Caught on Video: Mika smiles

Last night, I was telling a friend that now that I've seen Mika smile, I've been spending a lot of time trying to get her to do it more frequently. She'll give me a quick grin and then I'll spend the next 20 minutes trying to get her to do it again. Most of the time she just stares at me. It looks like she already has me wrapped around her tiny little finger.

I was lucky to get a brief grin on video. Now, when I'm unsuccessful getting her to smile at me, I can just replay a smile from last week. If you watch closely, I think she even gives us a wink. This kid knows way more than she lets on...

Mika's first Red Sox game

While the 6AM first pitch of today's Red Sox game probably didn't appeal to most of Red Sox nation, it worked out really well for Mika and I. She got a little fussy around 5:45 (probably worried about how Dice-K would perform in his return to Tokyo), so Yuki brought her out to watch the game with me. She's even wearing baseball socks for good luck.

Updated: I found some photos I took when Yuki and I watched a baseball game in the Tokyo Dome in 2005.

Thank you... I'll be here all night. Don't forget to tip your waitress

This morning I got my first smile from Mika. And it wasn't just a throw-away smile, either -- she was responding to a joke I was telling her... seriously! Finally, I have a captive audience who will appreciate my sense of humor (Yuki has gotten into the frustrating habit of giving me a stone-faced look every time I tell a joke, just to torture me).

Getting the smile wasn't easy, even though our parenting books suggested that the smiles flow like water after the third week. Not so much. So I started doing all kinds of ridiculous things to get her to smile. I tried voices, faces, and even some relatively involved physical comedy routines... nothing.

Then, as I was playing with Mika this morning, I started joking about how the local news stations have been butchering the names of locations in Tokyo as part of their coverage of the Red Sox trip to Japan. I garbled Akihabara just like the reporter did last night and she burst into a big grin. Out of the corner of my eye, I think I saw Yuki roll her eyes -- not only because my joke was marginally funny (at best), but also because she knows I'm going to be intolerable now I've realized Mika might smile at my stupid jokes.

It's pretty intense and it's 103 degrees

We recently heard from a good friend from college who apologized for being out of touch since Mika was born. While such uncaring disregard for our beautiful little girl would normally result in automatic dismissal from our "A List" of friends, she had a good excuse: she was delivering babies in Honduras. What's so special about that, you say? Well, it seems that the labor and delivery process in Honduras is just a tad bit more intense than here in the states...

According to our friend (who has mastered the art of understatement): "The women have to labor outside until they climb up onto the delivery table and push out the baby. It's pretty intense and it's 103 degrees."

I guess we'll stop complaining about how long it took the hospital's catering service to deliver our swordfish fillets to our hospital room as Yuki prepared for labor. Or that the in-room cable only had 45 channels (compared with the 375 we had at home). Or that we didn't have one of the new flat screen TVs we saw in the other delivery rooms. Yeah, we should probably stop complaining about that.

New photos uploaded

I've been slowly weeding through all of the photos we've taken of Mika. Here are two new galleries. One of them is Mika wearing a cute pink hat in her papasan chair looking cute. The other is a collection of pictures of Mika with members of her family (parents, grand parents, aunts, etc). Enjoy.

A flyweight no more

Yuki must be sneaking some raw eggs or protein powder into Mika's feedings, because she bulked up an extra pound since our last doctor's visit two weeks ago. She's closing in on 10 pounds and shows no signs of slowing down (Hachi may soon be the smallest mammal in our household). At 9 pounds, 14 ounces, I think Mika has officially moved into the baby bantamweight class.

We also learned that Mika is in the 95th percentile for height (A 95% counts as an "A," right?). While I'd love to believe my genes have something to do with it, I think it's much more likely that Mika's cone head pushed her ahead of her peers. We'll hold off on enrolling her in an infant basketball program for now...

If only she would do this at night!

When we got the last ultrasound before Mika was born, the images showed her resting her head on her hands while sleeping in Yuki's womb. On Sunday morning, she did the same thing while napping on Yuki's lap. For those ten minutes, she was the only thing in the world we cared about. More photos here.

Hachi, big boys sleep on the couch

One of the baby gifts we've been waiting to try out on Mika is a vibrating, music-playing papasan chair. (If they made these for adults, I'd happily get one. It's basically a Barca lounger with a massager and built in stereo.) You pop the kid in, turn it on, and they happily hang out. Sounds like a dream come true, especially when Yuki wants some time to take a nap or we want to eat dinner together without holding Mika at the same time.

