18 April 2020
(38 weeks exactly)
Dear Let,
You ready yet? Today could be the day as I have reached my 38th week of gestation, the day my OB says I can safely deliver Galen via a caesarian section. I have been experiencing irregular contractions in the past two weeks. Galen has been keeping us in suspense, but for good reason. He wants to be as ready as he could be before meeting his excited family. Let’s see if he could wait one more day to meet our schedule.
As I am wheeled into the operating room on Monday, please stay calm and fervently pray for a safe delivery and a healthy baby boy. I derive my strength and courage fully knowing that you’ll just be right outside the OR praying for me and Galen. I have been able to put off my anxieties in all the nine plus months because of your steady love and support. If there is one thing good that has come out of this COVID-imposed lockdown, it is having you by my side 24/7 in the last weeks of my pregnancy.
You’ve been nothing but the perfect, supportive husband and expectant father. I appreciate that you would always indulge my requests for a back massage. You would also not complain when I would ask you to prepare me a glass of milk well into the night.
We never planned to have a third child. In fact, we were already coping well by ourselves without a helper, thinking we could keep our life simpler with just the four of us. What a shock it was finding out I was pregnant. You said it took a long time before the thought of me pregnant could sink in. “But how?,” you asked.😀
Galen shook our established routines. I was forced to stay home for almost half of the pregnancy. And you were forced to actively search for house-help again. Then came the lockdown, and you were placed into a position you never thought would fall upon you. For the first time, you had to do grocery shopping and take over managing the household. You’re no longer just a provider but you’ve become a caregiver and a household manager as well. I have been for the most part just in bed, practically useless, all thanks to you! It seems like you have paid extra for all the times you missed my prenatal appointments when I was pregnant with Garrett and Gabee. Now, I have that privilege of wailing in pain should labor come early and be brought to the hospital in a car. I took a jeepney to the hospital the night I felt uterine contractions with Garrett and an FX the day that I felt Gabee was pushing her way out. You were traveling at both instances and had to drive home when I was already in labor. Well, Galen is lucky to have you just waiting, with your own hospital bag packed and ready. That gives me such a relief despite the situation we are in due to the threat of COVID.
With God’s constant grace, we will come through this safe and more blessed, with Galen giving us hope that all will be well. Galen is our silver lining amid COVID-19. We can only hope that the world would be somehow better, its people more mindful, caring and kinder when we go past this pandemic. Keep the faith and stay safe.
Love,
Cess