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!