PREGNANCY

"Hon, this is awful bad suffering. Knowing that worse is to come. Ur sweet body will be distressed and distorted. Then the birth will be the worst pain. Shocking!"

"Ya! But we have this baby bcoz it serves as the certificate of our love. I could antagonize these sufferings hon, but please promise me that u are always there."

TRAIN

The small town of Lara
is connected to
the city of Melbourne, (population 3.6 million), by an expressway and a high speed rail link.

The freeway suffers from congestion over the 10 km long West Gate Bridge, which carries traffic over the estuary of the Yarra River.

The railway has been upgraded, and new diesel cars travel at 160 kph (100 mph) over the faster sections.
These blurry pictures were taken this morning on the Warrnambool express into Melbourne.

Wednesday 28 February 2007

Today, Ai travelled by bus to Tacloban.

But it was a difficult day. The compulsive sickness returned.
Needing to throw up every few minutes. but an empty or dry feeling.

So in Tacloban, I asked to meet her on Yahoo Messenger.
This allows us time to exchange ideas without the high cost of
the phone. It also enables an exchange of webcam pictures.
- Ai does not have a camera, and in santa Rita,
she does not have access to the internet.



Feeling unwell, Ai sked not to do the webcam.
But I persuaded her to meet.
She appeared looking very good, her face and lips just a little fuller.
We sat online almost two hours.
For two people who have had only a few days together,
it was satisfying to have this webcam link, however fragile.

It's a train station! ......is it?

This was melbourne's oddball Southern Cross Station
this morning,
as I arrived there on the Warrnambool train,
which I boarded at Lara.
["Where's warrnambool?????", you say!]










Daylight enters through panels in the curvaceous roof,
which are cushions,
plastic cushions,
maybe 5o metres long.















The view out of the station is the end of Bourke Street, Melbourne's central shopping street.
It is almost the ninth month in the sun's solstice,
and you can see the autumnal effect.
Sun losing its brilliance.
Trees ready to turn golden
before losing their leaves.
The winter in Melbourne can be bleak!

ANMUM

"Am here drinking milkfor the baby's brain development.
It's branded ANMUM - high in folate. Choco flavoured but doesn't taste good.

Good night honey, this is last load. Mwah!"

f

The Mom Factor

"They don't care how i feel. That's my Mom when I no have money to give them.
My salary is on Wedesday, end of month.
Am tired and moody hon.
I sleep now.
Goodnight!

"Maybe it is better to obey your mom, sweet?
If she feel you can work. And that at your age you are strong
enough and can ignore pains and cough, and not act like a baby?"

Gossips!

"They knew thru gossips. thats why they want to confirm it from me. I fel ashame coz I was the respected Aileen but now preg and not married yet. Tummy still small." "Ya honey. Tummy small now but they will see it grow bigger every day! Coz you been seriously XXXX'd? That's why they want to see how you answer!" "Just tell them in the the street that it was an accident and more careful in future but you enjoyed being XXXX'd?"

Saturday 24 February 2007

Instead of taking the bus to Tacloban to buy food, Ai is at a special meeting called by the mayor to work out her coming election campaign.

The headache has now cleared after two weeks. There is some lower abdominal discomfort but the sickness has calmed down. She is in good spirits, with lots of fun text messages.

We have the difficulty of obtaining a certificate of no impediment. This has to state that I have no
previous marriage or unresolved divorce. It has to meet Philippine requirements, but is issued by the Australian Embassy in Manila. Then checked by the Philippine Foreign Office. each step involves expense.

But hopefully, we can get a visitor's visa in time for Ai to travel with me to Melbourne on 17 April, so that the babe will be born here in October.

Peter keeps urging me that she will be bored here at Lara, and to move into Melbourne.
--- So I will post a few pictures of Lara to give the general idea. --- And then some pictures of melbourne.

Huh?

Chickenjoy!

Yes! You are in the Philippines and you feel like going out to a restaurant with your fiancee. And you are attracted to the happiness that goes along with Jolibee, Philippines answer to McDonalds. You walk into the bright and exciting evironment, walk up to the welcoming counter staff, and you decide to try

CHICKENJOY !

"Best made even better: Jollibee Chickenjoy with Mashed Potato and Mushroom Rice

With rice and a beverage line in the best-selling Jollibee Value Meals, Chickenjoy is an all-time meal favorite among working Filipinos. While other fastfood restaurants offer similar fare, Jollibee Chickenjoy has a firm grasp on the fried chicken taste that Pinoys love. With fried golden skin and plump juicy meat, how else can the best fried chicken get any better?

Just when you thought there’s no topping the crispylicious and juicylicious goodness, Jollibee gives the Chickenjoy Value Meals a twist with all-new sidings: Mashed Potato and Mushroom Rice.

Enhance your Chickenjoy experience with these special additions that best complement your favorite fried chicken. Try the rich and buttery goodness of Mashed Potato topped with Jollibee’s thick delicious gravy and steaming Mushroom Rice with mushroom-flavored sauce and real mushroom bits.

