First of all, thanks to everyone who joined Marriage and Beyond’s ProMama Giveaway! We’re running another raffle very soon, so that is something to look forward to. If you happen to be a liker of Marriage and Beyond on Facebook, chances are you also joined our recently concluded 950 Liker Mark where we gave away $10 via PayPal.  We’re currently less than 40 to go to reach our 1,000 Liker Mark and we’re giving away $20 then!

Please make sure you fill out this form to make sure your name is included in the raffle:

—>Marriage and Beyond Facebook Likers<—

Random.org picked out #38 amongst all 41 entries!  As I recently mentioned via the giveaway I just concluded a while back via Kikay Corner, I only click the “generate” button once to be fair to everyone who joined. Interestingly, a guy won the contest. He might not be a ProMama candidate, all right. But he probably knows someone who is, who he will give this ProMama gift set to.

I will be launching another raffle where I will give away freebies from last month’s Blogapalooza and maybe throw in some red envelope coupon codes too. Stay tuned! Have a lovely week everyone!

Update: As I promised all Marriage and Beyond Facebook Likers, I’m doing a redraw because I have not heard from the first drawn winner, Rommel Cardenas. I gave him a whole week. So here’s the result of the second draw:

Congratulations, Analyn Alonsagay!

Kindly email me via jenaspacio (at) gmail (dot) com your Full Name, Shipping Address with Zip Code, Mobile Number and  Scanned ID.

Marriage and Beyond is giving away a ProMama Gift Set to a dear reader next week. Thank you Campaigns PR for providing the gift set. Since I am not in the family way, I would much have this product in the hands of someone who will benefit from this pre-natal drink or at least a reader who knows someone who is pregnant.

From the Press Release:

ProMama helps women meet the increased nutritional needs of pregnant and lactating women. Only ProMama contains Pro-Nutri Builders, ingredients that support the health of both mother and child during the delicate journey of pregnancy. These include Maternal Immunity Enhancers like Beta Carotene, which has antioxidant and immunostimulatory properties, and Vitamin C, E and A, which also helps promote good vision and cellular growth.

ProMama’s Pro-Nutri Builders also include Fetal Mental Enhancers like DHA, a nutrient important for a child’s visual and mental development. Folic Acid, which is essential for the development of the nervous system and in preventing neural tube defects, and zinc are two more ingredients in ProMama that help in fetal neurodevelopment.

ProMama also contains Fetal Bone and Muscle Builders like Vitamin D, important for calcium metabolism and to support fetal bone and teeth development; Protein, the building block of all tissues; Iron, which helps in the generation of red blood cells that carry oxygen to all parts of the body and Calcium, which supports bone development.

Just 2 servings of ProMama daily can help promote appropriate weight gain during pregnancy.

What the winner will receive: A gift bag with a 350gram of ProMama by Wyet Nutritional Drink, 1 charm bracelet, 1 charm anklet, Pre-Natal Care Book and a foldable fan

Contest Mechanics:
1. You have to be a “liker” of Marriage and Beyond on Facebook.
2. Share this contest on your Facebook wall. To share, click on the Share button located at the bottom of this post. On Facebook’s “What’s on your mind” status update box, tag Marriage and Beyond. Then post: “Marriage and Beyond is giving away a ProMama Gift Set. Join now!” (To tag, type the “@” symbol then follow it with “Marriage and Beyond”, wait for the menu box to appear and select “Marriage and Beyond”. Then type in the rest of the required phrase )
3. When you’re done with the Facebook status wall update, go to the comments section of this post and enter the link of your Facebook entry with your name and email address. (To get the link, hover to the time of your shared post (e.g. 4 minutes ago) and copy link address. Paste this to your comment to make your entry count.)
4. Contest is open to everyone who has a local address. Free Shipping.
5. One entry per person.
6. Deadline for entries is one week from now,  October 16, 2011 at 11:59PM. Winner of the ProMama Gift Set will be raffled via random.org.

Please note that I will be requiring the drawn winner to send me a scanned ID for verification. There were a few entries in my previous giveaways that were suspicious. Let us do this to be fair with the rest of the contest joiners, shall we?

Winner of the ProMama Gift Set will be raffled via random.org.