Yuki tried it out today with great success -- Mika seemed to love it. So, apparently, did Hachi. When Mika went into the chair, Hachi ran over to hang out next to her. And as soon as she was out of the chair, Hachi jumped in and curled up to take a nap. It was cute the first time, but we quickly realized that he was getting awfully comfortable in our new little arm-freeing lifesaver. (I've posted some pictures of Mika (and Hachi) enjoying the papasan chair.)

When Hachi jumped in the chair for the second or third time tonight, I turned to him and said: "No Hachi, the chair is for babies. Big boys sleep on the couch." He jumped out and followed me over to his favorite spot on the couch, curled up and went to sleep. Looking back on it, I'm not sure what's more ridiculous: that I feel totally comfortable talking to the dog or that I referred to our mini wiener dog as a "big boy."

Mika's first itunes playlist

Mika is still a night owl, so I decided to put together an itunes play list to help her sleep through the night. In total, there's almost three and a half hours of music designed to carry her away to dream land (if she actually slept through the entire mix, I'd consider it a huge victory!).

Among the 48 songs: Moonshadow (Cat Stevens); Sunrise (Nora Jones); Hummingbird (Kris Delmhorst); You've Got A Friend (Carol King); Love Is... (Common); Call You Home (Mark Erelli); Power of Two (Indigo Girls); Sleeping To Dream (Jason Mraz); Night Swimming (R.E.M.); Over and Over (Morcheeba) and Mercy Street (Peter Gabriel).

My criteria was pretty simple: no cursing, no heavy metal and no songs I'd want to blast in the car. Everything else was fair game. Not surprisingly, I ended up with a lot of acoustic stuff (mostly folk). I guess our expansive hip hop and 80's heavy metal collections will have to wait for another time.

I haven't tried it out yet, but I'm confident the mix will have the hypnotic, sleep-inducing effect we've been longing for. If it doesn't work for her, maybe it will lull Yuki and I into such a deep sleep that we don't hear her crying.

Ultrasound reveals a hurricane?

After I updated the blog with news of my sister's pregnancy, someone mentioned their surprise that I posted the ultrasound photo. As the person said: "It's your sister's uterus... and you posted it on the internet!"

I guess I did (I got permission from my sister first), but I was totally focused on the little baby in the picture... or at least that roundish spot that the doctor labeled "baby." Yuki and I were the same with with our own ultrasound photos. We showed them to anyone who would look at them -- friends, neighbors, people at work, the bus driver... you know, everyone.

The funny thing is, the early ultrasound pictures really don't look like anything at all. They're like a Rorschach inkblot test... Is it a baby or a radar image of a hurricane off the coast of Florida?

During our first ultrasound, I was convinced that I saw the baby until the nurse politely told me she was looking at Yuki's bladder. Bladder, baby... whatever. As soon-to-be-parents we saw exactly what we wanted: the cutest little gray and white blurry thing we ever saw. And we couldn't wait to show that blurry thing to the rest of the world. So what if it was Yuki's bladder.

Mika: Meet Sea Monkey Anderson

My sister recently shared some wonderful news with us... she's pregnant! Ann had her first ultrasound, which confirmed that a weird, gray and white blob has taken up residence in a large black blob somewhere in her body. As far as blobs go, it's one of the cutest I've ever seen.

Ann and Drew have apparently decided to call their baby-to-be "Sea Monkey." A non-traditional name it is, but I think it has real potential. I'm thinking the kid is a shoe-in for a job with "cirque du soleil" or as an avante guarde clothing designer. Or maybe our kids can form some kind of band... perhaps "Mika and the Sea Monkeys."

On a serious note, I hope Mika and "Sea Monkey" become fast friends, so we have lots of reasons to hang out as a big family. Watching my little sister become a mom is going to be pretty amazing.

"It's amazing what you sleep through, Peter"

I've always had the ability to sleep through just about anything (which I clearly didn't pass on to Mika). As a baby, my mom used to run the vacuum under my bed when I was napping. In college, I would fall asleep reading for class, only to wake up a couple hours later to find a crowd of people hanging out in my dorm room -- some even sitting on my bed.

When we got Hachi, he couldn't make it through the night without 1 or 2 bathroom breaks (which we preferred he take outside the house, so we had to wake up and take him to the yard). Each time we got ready to go to bed, I would cheerfully tell Yuki: "Wake me up when he needs to go out!" When the time came to make good on that promise, Yuki would shake me and I'd mumble something about wanting to help and keep on snoozing. She eventually gave up and took over the late-night pee watch on her own.