Enjoy Chickenjoy for a more nourishing lunch with colleagues or a filling dinner during overtime by adding P15 for Jollibee’s Mashed Potato or P9 for the Mushroom Rice. Better yet, reward yourself via Chickenjoy with both the Mashed Potato and Mushroom Rice for an extra P24.

Giving a new twist to a favorite meal can perk you up. Mix and match Jollibee’s Mashed Potato and Mushroom Rice with Chickenjoy original or spicy variant and in one- or two-piece Value Meals. Jollibee’s Value Meal options custom-fit your taste and preferences, the way you like it."

Taken from the Jolibee site: http://www.jollibee.com.ph/coucharticle.htm

Where are you going, Tacloban?

Regional center.

But not much happening here!

Sunday 18 February

In Lara, it is 40 degrees, or 10 Fahrenheit. That is hot. there is also a gusty dry wind from the dirction of the inland deserts. The small dams and water hioles have all dried up. Farmers have had to reduce the numbers of livestock. The beauty of Australia is a harsh beauty. There are no typhoons in the Southern corner of Australia. But as the Summer heat recedes, there are storms of wind and rain from the frozen South.
In between these extremes, the climate is temperate. Not tropical.

Aileen called to say hello. She is feeling better today. An empty sensation inside, but the first day when she has not been feeling constantly sick. Yesterday she arrived home with the lime green material for the bridesmaids' dresses.
Here is an example of one of her text messages in the last few days :

When I feel so empty within
like how I feel now,
I stare at your pictures
wishing ur here.
Really I miss you so much
my James.
Am feeling so sad now!
Need u!

Saturday 17 February 2007

The story so far
is that last Sunday Aileen did a test which proved positive. Pregnancy. Conceived between January 7 and 24. On January 10, we got engaged, and had arranged a wedding at Santa Rita on 8 April. the pregnancy came as a surprise.

On Tuesday Ai visited a gynaeclogist and was shown an image of the miniature embryo, and given a fortified milk, medecine to support the pregnancy and asked to take more rest. She struggled through the week overwhelmed by lassitude, day-long sickness and a constant headache. On Friday she got to work for the first time in aweek, and the staff looked anxious now that the carefree wedding is burdened with the risks of pregnacy and of a foreigner who may just disappear as so many do. - but I shall not disappear!

Saturday - a rainy, cool, Saturday in the central-southern Philippines, Aileen managed the long bus ride to the city of Tacloban. After two hours on webcam with me, in which i took these rather distorted images, she met with friends DANGIE and LEMUEL, to select lime green fabric for the bridesmaids' dresses Then they settled in Jolibee for a burger.
Aileen said her friends noticed the difference, instead of "SMART Aileen", they found this tired looking, run down, yucky Aileen, struggling not to throw up, and untidy. There is a slight filling out of the face and breasts already after a mere 5 weeks approx. The other picture shows her as in january, looking sleek.

Friday 16 February 2007

From active and fit
to
lethargic and prone to vomitting,
with a constant headache,
unable to face normal food,
drinking a strange concentrated milk ...

Ai has been suffering badly this week
and has been unable to attend her office at santa Rita most days.
She valiantly forced herself to attend today, friday,
and was met with anxious comments from the others....

Pregnancies vary from person to person,
and it is hard to tell how long this nauseous early stage will last.

The wedding day is 8 April,
and everyone will know she is some three months pregnant.

Too bad!
We made our marriage commitment in january,
before realising Ai was pregnant...

Mummy and Daddy !

Just received a text message! [Yes folks, you may expect to receive all the vital communications by text ...] It reads :

"Hi hon

congratulations !!!

u now a daddy.

Wow, I don't know how i feel!

My hands r cold knowing it's positive."

Sunday February 11, 2007

Kangaroos at Lara!.... 65KM south-West of the big city of Melbourne, the start of the Western Plains that go for ever. This dry country with vast open spaces.

And above that, you see James on the aircraft from Manila to Tacloban. A BAC 320 I think, of Cebu Pacific. Above that, the aircraft sitting on the tarmac at Tacloban, seconds before I met Aileen. -----

Aileen thinks she may be pregnant.

There is the delay, the constant headache, the drowsiness, the sensations and firmness of the breasts.

She is taking a test this morning.

If she is pregnant, we hope the baby will be born in Australia in October-November.
- It will be a surprise.
We took no precautions and were hoping that eventually a pregnancy would occur
But we did not expect anything as soon as this.

I have not attempted to dicttate to Aileen.
For her part, she has acknowledged our mutual need to enjoy time together before the complication of parenting.
For each of us, this would be our first child.
Possibly we would place the child for a year or two with Aileen's parents.

So just as i waited endlessly yesterday when Ai travelled on her usual saturday shopping trip to
Tacloban, and bought a pregnancy testing kit, hoping she would do he test urgently, so I am now waitin this morning. - the time difference during Australian daylight saving time, is 3 hours.

Am I happy if it is a pregnancy?
Sure!
I had considered myself too old to have a child, so.... it is good!
An expression of love.

After meeting Aileen on exchanges over the internet in September, we have actually fallen in love. Not just for my looks! Not just for hers either! But something deep.