Birth Talk

My birthday is on September 15. My mother, uncles and my late grandmother who were at the hospital when my mother gave birth, always tell this story: The doctor said I was a "spotless" baby with very fair and pinkish complexion and nicknamed me "Pinky". Lola also said that the nursery was full at that time so the nurses made me share a crib with another baby who was born with a cleft palate. When my late grandfather came to view his first grandchild for the first time, he was shocked to see a baby with a cleft palate (he thought it was me). Lolo was so mad and he demanded that I be transferred to another crib. They also said that a day or two after I was born, I had a "menstruation".

I was the first grandchild in my paternal side of the family, and the first granddaughter in my mother's side. Being a special baby, my parents named me after my two grandfathers, Raymundo (maternal grandfather) and Ricardo (paternal grandfather), a unique combination which is oftentimes mistaken as a masculine name.