I was determined to do a better job with Mika. And for the last two weeks, I was doing pretty well. At the hospital, I would spring awake when it was time to feed Mika. When we got home, I took a lot of late-night shifts to help her settle down. But lately, I've been losing the battle to my sleep comas.

The first warning sign came last week. We were asleep, and Mika started fussing and crying. The whole thing is pretty hazy to me, but apparently I turned to Yuki and asked "Do you need a burp cloth?" and then promptly passed out again. Two nights ago, I got my first long stretch of sleeping since we came home with the baby. When I woke up around 5AM, I rolled over and said to Yuki: "Wow, Mika's starting to sleep through the night!" Yuki rolled her eyes and explained that Mika wailed all night and she was awake all night trying to calm her down.

Then last night, Yuki was feeding Mika in the baby's room (less than 10 feet from our bedroom), when Mika threw up everywhere. Yuki called for me... and called for me... and called for me. I never had a clue.

One of our friends recently told a story about a set of new parents she knew. When things got tough with their newborn, they'd joke about flushing the kid down the toilet. This morning, Yuki said to me "It's amazing what you sleep through, Peter" and then wondered aloud if I would fit in our toilet. I may have been a bit premature in clearing a spot on our mantle for my Father-of-the-year award!

Hachi, our four legged body guard

Yuki's father arrived from Bangkok last night, so I went to Logan to pick him up while Yuki and her mom stayed home with Mika. When we arrived back at the house, we threw open the door, put down his bags, and made a bee-line directly for Mika.

Hachi didn't like that idea. At all.

He put himself between Yuki's dad and Mika and started barking furiously (something he doesn't do often). Since Hachi had never met Yuki's dad, it took us about 20 minutes to convince him everything okay. Even then, he made sure he was always a few feet away from Mika just in case she needed his help (or protection). As Yuki's dad rocked Mika in the living room, Hachi laid down by his feet, keeping a constant eye on the baby.

One of our biggest fears in bringing Mika home was that Hachi would get jealous that a new cute thing was stealing his attention. Last night, it was clear that Hachi considers Mika a part of the family. It's also clear that he has decided it will be his job to protect her. I never thought it was possible, but I'm actually proud of our dog.

More Photo Galleries Posted

It's official: I have become my father. He's the one in our family who always has a camera (sometimes two or three at the same time). We usually scoff at him while he's constantly shooting pictures, but when the pictures are developed (or uploaded to a computer), we elbow each other out of the way to give them a look.

Maybe it's a side-effect of fatherhood, or maybe it's in the Sanborn genes... but ever since Mika was born, our camera has been permanently attached to my hip. No moment is too mundane. Mika yawns, I take a picture. She sleeps, I take more pictures. She stares blankly at the wall, I zoom in to capture the oh-so-cute blankness in her eyes.

I've posted a couple new galleries with some of the photos I've taken over the last few days. I already feel bad for our second child... there will be 10,000 pictures of Mika, and probably one photo of our second kid's 1st birthday and then one more at his/her college graduation.

Wanted: Freelance Broadcast Censor

While Yuki was pregnant, we joked about how we'd need to stop using the more "colorful" words in our vocabularies once the baby was born. You know, the words that seem oh-so-appropriate when someone cuts you off ("Watch where you're going, @#^%&$!") , or when a car blows through a red light right in front of you ("Didn't you see the ##%^#'ing red light, you #%@%%^@"), or when you see a beautiful sunset ("#&%@, that's a #@%#$'ing beautiful sunset.")

We've tried going cold turkey, but it hasn't been as successful as we hoped. The cussing has been reduced, but a bunch of our most favorite words continue to eek through. Babies are supposed to be like sponges, so we're worried that her first word might be four letters and start with "F." That's not quite the Hallmark moment we're hoping for.

So what's a cursing couple to do?

We could try the "Leave it to Beaver" approach and try using "gosh" and "golly" and "aw, shucks" instead of our current list of R-rated favorites. But I'm worried we'd be too wholesome and goody-goody. Mika would probably end up as a serial killer.

I considered the possibility of going "high brow" and replacing our four-letter favorites with 15-letter synonyms. Example: "That guy is so pestiferous... listening to him blather on makes me so umbrageous." But who wants to consult a thesaurus every time some bedlamite cuts you off in the parking lot?

As far as I'm concerned, the only feasible solution is to hire our own FCC broadcast censor who can travel with us at all times and provide a "beep" every time we say something in appropriate. If he/she could figure out how to institute a 5-second delay, even better. If you know anyone who's interested, let them know we're accepting applications as we speak.

