We felt like celebrating. So even though we didn’t really plan on buying Mateo his stroller this soon, we decided to buy him one anyway. It gives us freedom to take him places. Something we would like to do now that we know our baby is perfectly healthy! I originally wanted to buy the big kind of stroller for him, a reversible one. Ramil wanted an umbroller though, for its portability. He won. I don’t mind though, it’s such a pleasure to push Mateo around in his stroller, it’s so light and maneuverable.

I would like to begin this post by saying thank you to all those who included our family, especially Mateo, in their prayers. We truly feel blessed.

Finally, Mateo had his VCUG last Saturday. The pedia-urologist didn’t find any reflux of the urine to the kidneys nor any posterior valves. Basically, any reason for our baby’s UTI that needs serious attention was eliminated. YIPEE!!! All the hassle (not to mention the extra expense) was worth it after learning that there is nothing wrong with Mateo’s urinary tract. The possible reasons now for his UTI could be his immature bladder and/or an uncircumcised penis.

The case with the immature bladder is nothing to be too concerned about. According to the report, it is appropriate for his age. It just means that his bladder doesn’t fully function well yet. It takes a while before it would release his urine, sometimes up to the point where it is already almost full. This is very much similar to adults trying to hold their urine inside (a reason for UTI). As Mateo grows up and he gets more control of his bladder, we should be able to train him to urinate frequently.

With his uncircumcised penis, his foreskin might be accumulating germs that causes infection to go up his ureter. He is recommended for circumcision which we will have done in the next few weeks. These two factors might both be the reasons for the UTI. Mateo also has to be on antibiotics indefinitely to prevent any infection from recurring. His pedia doesn’t want to risk another UTI for fear that his kidneys might be compromised next time.

The VCUG, as expected, has caused a lot of cries and wails from our baby. He has also be irritable after it, maybe his penis was still sore from the catheter. Hopefully, the worst is over now.

‘Mommy, what are they going to do to me?’

‘I’m not scared, mommy.’

The smallest one there in an oversized hospital gown.

Ever since we brought home Mateo, we’ve been getting unsolicited advice from a lot of people to just let Mateo sleep with us in bed during the nights. Mateo has this playpen/crib which my mama brought as a Christmas gift and we were adamant that he sleep there.

I have a variety of reasons for not wanting him to sleep with us. One, I wanted Ramil and me to maintain our ‘couplehood’. It’s enough that Mateo has arrived and made it a threesome. I don’t want us to lose our identity as a couple just because we have a son already. As I’ve told Ramil several times, before we are a mommy and a daddy, we are husband and wife. I don’t want us to be limited to being parents, we are still a couple. Secretly though, I think people are just scared I would get pregnant again. LOL. Nothing to fear in that department though, I wouldn’t want another baby right now.

Another reason for wanting Mateo to have his own sleeping space would be our sleeping habits. Ramil and I both move a lot when we’re sleeping. I don’t want any of us accidentally hitting our son with an arm or a leg.

Since last week though, Mateo has been sleeping on our bed. It was more convenient for us to check on him when he started getting fevers if he’s just lying beside us. We haven’t moved him back to his playpen though even though he hasn’t had any fever since Sunday. We found it easier to wake up in the middle of the night and not have to get up to tend to Mateo. We’re giving him a deadline though, when he gets better sleeping at night, he’s moving back.

All the members of our family have different names for Mateo. My sister would call him oompa loompa. My mama would call him Teo. Ramil’s parents would call him Mat. And recently, my papa called him buddha. I can see why.

This is how Mateo looks whenever he is lying in his tummy. His cheeks are so fat that they get squished so much. I love kissing those chubby cheeks. Just waiting for a few more weeks to start biting them, hehe!