Pregnancy "Rules" We Broke

When I was still pregnant with Charley, I got tons (and I mean tons!) of advices from families, friends, and yes, even random strangers on what I should and should not do to have an easy pregnancy. 

Well, even back then I knew I was carrying a strong baby (and really she is!), so here are some things or "rules" my roommate slash husband and I have broken to keep our sanity during those nine months of waiting. 

Spoiler: Do not attempt to do any of these if your pregnancy is considered high-risk. 

1. Thou shall not eat sweets and salty food

Oh come on! I am an absolute sweet tooth. So, yes, this is one of the many things I decided I could not not do. In fact, my ever supportive room mate would even bring chocolate pasalubongs for me once in a while. We even have "cheat days" when we would buy junk food and soft drinks while watching TV. Yes, bring on the Mt. Dew! 

OB rule: do not get fat. Uh-oh! 

The key here is you can eat but with moderation. Do not totally deprive yourself from something that could actually make you happy. Believe me, being pregnant has already made you hormonal, so what could a few bar of Snickers or chocolate shake could do? Again, in moderation. 

We even informed my OB about this, and she's all for it. Her only concern was that I would not get fat. Thankfully, I didn't. 

2. Paglilihi 

no traces of Shark Week and Dinuguan

This one's a common belief whereas if you eat something dark or reddish while you're pregnant, your baby's skin will be dark, too, and your baby's physical features will be that of what you had lihi on. This one scared the hell of me for quite sometime. 

You see, room mate and I love watching National Geo, Animal Planet, and Discovery Channel so I got to see a lot of weird-looking creatures. Thankfully, my daughter didn't look much of a shark considering the amount of time I was glued on TV during Shark Week nor did she look like a banana or a dinuguan. Looking at her, one might say she got lihi on a basketball. 

And by the way, I did eat a twin banana because I wanted to have twins…but no.

3. Not going out at night because the aswangs will kill your baby

Seriously. An aswang who would trail me and suck my blood and baby's? Really now. 

This is the most insane pregnancy rule we have. Not to mention, this is the hardest to follow if you have a 7-5 job and live in Manila. Hello, traffic in EDSA! I have been going out at night after tutor…sometimes as late as 10pm, and no aswangs had ever followed me then. They must have been stuck in traffic in EDSA-Ayala, too.  

4. Eating a preggy's leftover 

Rumour has it that if you eat the leftover food of a pregnant lady, you would get all her pregnancy symptoms. Wouldn't it be great if it really worked this way? Unfortunately, it doesn't. 

Eating while pregnant could be a challenge since tastebuds and taste preferences have become quite erratic. There was a time I craved for a Jollibee spaghetti (yes, I ate fast-food, too! Please see # 1) only to take a bite of the hotdog on the sauce. 

I have done this for a number of times, and imagine how much food we would have wasted had my room mate not eaten my leftover. Although my roommate has his fair share of morning sickness, nausea, extreme cravings, and random issues with life, i don't think the reason behind these was because he took a bite from my burger. 

And when I gave birth, there came another hordes with countless of limitless advices…which we broke..with love. 

My barely 1 month old princess in her pink tutu

5. Babies and exclusively white garments

Imagine the surprise and the horror on the faces 

of people when we dressed Charley in pretty onesies of pink, green, blue, yellow, and (que horror!) black. 

Sure white garments are fine and really helpful to make the baby feel fresh especially on hot weather, but so are the other onesies we received as gifts. I think what is more important is that babies find them comfortable to wear. 

6. Umbilical cord and some shenanigans 

There are a number of superstitions about babies and their umbilical cords. My parents and my in-laws were very particular that we should not lose it (we almost did) because if a rat ate it, baby Charley would become a robber when she grows up. Moreover, we were advised to hang it in front of the house so that she would have a lot of (ooops!) suitors in the future. One aunt advised us that we should insert it in the staircase so that her grasp would be strong. 

No, we did not let a rat bite the cord and no, we did not hang it anywhere!  There is no way, I would show off my daughter's umbilical cord for the world to see. 

7. Thou shall not carry the baby after bringing home from the hospital
This one we find hard to comprehend. Why are we not allowed to carry our own baby? Charley is our first baby and we weren't able to see her or hold her for three days we were in the hospital since she needed to stay in the nursery until our discharge.

They said it would spoil her. That she would want to be carried all the time. That she would refuse to be put down in her crib.

Spoiled her her father did! We did not regret carrying her all the time perhaps because she's still light for an 8 lbs, but it's because we really want to be always there for her. Besides, a crying baby is stressful.

Room mate and Charley on our first night after the hospital 

Here they are 4 weeks after 

8. Not taking a bath until after the 10th day 

After my C-section delivery, in-laws, parents, and aunties reminded me that I could only take a bath after the 10th day. Although my OB said I could take a bath on Day 1 even since my wounds are properly covered, the oldies everywhere were totally against it. 

I could not take my smell after the second day anymore, so my room mate and I devised a plan to give me a bath. It was refreshing! Of course, the bath was fast and we used warm water. And please don't tell our mothers.


Every pregnancy and mother is different, so you should really consider what works and does not work for you. My pregnancy went well and baby Charley seems fine even with all the rules her Daddy and I broke.ü