]]> http://www.marriageandbeyond.com/2011/10/09/contest-alert-promama-by-wyeth-giveaway/feed/ 41 http://www.marriageandbeyond.com/2010/06/18/whether-we-conceive-again-or-not/ http://www.marriageandbeyond.com/2010/06/18/whether-we-conceive-again-or-not/#comments Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:00:01 +0000 Jennie http://www.marriageandbeyond.com/?p=5918 My age has always been a non-issue for me. Whenever I get asked how old am I, I don’t shy away from answering. I’m 33 and will turn 34 on September, for the record. With that fact, my husband and I have been vocal about hoping to have another child. (my body is ticking away [...]]]>

My age has always been a non-issue for me. Whenever I get asked how old am I, I don’t shy away from answering. I’m 33 and will turn 34 on September, for the record. With that fact, my husband and I have been vocal about hoping to have another child. (my body is ticking away from the “ideal” child bearing stage)

But if this won’t be what God has got planned for us, we will rest on the fact that He is in control and He has the ability to change our hearts and fill it with peace whether or not we will be blessed with another child. The prospect of anticipation, the pregnancy routines like having to take prenexa, even the childbirth classes, can be fun. But those won’t get the best of us. Because life does not alone encompass to reproducing. It might be that we might be called to have our efforts diverted to something else, which is always a possibility. God ultimately knows what’s best for us and that’s where we rest our case.

The hubby and I are praying that we will be able to conceive soon. I am already 33 years old and if it is God’s will for us to have another child, then it is going to happen. If it’s not, we’re okay with that too. But with that thought, we figured it is just wise to get ourselves checked if we are healthy enough. Especially so that I miscarried twice after I gave birth to Jed. After a few tests, I was cleared by my obstetrician. Now, it’s really up to us if we will move on to further tests to investigate what could have caused the blighted ovum and the miscarriage of both pregnancies I had in 2006 and 2007.

This isn’t exactly the best time for a work up for the both of us. Jeff has been up to his neck with things to do as he organizes their upcoming missions trip to Africa. And I have been very busy with my va jobs, article writing and homeschooling. Although our hearts’ desire is for me to be taking prenatal vitamins soon, we remain in the hope that God knows what is best. He’ll know when it is time.

One might think while scratching his head in wonder, why is it that Jennie was so sure that she was gonna have a girl the time she was pregnant the second time? Was it just wishful thinking or there is really something behind the belief?

At this time and age when sonography cannot yet tell a baby’s gender during the the first month and for everyone’s info it just ain’t possible! Regardless of how high tech this world gets. During the first month after the several cell divisions,  after the fertilization process and onwards, the development starts with the spine and the foundations of the brain, then the central nervous system. Then the heart starts beating, and so on and so forth. (It pays to watch National Geographic!) Well, anyway, going back this is how I knew for sure. Maybe you could go check your own conception (ask your respective mommas and ask them how old they were when they conceived you. Remember to add 9 months to the mother’s age) and check it out with the calendar.

The reasons why it works that way I still have to research on. But there should be a scientific explanation to this theory, or whatever you may call it.

Let’s put it to the test!

So, how does it work? By crossing the month a child was conceived with the age of the mother at conception, it is purported that you can determine the birth of your unborn child. For instance, a 30-year-old woman who conceived in January would give birth to a boy, according to this calendar. Remember, this chart is based on the month the baby is conceived and not when the baby was or will be born.

Ready to give it a try? If you’re TTC and want to try for a girl or a boy, check your lunar age (add nine months to your actual age to determine your lunar age) and the month to plan the gender of your child. If you are a mom-to-be, please check the month you conceived and your lunar age at the date of conception in the chart above.

We said goodbye to Jem, June 23, 2006. We had a miscarriage, an early pregnancy failure. God knows how tough that was for both me and Jeff. Praise Him that His grace is sufficient for us to move on after the grieving.

Jem, we wanted to have you but God has something else in mind. The privilege of carrying you for almost 3 months is an honor in itself and I thank God that through that time I know that your voice will be a great addition in Heaven praising Him. Unformed as you were, I can’t picture how you’d grace the heavens, but I’ll have our Heavenly Father take care of that. Psalm 139 says that God was there when you were formed and only He knows what happened between your conception and the miscarriage. You could have been our angel, but you were more special than that.

