PIZZA!

I have always been amazed by the swiftness of time. Today, my eldest child, Pizza, turns 30. Allow me to do some bit of reminiscing…

After we got married, Thelma and I sort of mutually agreed to have a child right away since I was already 36 and she was 27. We prayed for a baby girl and even had a name for her already – Eliza Paz – after her two grandmothers, Thelma’s mommy Feliza and my Inang Paz. But the baby did not come without some apprehension on our part. Thelma’s first pregnancy was, to say the least, problematic.

Sometime in October 1979 on the 8th month of her pregnancy, Thelma started to have labor contractions with bleeding that forced me to take her to the old Medical City then in Mandaluyong where I was the Human Resources Manager. It scared me no end when her OB told me that there was greater risk of losing the baby at 8th month than at 7th month. Thelma’s condition fortunately stabilized after seven agonizing days and then we were sent home. At her OB’s advice too, she stayed in bed at home 24/7 until the baby reached full term.

On November 2, 1979 after being advised that the baby was due and that Thelma must move around, I remember bringing Thelma to a supermarket and a movie that day. On the morning of November 3, a Saturday, Thelma woke me up and told me that her bag of water had burst so I immediately rushed her to Medical City accompanied by Mommy Eliza (Thelma’s mother).

But we were mistaken to think that the baby was ready to come out. No way! This baby wanted it her own way at her own time!

Thelma stayed in the Delivery Room in great labor pain all day of November 3 and into the early hours of November 4, Sunday, while I waited anxiously in our hospital room. Shortly before 3 am of November 4, her OB decided to perform a Caesarian section after assessing the situation. Thelma was transferred to the Operating Room and given spinal anesthesia. As her OB was poised to cut her up, lo and behold, our baby reared her beautiful head and greeted the world in grand and dramatic fashion!

Our God-given baby girl in answer to our prayers, was born at 3:20 am, a Sunday, on November 4, 1979 at The Medical City Hospital.

I held her, the first baby of my yesterday’s dreams, for the first time later that day in our hospital room. And you can just imagine how emotion-filled that moment was for me!

As planned, we named her ELIZA PAZ and nicknamed her Pizza, actually a mixing-up of the letters in Eliza Paz, but also an obvious throwback to our favorite fast food item when Thelma and I were dating before and after our wedding.

Looking back, I must admit that I probably missed a lot in terms of bonding with my eldest baby girl during her infancy, toddler, and even teen years. You see, from early 1980 to late 1984, I took up a job that was very demanding in terms of my time. Those years took me away from Thelma and the children (Nico came in March 1981, while Dana was born in July 1983) as I spent a lot of time in the office or in work trips abroad. My subsequent jobs too made me more of an absentee father. In any case, even given my shortcomings as a father, I believe Pizza grew up to be such a wonderful child and a very beautiful person in her own right.

Today, at age 30, my eldest baby girl is now a very devoted wife to Jason, a most loving and solicitous Tita to Nicole and soon to Maddie, and a caring Ate to Nico and Cecile, Dana and Marco, and Mae. I am praying very hard she would soon become a beloved mother too!


Looking at her now, I realize that Thelma has done an amazing job in raising her. But I too cannot help but remember a song from “The Sound of Music”: “but, somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good”, to deserve a precious daughter such as Pizza!