by: Robelyn M. Yambao

​Being pregnant is such a joyous experience for mothers like me. It is such a blessing to have a such gift from God to carry a child in my womb. I have 2 beautiful daughters that I conceived with such a big difference in comparison of signs and symptoms. 

A.      Signs and Symptoms
In 2014, I gave birth to a beautiful daughter in the Philippines. That was my first time to have a baby so, anything about it was magical and exciting. When I conceived her, I thought I was just having cravings for food. I missed my period but I was not expecting that I was pregnant because I sometimes missed my period so, that thing was normal for me. Until, I couldn’t explain what was happening to me. I felt sickness like flu. I have a suspicion that I was pregnant because of the signs I was having for few days after I missed my menstruation. I tried the over- the-counter PT to make it sure that I was not mistaken in my gut feelings. I was right! It was positive. The early signs I’ve experienced were the following:
·         Missed period
·         Cravings for food (I craved for Pancit Canton)
·         Acidic tummy
·         Feeling sick like flu, fever or headache
So, I was pregnant. My tummy was not big, people can’t tell especially when I wore lose clothes. The bump showed up not until 6 months. The entire pregnancy was such a cool experience. I never complained about any pain, I even did not vomit. At the early stage, I gag but I never threw up my food and it disappeared quickly. My only complain was feeling tired, slow in moving and having an acidic tummy. I felt like I’m useless. When I reached the 8th-9th month, I had a beri-beri, swollen feet.
B.      Pre-Natal
I did not go to clinic for my pre-natal in the early stage of my pregnancy. I started to visit a doctor when I reached my 6th month. I went to a lying-in clinic in Las Pinas, Philippines, a walking distance from my apartment for pre-natal. My doctor gave me prescription of Multivitamins(pre-natal) for me and Folic Acid for my baby. These were the meds I need to take daily for the entire pregnancy period. The clinic gave me records of my check up with them and schedules of my future monthly visit. They advised me to get lab tests such as blood and urine tests plus ultrasound. I did it all the instructions, but I did not take all the vitamins because it gave me an upset tummy. On my 8th month, I got UTI, so my doctor gave me cefalexin to cure it.
C.      Delivering My First Born (Signs of Contractions)
The exact date of delivering a baby is not fixed. So, I was just waiting for the right time before going to the clinic and I didn’t have idea when would that be. The due was first week of June as what the doctor said but I gave birth on the last week of May. Midnight of May 26, 2014 I went to toilet for the call of nature. I saw blood stain in my underwear after I pee. I was a bit worried, but I ignored it. When I went back to bed, I couldn’t sleep because I felt a little pain in my tummy. I didn’t know that was the start of the contraction. At 3am, I arrived at the clinic because I thought I was having a baby. I broke my water as soon as I reached the clinic, the doctor told me that I’m going to have the baby at noon time. The pain in my tummy became stronger and closer to each interval. Until, I gave birth at 8am through normal delivery. So, I waited only 5 hours to have my baby and I stayed in there for another 10 hours to rest before leaving the clinic.

A.Signs and Symptoms
I conceived my second baby girl after 3 years. I was 30 years old then when I had my first born. This time, I thought I was having a baby boy because I felt different. Completely different from my first experience. The symptoms I had were the following:

• Flu and headache
• Missed period
• Dizziness
• Vomiting every morning
• Always hungry
• UTI
• Sleepy
• Acidic tummy
• Burping
• Constipation
• Body pain (hips, back, cervix, tummy)

Every morning I vomit. After my every meal I threw up. Every night I felt dizzy. I didn’t want my husband to move too much in our bed. I wanted to lay in bed all the time and sleep. When my tummy became big and heavy after 6 months, my body pain became irritating. I complained about pain in my back, hips, and cervix. I couldn’t walk properly. During my 8th-9th month, I experienced Braxton hicks contractions all the time. I couldn’t sleep on my back, should always be on right and left sides to be comfortable. I couldn’t stand up without my husband’s helping hands. I also burp too much especially at night time when laying down in bed.
B.Pre-Natal
My Pre-Natal was so good. I availed the free service of the Costa Rica health care where they registered me and my baby in their system to get free check-up, ultrasound, lab tests and vitamins. I started my check-up in the Philippines one month of my pregnancy. In our hometown, I paid doctor’s fee of 400 pesos and got the lab tests for another fees. Also the ultrasound was around 1000 pesos. In Costa Rica, all free in public health care even giving birth. I tried the private clinic for one of my ultrasounds and I paid 38000 colones.
C.Giving Birth
The night before giving birth, I saw a brown stain in my underwear. It looked like blood stain but not light or reddish. I felt Braxton hicks again, so I started to observe the interval of the pain by checking the time. Until, I fell asleep and the pain was gone. The next day, everything was back to normal. Though the stain of blood still coming out. After our lunch, I felt the pain of my tummy again. I thought of Braxton hicks was attacking me. But, that was already the start of my real labor. At 1 p.m., when a little pain got started, I jotted down the time interval and it was 20 minutes each interval for an hour. In the next hour, the interval of pain became 15 minutes. Then, it continued the next hour for the interval of 10 minutes and the pain became stronger. At 5 p.m., I decided to go to hospital because I was not comfortable anymore in handling the pain. We packed our things and headed to emergency. We arrived in the hospital at 6 p.m. and I gave birth at 8.30 p.m. In this experience, my water didn’t break immediately. All blood was coming out first then, after 1 and half hours of pain my water broke up, then my baby came out after few minutes of pushing.
I delivered both of my babies through a normal delivery. But, both were completely different in my entire pregnancy period. I never breastfed my first born, I fed her with formula milk while my second baby was breastfed. Another experience to share for a first-time mom like me was the pain in breastfeeding and the sacrifice I need to do every night. That's part of being a mom but everything is worth it.
I hope you guys can gain some info with what I’ve shared here about pregnancy. Thank you for visiting my site. Please share if you think this is helpful.

