Life, Day by Day

Who is Preemie Girl? Last year, in mid-July, a woman was brought DOA to the emergency room of the provincial hospital. Her severely premature baby miraculously survived but was brought to the hospital 6 or 7 hours after birth. Her mother was previously admitted to the hospital's ICU due to hypertension and was closely monitored for several weeks.  She was relatively in a stable condition and the doctors were waiting for the baby to become more viable before doing a caesarian section, but the family decided to go home.  She eventually delivered at home and died due to severe postpartum bleeding.  The baby developed acute respiratory distress syndrome and was not expected to make it.  Because this was a public hospital with limited resources, she was not getting the kind of care severely premature babies like her should have. Some mothers nursing their own premature babies would give her their milk and help take care of her. Initially I really did not take much...

My two grandmothers were as different from each other as oil and water.  Lola Rizing@age 40 My paternal grandmother Rizalina Javelona Lopez , died at age 91...a pretty long life. We had our share of long conversations which consisted mostly of her memories and how she would have lived her life if she had the chance to do it all over again. She told me stories no one in the family knew. I am very privileged to share a few of her secrets. Her husband and eventually her children too, looked upon her as a very dependent person, and thus treated her like a child. But the Lola Rizing I knew was someone who was not an intellectual or highly educated, but was very insightful and extremely wise in her old age...someone who outwardly manifested a soft character but inside was a strong, self-sacrificing woman who would do anything for the children and grandchildren she loved. Her opinions did not matter much to her husband so she learned to keep it to herself, deferring to him at a...

It's a brand new year and almost everyone I know is thinking about what is in store for them and for the world in 2009. But, I don't look that far ahead...I think that planning and then failing is too depressing...so, although I do follow a schedule, flexible at that...I always think and plan my life in terms of days...or if needed, 2-3 months max. I don't dwell on what if's or what could be...but that does not mean that I am not introspective or that I am impulsive...it just means that I don't worry about it. The fact is I am a cautious and deliberate person...I don't do things without thinking of consequences...and because I am like this, I believe that nothing happens by chance. So my wish for 2009 is that it will be a year of happy consequences for me, my loved ones, my work and the people I work with. Happy New Year!!!