Spit-up, snorting and other adventures at the pediatrician's office

This morning, Yuki and I took Mika to her second pediatrician's appointment. He started by asking us how we felt the first week at home had gone. After giving it a moment's thought, we told him, "She's still breathing, so we considered that a small victory!"

As it turns out, Mika has been doing just fine. She's gained weight, has good color, and hasn't developed any strange maladies that caused the pediatrician to seize her on the spot. I asked about her frequent snorting (think little piglet) -- it's normal. We wondered about her refusal to go to sleep after 6 PM -- also completely normal. We even asked if Mika was still on course to gain admission to the university of her choice -- that one, it seems, is a little harder to determine during a routine exam (but we still have our fingers crossed).

The positive health report card was great, but the morning was made complete when Mika sneezed while spitting up -- resulting in a strange long-range projectile spray of spit up all over my sweater. You know you love your daughter when the only thing that comes to mind is: "She was looking right in my eyes when she sneezed -- she must really love me!"

A wise observation, indeed

So I just got the following email from my good friend Aaron: "Upon hearing the latest installment of your baby blog, Rosanna [Aaron's girl friend] proclaims that you're clearly not getting enough sleep. I mean does the kid even wear shoes yet?"

She doesn't even wear socks... and it's 1:45 AM and I'm not only reading my email, but updating the blog too. Yup, I need a lot more sleep.

Our first parenting dilemma!

Though I've only been a parent for 11 days, I've learned that parenting is all about teamwork. Yuki and I try to split the work load as evenly as possible -- we both change diapers, we both console Mika when she's crying, we trade late-night shifts when Mika won't go back to sleep, etc.

But there are times when one of us is better suited for a parenting task than the other. Yuki, for example, is the superior breast feeder. (I gave it the ol' college try after Mika was born, but the hospital staff politely asked me to let Yuki take over after Mika dropped 12 ounces in less than a day.) I think that's nature's way of saying that there are certain life lessons and important teachings that clearly fall to one of us to impart and not the other.

I'm the last person in the world, for example, who should teach Mika to dance... or speak Japanese... or wrap a gift... or open a bag of potato chips (Yuki once patiently explained to me that the bag should be delicately opened to avoid tearing the edges or damaging the chips inside).

When it comes time to teach Mika to hit a sand wedge out of a green-side bunker, however, we both agree that I'm her guy. (While I can teach Mika how to get out of a sand trap, I'm going to have to find someone with a much better golf game to teach her how to avoid them in the first place.)

But there's a least one area where Yuki and I don't see eye to eye: teaching Mika to tie her shoes. I'm a big believer in the "bunny ears" method -- a tried and true method passed down to me by my father when I was a young lad. Unfortunately, my mere suggestion that Mika should follow in our footsteps makes Yuki cringe. Apparently, she thinks my dad and I are the only two adults in the modern world who still make two big loops when we tie our shoes. (Not so: according to this random blog, there are least seven other adults who subscribe to the bunny ear method).

In search of a solution to our parenting dilemma, I conducted some extensive internet research. Thankfully, I stumbled on the "No 1 ranked shoelace site on the internet." It turns out there are 17 different ways to tie your shoes, including a "revolutionary" method that appears to solve our dilemma: the Ian Knot. Not only does it combine the traditional method with the bunny ear method to produce "the world's fastest shoelace knot," it also saves wear and tear on the laces. Fast, revolutionary and economical... parenting crisis averted!

Houston: We have umbilical detachment!

The only remaining evidence that Mika lived her first nine months in Yuki's womb disappeared today, when Mika's umbilical cord stump fell off during her bath. The whole thing was rather unceremonious. One minute, it was sticking out of her tummy looking all hard and gross. The next minute it was gone, revealing her belly button. I don't think Mika even knew what happened.

The rest of her bath was uneventful, though quite cute. Yuki wrapped her in a bunny towel from "Aunty Laura" while she got wiped down with warm, soapy water. I took (and have since posted) lots of photos of the bath. No worries -- I didn't include any photos of the umbilical stump!

Yes, I think I do need a jazzerciser

One of the unexpected side effects of having a newborn is my increased exposure to late-night infomercials. Mika has been waking up around 1:30 or 2AM and staying up until 4 or 4:30... since I can barely keep my eyes open, I've been turning on the TV and walking her around the living room to calm her back to sleep. Not surprisingly, there aren't many quality shows on, but it's prime time for all kinds of commercials for ridiculous products and "systems" for making millions of dollars from the comfort of my living room.