by: Robelyn M. Yambao

Hola!
I finally gave birth to a beautiful baby girl here in San Ramon Alajuela Costa Rica. My experience was really different from my first born. But, the experience I had with the public health care here in Costa Rica was amazing!
The people here in Costa Rica are so friendly and helpful. They also have a good service in their public health care. They do take care of the babies and children through their system by providing health support for both parents and kids.
If you followed my writing about my Pre-natal here, you know how they treated me in my doctor's visits. Today, I'm gonna share my experience in their public hospital.

Last December 15 at night time, I experienced little bit bleeding and suffered with Braxton Hicks. When I tried to observe the time interval of the pain, it wasn't consistent. The pain was just disappeared until I fell asleep. In my research online, that was a sign of a real labor coming soon. The next morning, I never felt any pain not until in the afternoon. It started at 1 p.m. when I felt the pain in my tummy. I thought that was only a continuation of a Braxton Hicks but when I jotted down the time interval, I was so sure that it was already a real labor. I waited at home until 5 p.m. because I didn't want to go to hospital if I was not sure of my real labor, not until I reached the 10 minute interval and I was not comfortable anymore at home with the pain. At exactly 6 p.m., we arrived at San Ramon Hospital.

We went straight to the emergency entrance. My husband got the wheel chair for me and took me to the attendant who was waiting inside. She asked my Pre-Natal Card for identification and encode the info in her computer while another nurse took my blood pressure.
After she printed my record, she accompanied us to nearby room where other patients were also waiting for doctor consultation. she told us to wait for my name call. We waited for few minutes, after the 3rd person was called, It was my turn to see the doctor. We went inside the room to meet the doctor assigned that night. He asked me personal questions about my pain and my records. While I was relaying my info and the pain I felt when I was at home including the bleeding, he was also encoding my info in his computer. He asked me to lie down, so he can check me through his fingers. Then, he told me that the baby was coming out anytime. He gave us the papers and told us to go to the secretary so they can send me to the labor room. The checking took only for few minutes.
At the secretary, she asked me to show my passport and the Pre-natal card along with the papers given by the doctor. They also told me to change my clothes with their hospital gown. When I was ready, they instructed my husband to wait in the lobby because children are not allowed in the hospital (we took our 3-year old daughter with us). The attendant pushed my wheel chair going to the labor room instead of my husband. 
At the labor room, there were 3-4 attendants inside. I put my bag aside and lie down in bed while I was in pain. They checked my bp and put a dextrose on me. They also put something in my tummy like an apparatus wrap around my belly connected to a machine. While I was in pain, they were busy talking to each other and attending other patients who were also in labor or getting ready for CS. Mostly, Ticas prefer CS than normal delivery as what I've observed maybe they couldn't handle the pain in giving birth. 
Anyway, I was on labor for about 1 and half hours. Around 8.30 p.m. I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl through a normal delivery. After cleaning me and giving me stitches, they gave my baby back and pushed my bed outside the room. The attendant asked me if I wanted to drink tea or water. They were so attentive and thoughtful. Outside the room, they gave me and my baby a time together. Then, a few minutes later my husband and 3-year old daughter showed up. They gave him consideration to see me and our new born baby. After our moment together as a family, they took me to recovery room where there were 4 beds in a room. I was the 3rd patient in the said room. My family went home and instructed my husband to come back on visiting hours.
The doctor assigned to me was always checking me to ask my condition or know how I was feeling. She instructed me what to do for the next 6 hours. 
At 3 a.m., a nurse gave me a bath. The next morning, they instructed me to walk around. They also gave good meals and unlimited drinks for breast feeding. The hospital is really clean. They always clean it and change the bedding everyday. They gave us new clothes/gown everyday and gave things for baby's bath. Baby's clothes and blankets were provided. If you need adult or baby's diapers, just ask and they will provide. The visiting hours started at 10 a.m. my husband visited me without our 3-year old daughter because they don't allow children inside.
The second day was my releasing day. They prepared the child's birth certificate and the child's Carnet (Baby's monthly health record book). My baby and I had a good health record so, they released us without any problem. There were two other patients released aside from me, so we went out together with the attendant assigned to us. We went back to the secretary's office to change our gown with our own clothes. Then, the attendant accompanied us in the registration record outside the hospital to submit our hospital records. After they encode the info they instructed us to go and gave an okay thumbs up. 
My husband and I together with our new daughter were so happy going back home. The experience I had was extremely amazing, it was truly a God's blessing to us. No hospitalization bill, totally free.