I found out we were pregnant with our princess at 4 weeks,4 days AOG which was Sunday, May 7,2006! It was a surprise alright. Mixed emotions of loving her dearly already but was also anxious about a lot of things and how early the Lord has intended this little girl to come in our lives.

I love you already and you are not even formed yet. Your father and I are waiting for May 23 to finally have our TVS to see your heartbeat. Oh my girl! How I love to hold you in my arms! You are a reward from the Lord and although there are a lot of worries at our end, we know the Lord will not let us want. He will provide for our needs. I love you very much, Jem. Today is your big brother Jed’s first birthday, my prayer is that you both grow to love and take care of each other. =)

Today I spent most of my time at home finishing some stuff needed for Jed’s arrival. I’ve sealed off two out of the three windows of our home with screens to ward off mosquitos. I sure don’t want mosquitos sucking the blood off my baby. This is the second time I did some woodwork at home and how I hope that when Jed grows up, I’d be able to transfer some of these skills (I’m not as good as a carpenter, I know others who can do a better job) to Jed. I would love to teach many ‘manly’ things to Jed. I know he’ll be my play buddy when he grows up. For now, I’m excited (and nervous) about Jed’s arrival. I pray that he’d arrive at a perfect time (not when I’m at camp and hopefully not on a Sunday service – not during our 2nd Church anniversary). Well, I’ll be ready anyhow and plan for the possibilities but I’ll keep on praying too. “Lord, please make it a safe delivery both for Jen and Jed and may Jed be a normal, healthy boy when he arrives.”

I’m now 80% on the way to giving birth to our little angel! 52 days to go, and as the days pass I can’t believe I’m getting closer to the big day. Tomorrow, Jeff and I will attend our first childbirth class with Chiqui Hahn. May the Lord use that class for us to know what to anticipate and gain confidence on what we should expect on the big day.

Jeff has been the most wonderful and supportive husband, (except for one morning he was rudely robbed of his sleep by my leg cramps w/c is getting more frequent as the time grows near). He just finished doing carpentry work and installed the window screen in Jed’s room! He bruised himself a little but did a neat job nonetheless.

JZ in Mama’s Utero:

Here’s a 3D shot at 28 weeks and 3 days AOG. I gave the docs and my folks a little time before they got to peek at how I look like and who I resemble. The top shot is a view of the lower portion of my face (I was trying to hide but here you can see my left cheek and lips). The second shot was done several minutes after they persistently tried to view my face. I still tried to play hide and seek with the umbilical cord partially covering my nose and and mouth. But here they saw for sure I got my forehead and cheeks from mama. My papa undoubtedly confirmed that I look like mama! (check out the inset pic-when mama was 1 year old). This has been the most exciting day yet for my folks! Wait till I come in another 2 months!

Jed is from the name Jedidiah, my Papa came upon that name during one of his devotions and he knew it was the name that I will have. The same name was given to Solomon which means “The Beloved of the Lord”. Papa and Mama both wanted a second name and they loved the name Zachary which means “The Lord remembered.”

I am God’s gift to my parents and as you browse along through this website and you’ll see how thrilled they are for my birth! God bless you and thank you for all of you who have been with my family in prayer and will continue to pray for my mama’s date with the stork. Mama sure is anxious as any first time mom would, but she is constantly meditating on Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Eight weeks to go and I’m tumbling about in my uterine home, can’t help it. I’ve got to wait but it’s getting smaller and smaller round here as I try to stretch my growing arms and limbs.

clockwise: (1) Mama’s utero at 4 wks and 6 days AOG! The day papa and mama confirmed at Dra. Mahusay’s clinic that they were really pregnant. (2) At 6 wks, 5 days. I was an embryo at 7mm (3) A fuzzy shot at 15 weeks and 2 days. The yolk (sac), the ball like object near my bellybutton, makes blood cells for me early in mama’s pregnancy. This was the shot when papa and mama saw me looking at them with a seemingly chubby face wiggling my arms and legs at the same time.

(4) At 17 weeks when papa and mama were told for sure that I´m a boy! Papa was all smiles from the doc´s clinic (texting all of their friends of the news) on the way home!