So far, I've had the will power to steer clear of the phone and my credit cards. But as my sleep deprivation increases, I think there's a good chance I'll give in and place my first order. What will it be? A cookware set made of space aged materials to ensure proper heat distribution every time? A miracle cleaner that promises to turn even the dingiest clothing bright white? Or perhaps an exercise machine that shapes and tones my abs in just 5 minutes a day. By the time Mika is sleeping through the night, I'll be a muscular chef who makes outstanding brownies while wearing crisp white tee-shirts!

Our #1 Son Approves

Yuki and I weren't sure how Hachi would react to the new addition to the family... Would he like Mika? Would he get jealous? Would he try to eat her (I didn't really think he would, but stranger things have happened)?

We had no idea what to expect, so we carefully gave Hachi a chance to check her out last night. He was very curious and immediately wanted to give her a sniff. She must have passed the test, because he immediately snuggled up beside her and cast a watchful eye over her as she slept. We both let out a sigh of relief. It seems that our four legged son approves of his two-legged companion, even though she isn't quite as furry and doesn't eat out of a bowl on the floor.

I posted a couple other images of their first encounter in Picasa.

Are you a sweet pea or a tater tot?

When it came time to pick a name for our baby, Yuki and I had a pretty lengthy set of requirements. The first name had to be Japanese and start with the letter "M." From there, Yuki ruled out any name that reminded her of someone she didn't like from her childhood. Then we tossed out any name that would prove problematic later in her life ("Midori" was one of my favorites, except for the fact that everyone associated it Midori Sour. There was no way I was going to name my daughter after a drink). It took a while to find the right name for her, but we were committed to our naming requirements.

By contrast, our quest to find the perfect nickname for Mika hasn't been subject to such a staunch set of criteria. On the one hand, the sky is limit. On the other hand, the sky is the limit. So we just started test driving some nicknames to see what fit. Our initial attempts ranged from the conventional ("cutie") to the absurd ("tater tot," which was inspired by one of the breakfast options in Mount Auburn's room service menu).

We haven't settled on a final selection just yet, but we've been tossing around the following options:

"Baboon" I thought this had potential, but it sounds ridiculous when I use it in context. I can't keep a straight face when I say to her "Settle down little baboon, and give daddy a burp."

"Monkey" I tried this one out when I saw Mika sleeping on Yuki the other night. She looked just like a little chimp baby perched on Yuki's shoulder. It's cute and it makes me smile... just like Mika.

"Munchkin" Who doesn't love a munchkin?

"Sweet Pea" My parents called my sister sweet pea, and I always liked it. Because of its sentimental value, this one has potential.

In effort to broaden our list, I did some internet research on baby nicknames. I found an online nickname generator, which suggested "cutey chin." I'm not so sure about that one. But at least it's better than "Littles McGhee," which, as one new dad/blogger discovered, didn't have the universal appeal he was hoping for. At least it was memorable.

We're home!

We arrived home about an hour ago and are beginning to settle in. Even though I swore I wouldn't be one of those new parents who drives home at 5 miles and hour, I found myself crawling along Alewife Brook Parkway.

I've just uploaded a couple of photos of Mika that we took as we packed her into the car seat in order to leave the hospital. At first, she was really unhappy in the seat, but as soon as she realized it was warm and fuzzy, she quickly fell asleep.

Homeward bound

This morning will be our last at Mount Auburn, which is both exciting and a little scary. I'm looking forward to bring Mika home, introducing her to Hachi, and having more room to spread out. But it's going to be very hard to leave behind all the support we've received at the hospital. Everyone we've met on the staff has been great. We have a question, they have an answer... any time of day, no matter how small it is. Yuki even dumped an entire pitcher of ice water on one of her nurses, who never lost a beat. That's dedication.

As we get ready to head home, I keep wondering how people survive delivery and the first few days without all of this help. Humans have been having babies for thousands of years, but I'm pretty sure there weren't any lactation consultants stopping by the caves as our ancestors had their children. It seems to me that there are really two miracles with childbirth: the creation of a new living being, and surviving the process in one piece.

Mika is such an interesting name... is it Sullustan?

I don't know a lot of about genetics, but it seems that Yuki and I must have some serious "cheek genes." Mika has these big, rosy cheeks that scream out to be pinched. The more I looked at her, the more I started to think that I had seen those chubby cheeks before. Then it hit me -- she looked like one of the space creatures in Star Wars!

After a lot of research on the internet (it's crazy how many people have huge websites dedicated to detailing every alien creature in the Star Wars universe), I finally found the picture I was looking for. The creature's name is Nien Nunb -- a Sullustan pilot that helped Lando Calrissian fly the Millennium Falcon. The more I looked at his picture, the more I saw other similarities between him and Mika beyond their big cheeks (the Star Wars fans describe them as "jowls"). They both have striking dark eyes and a pronounced cone head. Apparently, the Sullustan language is best described as liquid and chattering... that sounds a lot like the noises Mika has been making. We figured she was just crying or fussy... but she might be trying to tell us the location of the Death Star.

