upon examination, the doctors said ( Both Dr. Sy and Dr. Poblete, as I went to see both of them at different times.) that my abdomen was beyond three months. I was way on the fifth month according to them, but I could not be wrong. Instead I was told to do a sonogram to determine the fetal age. So I went to UST Hospital for the ultra sound procedure. Upon lying down, the technician first asked me “Mrs, may lahi ba kayong kambal?” Which means “Do you have twins in your genealogy?”
“ No, why?”
“Because the sonogram showed you’re carrying twins.”
“ Hah? Hah? Where? Where?” “How do you know?” I was apprehensive.
“Here......” The technician showed me pictures I could not even understand.
“Here, listen to the strong heart beat.” He said.
“Where is the other heart beat?” I quickly added.
“Here, they have both healthy heart beats.”
Thus I was comforted and assured that both babies were fine. I was happy, I was scared. I could not understand the mixture of feelings inside of me. I shed both happy and frightened tears. I did not know what to do.
People were however happy for me, not knowing the danger I was facing. Dra. Alice Sy wrote an advance notice to whoever my next doctor would be, to which I forwarded to Dra. Amelia Poblete. Her advice....“for early Ceasarian due to massive adhesion.”
In Cotabato, people were kind to me, specially my mother-in-law, the school principal and my co-teachers. I continued to teach at CCI and tutored my children at home. One day, my mother-in-law saw me tutoring Emil while lying down on the bed. She told me if I was feeling tired, maybe I need to hire a tutor instead; but I just wanted to tutor my own kids. It saved a lot of tutoring fees. Hahaha, besides Lucas was always helping me, specially in Math and Chinese subjects. I was also advised by doctors not to climb too many flights of stairs, and so my class was brought down from the second floor to the first floor even though I did not personally request for it.
When I was nearing my sixth month, Dr. Ignacio Yap, (my children’s pediatrician) saw me at South Seas Trading. He advised me to leave for Manila early and not wait for the full term. When I consulted Dra. Annabelle Buenaflor (local gynecologist) for prenatal care. She advised me the same thing. She said she was more concerned about the babies because twin births had tendency to premature and Cotabato City had only one incubator for two hospitals. The other incubator was out of order and had not been replaced yet. Infact two or three more babies at the moment were sharing one incubator.
So, even though I did not like to leave my three young boys, who were still schooling in Cotabato, but I heeded the advice of the two good doctors and enplaned for Manila, leaving the kids under the care of Lucas and my mother-in-law. My tummy was so big, the airline thought I was in full term, but I brought all the necessary papers showing that I was on the second trimester only. Indeed I was big, my abdomen was way up high near my chest, I had difficulty breathing lying down on my back. In Manila I stayed at Balete Drive with my maiden family. My father was still living and in good physical health then. I prayed everyday, for besides my own safety, I was also concerned about finances. How can Lucas and I cope with five children. I opened the Bible almost everyday, to read verses from St. Matthew:
”Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow, they do not harvest and do not store food in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than them?”........
”Look at the flowers in the fields how they grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his wealth was clothed like one of these.”...............
“Do not worry and say: What are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? Or: what shall we wear?”...........
“Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds; and the door will be opened to him who knocks. Would any of you give a stone to your son when he asks for bread? Or give him a snake, when he asks for a fish?As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask him! “
To be continued...........
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