"A Special Surprise" - A Labour of Love

Earlier this year, I wrote The Birth of Our Baby when Ryland celebrated his seventh birthday. This prompted me to also write about Ryan’s birth, Our Small Miracle, when he turned 11 this past June. So I vowed to myself that I would write about Reggie’s as well when he celebrated his birthday in November.

You’d think that I would have enough time to do that. But alas, no. I’d like to say that it was the procrastinator in me who waited until November to even sit down and start writing this story. Well, that played a part. But to tell you the truth, this story had been one of the hardest for me to write. Not just because it happened 16 years ago and I had to dig deep in my thoughts to recall the details. But then again, I’ve written stories that are older than this.

1989, the year I got pregnant with my first-born, had been one of the most emotional episodes of my life. You’ll understand once you read A Special Surprise. It’s about the trials I faced and the decisions I had to make when I learned that I was pregnant with Reggie, who turned 16 in November.

I didn’t want to end the year without completing the stories of the births of my three children, the loves of my life. So thanks to my four-day Christmas vacation, I was able to finish the story of Reggie’s birth.

Just as Reggie had been a fruit of love, this story has been a labour of love. As I wrote this story, I was transported back in time - emotionally - that I found myself in tears when I read my finished work. But then again, I always get emotional at this time of the year.

And now, I present to you...

A Special Surprise

Unexpected

“I hope you won’t change the way you treat me as a friend and view me as a person once you hear what I am about to say,” I told my friend Jocelyn as we head back to the office after our coffee break one afternoon in June, 1989.

She turned to me and asked with eagerness, “What is it, Irene?”

“I’m pregnant,” I said.

I watched her eyes widen with excitement.

“You’re the first one to know,” I added.

She was the only one at my work place whom I trusted.

I was 24 and single. Mama came home during the Christmas holidays. We had such a good time. Mama had been in Canada since I was 15 and she would come home for a three-week visit once every two years. Mama stayed with me at the house I was renting in Pasig. My sister and her family came over several times during Mama’s vacation. That January we threw a birthday party for my niece, who turned one.

Read more here.