Take a look for yourself:

The battle of wills has begun

So it's probably no surprise, but Mika has a bit of stubborn streak (after all, she did wait an extra 2 weeks to be born). She likes to do things her way and puts up a fight when we have plans of our own. This has become particularly evident when it's time to feed her. Unlike Hachi who needs no excuse to scarf down a bowl of food, Mika is much more particular about when, where and how she eats. She'll probably grow up to be a food critic or the Phantom Gourmet.

But Yuki told me this morning that Mika's going to quickly learn that her mother has a stubborn streak of her own (we know where Mika got it from!). We've started calling her feedings the "Battle of the Wills." So far Yuki has been winning, but Mika keeps on battling back. It's amazing how much resistance she puts up before eating... it's not like we're preventing her from going to some party with her friends. As Hachi would say: "It's food -- what's not to like?"

Updated: That's my daughter... isn't it?

Maybe it was the head full of black hair... or the cone head... or my lack of sleep... but I had my first case of mistaken-baby today.

I was walking in to the Birth Center after picking up Yuki's mom from home for a visit. As we passed the nursery, they had the curtains open so you could see some of the babies inside. One of the nurses was holding Mika and washing her hair, so I turned to Yuki's mom and pointed her out. We watched for a couple minutes, then walked down to Yuki's room, only to discover that she was lying in bed with Mika in her arms.

Yuki's mom didn't say a thing, but I can only imagine what she must have been thinking! I've spent the last 48-hours with my new daughter, but I probably couldn't pick her out of a lineup of cone-headed, dark haired babies.

I guess that's why they all have GPS tags on their legs connected back to a sophisticated computer system that constantly matches them to their mothers. If new parents were responsible for picking out their babies from the crowd in the nursery, we'd probably all be going home with someone else's kid.

Update: One of my friends at work let me know that I'm not the first father to suffer "mistaken baby syndrome." The same thing happened to Dick Van Dyke -- in the episode "That's My Boy," Dick is convinced he left the hospital with the wrong baby. Yeah! I'm not alone. That said, Wikipedia notes that the episode generated the "longest, uninterrupted span of laughter from a live studio audience." Great. If I was a sitcom, I'd be hilarious.

More Photos!

We had a busy day today, so I haven't had time to write any new updates. But I do have more photos. I took these a little before lunch, as Mika slept in our room. She's been so good today -- sleeping, eating, sleeping, eating, and sleeping some more.

The more time we spend with her, the more we realize how amazing she is. Every once in awhile she gives us a little hint at her personality. Sometimes stubborn, sometimes curious, sometimes playful.

She also appears to have inherited many of Yuki's facial expressions. When she's about to cry, she looks just like Yuki does before the tears start falling. She also has the same pout as Yuki -- that's particularly dangerous because I tend to do whatever Yuki wants when she does the pout. As I joked with the OR surgeon yesterday morning, the two will gang up on me, pull out the pouts and ask for diamonds and a pony. I'll have no defense.

A few firsts on Mika's first day

It's 11:30 PM and Mika's first day with us is drawing to a close. It's been pretty amazing so far, and I imagine that feeling will continue for some time (although it would be nice if the deliriousness that comes from being awake for 48 hours straight would go away).

I've been reflecting on just how much has happened over the last 24-hours. Mika went from a heartbeat we heard on a fetal monitor to a little breathing being we can hold and touch. Yuki and I became parents. Our parents became grandparents. I have to admit, the magnitude of the day has been overwhelming.

Since I've been having trouble wrapping my head around what happened today, I can only imagine what's going through Mika's mind. She went from dark to light, wet to dry, warm to cold, alone to surrounded by people. That's a lot to take in, particularly when you're less than a day old. In honor of her arrival, I wanted to end the day with a quick summary of some of her "firsts."

First cry
First smile, frown and pout
First burp, sneeze, cough and hiccup
First yawn
First bath
First salon-treatment (including hair wash, comb and dry, and facial scrub)
First meal
First poop
First diaper change
First road trip (from the labor and delivery department to the birth center)
First sleep over (in the nursery down the hall)

Not bad for a first day...

Mika Unveiled

I haven't had time to edit/tweak the photos I took this morning, but I figured you wouldn't mind a less-than-perfect collection of photos of our perfect little girl. You can see everything I shot on our Picasa web gallery or via the slideshow in the right sidebar (click on the photo to see the larger version).

