A Bag Pause… All About Fabella

I will do a bag blog later, but I had to share where I went today 🙂 

Last Sunday, Accessorylab’s SA Marge, who was already on maternity leave and was  9 months pregnant, started leaking amniotic fluid without her knowledge. It was only on Wednesday that she found out she was– and she wasn’t even in labor then! She had to be rushed by ambulance to a hospital, and ended up being sent to Fabella. She was induced to go into labor, and hours later, gave birth. Her baby was brought to the NICU and was put on an oxygen tube.

My good friend and business partner Rodina and I went to visit Marge and her baby today at Fabella. Both mother and baby are doing much better now– Marge’s son is named Ralph Ivan, and her baby was weaned off the oxygen tube last night and is doing so much better, and will hopefully be reunited with Marge soon. So it has been a really good day, and it’s just great that things are really looking up 🙂 Thank you for your prayers for her.

We managed to go into the NICU to see Marge’s baby 🙂 *We loooove babies!!!*

Here’s he is! Ralph Ivan 🙂 So adorable!!!!

Now, about Fabella. You all know that because of Rea Harrow of Moms for Moms, Fabella Hospital ended up having a soft spot in my heart. There are over 80 babies born daily in Fabella. While there are healthy babies, there are also a lot of them who end up in intensive care because they were born premature, or with birth defects since the moms were never given any prenatal care (this is partly the reason why I am hoping the government has better programs for women– and yes, the RH bill… but I will not get into that because I don’t want to end up debating about it). 

Anyway, it was from that initiative of Rea and Tina Navarro of Ilaya Couture that I too, ended up joining the Moms for Moms Group. As a result of Rea and Tina’s introduction to Fabella Hospital, I put up my Hermes Victoria bag for auction, and with the proceeds (+ more), we were to buy NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) equipment for Fabella. The amount of money raised exceeded the auction proceeds, because you, dear readers, thought of also sharing your blessings for this cause. As a result, we raised a sizable amount of money, enough to purchase 2 oxymeters and 2 microinfusion pumps,  donate diapers and dry goods, and we were also able to help “Ondoy” moms, and as a special treat, throw a Christmas party for the street children in Del Pan (and we also had very generous sponsors for that event). We still have about Php 80,000 remaining in that fund, all of which has been accounted for  by the very kind- hearted Rea Harrow.

So anyway,  after visiting Marge at the maternity ward on the 3rd floor, we were taken around by Dr. Magistrado on behalf of Dr. Tumale. We were given scrubs to wear, and this time, we had to wear their slippers (a new measure– which is actually good– to lessen germs entering the NICU).  It was in there that we were able to see the “fruit” of your donations (which Rea had brought to Fabella months before).

These machines were purchased with my auction proceeds + donations that were handed over to me  by YOU (blog readers), friends, relatives, store clients, and even strangers who have heard about our cause and had wanted to help.  So I’m so pleased to show you where all your donations went 🙂 And it’s helping save babies’ lives! THANK YOU ALL!! Do pat yourselves in the back for that 🙂 But there is still much that needs to be done.

After having talked to both Dr. Magistrado and Rea (who also spoke to Dr. Tumale), we were able to determine that Fabella still continues to need oxymeters (because that gets shared), so if you are interested to either volunteer in the future, donate equipment or dried goods, please contact Rea Harrow of Moms for Moms at (+63917) 850-5766 and drop me a line at baghagdiaries@gmail.com

Really grateful for all the help we’ve gotten in the past from you all! Do know that the help you’ve given has really gone a looooong way!

x
TheBagHag