Sharmaine: Mourning for dad, expecting a baby

Although she is still mourning the death of her father, Jetho Pribhdas, who died last week due to various complications (one of which was diabetes) at the age of 65, award-winning actress Sharmaine Arnaiz has more than enough consolation in the fact that she is five months on the way with her first baby.

Actually, she and her fiancée, Ernesto "Che" Ochoa, were supposed to have gotten married last year yet, except that one of the Ochoa girls beat them in the race to the altar. Not exactly very superstitious people, Sharmaine and Che felt there was no harm subscribing to the Filipino old wives’ tale about what we term in the vernacular as sukob, which dictates that siblings are not supposed to get married in the same year – otherwise they will be competing with each other (with one getting left out in the process) in terms of financial standing.

Even the civil wedding they were planning this year had to be postponed after Sharmaine’s father was rushed middle of April to the hospital, which was where Mr. Pribhdas stayed six weeks prior to his death.

Jeto Pribhdas was genuinely fond of Che and was even willing to work on the licenses needed for the civil rites, except that tragedy had to happen.

I’ve already met Che and he seems to be a very good person – kind and responsible. (He works in the family pawnshop business.) He and Sharmaine may not have had a long engagement, but they’ve known each other quite long since they basically moved in the same circle and had common friends between them.

When Sharmaine found out that she was on the family way early this year, Che was ecstatic. In fact, he tried to give in to Sharmaine’s every wish, especially when she was still craving for different kinds of food during the early phase of her pregnancy.

Initially, Sharmaine craved for kamias. That was the easy part because kamias grows everywhere and is available all year round. When friends, in fact, heard about Sharmaine’s craving, they sent her baskets of kamias until these practically started to come out her ears.

Then, came her craving for santol, which was a bit difficult because the season for santol only begins around this period. But Che found a way to get her santol.

The most difficult part was when she began craving for cherries. No, bottled or canned cherries weren’t good enough for her. The cherries had to be fresh. Too bad for Sharmaine, even if she went to the US, I doubt very much if she would find fresh cherries there because the season for these pulpy, globular fruit does not begin until summer, which is just starting in America today. Sorry, Che wasn’t able to work out miracles and Sharmaine’s craving for cherries wasn’t satisfied even a bit.

But the baby is fine even if Sharmaine went through so much stress during the six weeks her father was in the hospital and especially when he finally passed away and she was the only immediate member of the family around to take care of the funeral of the old man.

"Pero ang hirap palang maglihi!" she complains. "I’ve played pregnant women roles in the past, but it’s different in real life. Like when you have to throw up. In front of the camera, I just go throw the motions of throwing up. But in real life, you’re still throwing up even when your stomach is all but empty."

The last time we talked, Sharmaine didn’t know the gender of her baby yet because she was so preoccupied taking care of her father she never found the time to go through an ultra-sound. The baby is due in October. Good friend Ruffa Gutierrez, herself on the family way with her second baby, is giving Sharmaine a baby shower soon.

Actually, that wasn’t the first time I sat down with Sharmaine Arnaiz for an interview to talk about "pregnancy." About two years ago, she went to Startalk to dispel talks that she was pregnant or that she had given birth (the rumors had variations). I remember she was accompanied to the studio by boyfriend Che Ochoa that time and he was very supportive of her.

Yes, she went through mental anguish that time. "Nakakapikon," she says. The rumors turned out to be just that – rumors. No baby was born.

But now, she is really on the family way and she’s proudly telling the world. Strangely enough, I don’t hear people talking about it. I guess that’s how things are in show business.