The photos fall into three groups: (1) pictures in the operating room as the c-section was underway (Mika is just a few minutes old); (2) pictures in the nursery when Mika got cleaned up after birth (she was about an hour old); and (3) pictures in the recovery room where Yuki was staying until we moved to our long-term room in the birth center (Mika was about 5 hours old).

More to come (as well as a more carefully edited and tweaked collection of these photos) as I have time. Enjoy!

Finally!

Mika-chan has finally joined our family! After more than 12 hours of labor capped off with a C-Section at sunrise, we welcomed our daughter to the world. She's beautiful.

Yuki was UNBELIEVABLE (in caps, not just lower case). I knew she was tough, but Yuki was a superstar during labor. She never complained, never lost focus, and never gave up. She even said "please" and "thank you" whenever she needed something during labor. It went something like this: "GIVE ME ANOTHER PUKE BOWL, please" or "MORE PRESSURE! I NEED MORE PRESSURE, thank you." She even held back the f-bombs until we were joking around with the nurses in the recovery room. She was first-class the whole way.

I have so much to say about Mika... it's hard to figure out where to begin. She has Yuki's eyes, cheeks, mouth, nose and hair. You're probably thinking: But Pete, what did she get from you? At this point, I appear to have made one small, but significant contribution: eye lashes (they're long like mine). She could do mascara ads for Loreal straight from the womb.

There's nothing not to love... even her crying. It's just so cute. I may have a different opinion about that when she's wailing for the third straight hour, but right now I find it utterly adorable. I feel like nudging the folks out in the hall and saying: "Yup, that's my daughter in there crying. Isn't she the best?"

I've taken a ton of photos, which I'll post soon. But right now, I'll leave you with a little snippet of our new life with Mika. She's wrapped up tight in a little blanket, sleeping in Yuki's arms. It doesn't get any better than that.

We're baaaaaack...

We returned to Mount Auburn this morning, this time for good. Yuki noticed a couple changes over night so they told us to come in for a quick checkup. As it turned out, Yuki's water broke (who knew?), so they decided it was time to get things moving. The petocin started after lunch and the contractions have been steadily increasing. Nothing too major, but we'll take anything we can get.

Right now, Yuki's hooked up to a mobile IV (we named her machine "Baxter" -- which apparently is the name of the medical manufacturer that makes them) and wireless baby monitor, which allows her to wander around a bit. She's been making laps around the delivery ward like a Nascar champ. She's clearly faster than the pregnant lady down the hall and has been challenging other expectant mothers to "waddle offs." I've been investigating possible sponsorship opportunities for her hospital johnny. There's plenty of room around the belly area.

13 more months to go?

With no end to her pregnancy in sight, Yuki has started joking that she's really an elephant -- I guess they carry their babies for 22 months before giving birth. By that measure, she's yet to hit the halfway point.

On a related note, someone at work suggested we give Mika a new name: "De-lay-la."

Round 1: Advantage Mika

It's 1:45AM and we just arrived home from the hospital. Needless to say, the inducement did a wonderful job inducing boredom, but was less effective at inducing labor. You know things are progressing slowly when the military can shoot down a satellite 130 miles above the earth between your contractions.

We'll see what tomorrow will bring, but it looks like Mika is a more formidable opponent than we originally thought. She may have won the opening volley, but I'm pretty sure we'll win the war.

The Wait Continues...

So day has turned to night and still no major developments. The most exciting part of our day was discovering that the vending machine on the second floor sells Nathan's hotdogs. We haven't become desperate enough to actually buy one, but the night is still young.

We may not leave tomorrow morning with a newborn baby, but we won't go home empty handed. I've picked out a tee-shirt in the gift shop for Yuki that says: "I went to Mount Auburn for an induction and all I got was this lousy tee-shirt."

No room at the inn

We were in a holding pattern for several hours last night, but we finally got word around 8:30PM that the maternity ward was filled. We're going to give it another shot starting at 7AM.

For those of you who are following along at home, yesterday was similar to sitting on an international flight and watching that little plane icon ever-so-slowly creep across the world map on the back of the seat rest in front of you.

Mika, some day we'll tell you this story as part of an effort to make you feel guilty. You'll probably be a teenager who just declared that we are ruining your life. We'll sit you down and tell you about how long you made us wait for you to be born. We'll probably toss in a snow storm and a broken down car for good measure, but you'll get the picture. Yup, the longer you hold out in the womb, the more ammo you give us. (I have officially turned to guilt and coercion to induce labor... we'll see how that works out).

Happy Delivery Eve!

Twas the night before Delivery Day, and all through the house,
many creatures were stirring, in particular my spouse.

The onesies were folded in the baby's room with care,
in the hopes that Mika-chan would soon be there.

Hachi was tucked all snug in his crate,
unaware his world was changing as of this date.

So we have reservations at the Mt Auburn Hotel and Resort tonight to meet with our "delivery acceleration team." They're a fantastic bunch and have a comprehensive game plan for bringing Mika into the real world.

I haven't done much reading on the inducement process, but I imagine it involves candles, incense, and a giant machine that shakes Yuki like a bottle of salad dressing until the baby pops out. Should be fun.

Myth Busters: Late Baby Edition

Over the last week, we've heard about ways to "encourage" a late baby to enter the world. Since I don't yet have any diapers to change, I figured I'd spend a few minutes putting together our own little version of Mythbusters -- Late Baby Edition.

Option 1: Eat Spicy Food. We've heard this one a lot over the last couple weeks. I guess the assumption is that a spicy meal will jolt the baby into action. We even had a waitress at one of our favorite diners tell us that a pregnant customer who ate their chili for brunch went into labor later in the day. We didn't try their chili, but Yuki has ordered her share of spicy foods without any results. This one appears to be busted.

Option 2: Drive on a bumpy road. This one came from someone at work who told me that her husband started driving on pot hole-filled streets when she was a week past her due date. It took her a few bumpy trips to finally ask him why he was taking the bad roads. His response: I thought a bumpy ride might make the baby come out. She told me the only thing it did was make her have to pee more. Despite my skepticism, I gave the bumpy road myth a shot yesterday. Nothing. This one is busted.

Option 3: Threaten induction. Our midwife thought the mere act of scheduling our induction might be enough to send Yuki into labor. The "threat" of induction has been hanging over her head for a couple days now and there's no sign it's doing anything. Yuki's never seemed better (or unlikely to go into labor). Unless Yuki goes into labor tomorrow, this one should be listed as busted too.

Option 4: Do a baby dance. Okay, this one was probably a long shot, but our friend in Chicago promised to give it a try anyway. She danced. Mika stayed put. Busted.

Option 5: Lure the baby out with promises of a vacation to Disneyland. Yup, I was willing to give that one a shot too. Either she's not interested in the Magic Kingdom (it is a little overrated) or this one is busted too.

So, the wait goes on...

Tick...Tick... Tick...

My chances of winning a pizza are looking pretty dim. It's 6:30 PM and there is no sign that Mika has any interest in joining us today. As mom noted in her email to me today: "Tick... tick... tick..."

Hello, my name is...

So I've decided that Mika just wants to be fashionably late... After all, it's never good to be the first person at a party. She's going to be an instant celebrity, so it makes sense that she carefully plan her entrance.

Yuki and I have been using our new-found time without Mika to figure out her middle name. After much discussion, we were considering muraskai, which means purple (Yuki's favorite color). But one of our friends suggested Naomi. It works as both a Japanese and American name, and it even has roots in Judaism (sounds a lot like our daughter to be). It's not easy to find a name that meets so many different requirements.

Of course, we can always change our minds. Not just in the next couple days, but over the next few years. I guess naming a baby is a lot like giving a wedding gift. As long as you make your final selection within a year after the event, you're fine.

All Quiet on the Pregnant Front

Still no signs that Mika is ready to join us... not even a false alarm. Looks like she has a head start on resisting the will of her parents. Of course, Yuki and I are late for everything, so maybe she's just trying to fit in to the family.

A Large Meat-Lovers Please

I've got a pizza riding on Mika's delivery date, so I'm hoping she arrives soon! Right now, I'm leaning towards a large Meat Lovers from My Brother's Place. I promised the midwife she could have half if she helped "encourage" Mika to get things going before Thursday. I also owe Yuki half since she's doing all the hard work. In the end, I'll settle for a stray pepperoni and a brand new baby daughter!

Maybe we'll start a tradition of having pizza on her birthday...

Happy Due Date!

So Mika is officially late! Yesterday was our due date, which came and went without any trips to the hospital. Yuki and I went to breakfast, Yuki went shopping with her mom, I got the tire fixed on the Nissan, and then we all had a nice dinner together. I was secretly hoping we'd end up in the car racing toward the hospital, but we had no such luck. Not even a sign of false labor.

Today has been much of the same -- we went to dim sum for breakfast, took naps around lunch and now we're sitting in the kitchen with Hachi enjoying the afternoon. The wait continues!