Thoughts and fics

IRL update list

2009-11-06T00:33:49Z

In no particular order:

- Hubby is supposed to have the day off today but got called in to work at 6am- emergency exercise. :(

-We are pretty much over our jet-lag. :)

-I'm thinking very seriously of opening my own cloth diaper shop here, so I can share pocket diapers with Japanese mamas. So I'm doing research into setting up an online shop and import taxes and what-not.

-We have waaaay too many diapers now. ~~The first step is admitting you have a problem.~~ I should upload a stash pic so you guys can see the fluff.

-I love, love, love Castle. Which reminds me, I should be downloading it. :)

-I'm spending all my free time doing the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt nowadays.

-I have a LLL meeting that I have to leave for in about half an hour, but Akari is asleep on my lap. Sigh.

-stop_plagiarism wasn't able to do anything about the person who ripped off Full Circle. :( Oh well.

Baby days in Canada

2009-10-25T14:58:21Z

This trip back to Canada hasn't been as action packed as my usual holidays because I've just been staying home with my sister and her newborn Amy. So not as many food pictures were taken! (Shocking, I know.) Too busy doing laundry, cleaning, cooking and taking care of my own baby while my sister settles into taking care of her. It feels good to help out during that awful first few weeks, when baby still has no sleep schedule and cries so often. But I did take some cute photos that I thought I should upload while my sister's family is still sleeping:

People keep asking if they're twins when we go out because of the double carseats. Uh, no- see how one is so much bigger than the other one? But it's so much fun to dress them in matching outfits- all gifted! Someone gave Amy a shower gift of the 3-6 month version of a purple outfit she had by pure coincidence. So naturally we stuffed Akari into it to take pictures! XD According to the health clinic here, she's in the 90th percentile for weight! So it was hard to snap those chunky thighs into the onesie- but just look at how adorable they are! XD

My mom is just in heaven with two granddaughters to visit. :) Our step-dad calls them her "A+A" visits.

Akari's still doing great with milestones- turning over, touching her toes (and putting them in her mouth), blowing raspberries, teething and babbling. ("Mamamamama") The last pic is with my sister's friend's baby on a visit. Aaaaw. XD

Goodbye Goodmama forum

2009-10-24T16:19:39Z

Wow. I thought my next LJ post would be about my trip to Canada, but instead I just have to comment about the shocking sudden closure of the goodmama forum. It'll be shut at 23:59 tonight, after the owner of goodmama gave a notice out yesterday without any real explanation. I know a lot of people who frequented the forum are really shocked, and I'm not alone in thinking it'll hurt their business to close a place that helped them make so many fangirl (Yes, fangirling over diapers. I kid you not.) sales. Well, hopefully the goodmamas community will become more active. Or maybe I'll just stop participating and save more money that way! LOL

Baby, it's windy outside

2009-10-07T23:45:45Z

We are probably in the eye of the typhoon hitting Japan right now. :D It's sunny and still crazy windy outside although it was storming all night. All the kids in the country must be ecstatic- no school! (Isn't it weird how I can say, "It's raining in the ENTIRE country today"?) How my cousins used to rejoice over typhoon days in Hong Kong- the whole family would just hang out all day in their PJs, watching TV and playing games. (Yes, even the adults would be excused from work- not so in Japan even with the train delays because of high winds.) Normally I would just be enjoying this ferocious display of weather, but our flight back to Canada is scheduled to leave at 19:00. Doubtless there will be delays in the aftermath of big, bad Typhoon #18, but Air Canada still hasn't changed its optimistic "On time" status of the flight. Whatever. If we're delayed I'm going to see if they can extend our stay in Canada. No point in going home for less than 2 weeks when you factor in days lost to jet-lag.

To Tasha!

2009-09-29T18:37:54Z

Happy Birthday! :D So here's a little taste of Kawaii Not B-day cake for you! ~~Mmm, waxy...~~

Hope you have an awesome day! (^o^)/

To Bianka chan!

2009-09-27T08:32:18Z

It's your B-day over here so I'm posting this before I forget! ~~And because I've been dying to use this icon.~~

Happy Birthday! Hope your day is full of laughter, hugs and Kitty-chan presents! :D

ETA: Oh no you already posted! Well, I'll go comment there too, hehe.

Final Travesty >:(

2009-09-26T07:01:04Z

As a precaution after seeing a couple recent posts in stop_plagiarism , I just googled the first paragraph of Full Circle.

To my horror, somebody has uploaded Aftermath, Interlude and most of Symbiosis up as their own story on Quizilla. A word for word copy, minus author notes. Oh, and they've made a spelling error and put a bloody emoticon in the new title.

Final Fanasty :3

W.T.F.

I'm more shocked than angry. It's probably just some stupid kid. But I'm off to report this once I take screencaps.

My fic:

The copy:

Four months

2009-09-18T21:42:29Z

This is my second time trying to edit the text back into this entry, which screwed up because of LJapp the first time, and then the server died or something the next. :(

So I'll try to keep it short: As of her well baby check on Tuesday, Akari is 6800 g (15lbs) and 62 cm tall, which is smack-dab in the middle of the growth charts. :) There was some stiffness in her right hip joint though, so we did a follow-up check Wednesday as a precaution. They took an X-ray, which I'm still sort of worried about. Even adults use lead aprons, but her little ovaries got zapped for sure. :( The doctor said it was fine when we expressed our concerns; he said that babies in Niigata and Shiga prefecture routinely get hip X-rays as part of their well baby check.
Anyway, her hip joint looked fine in the X-ray, so we're just supposed to keep an eye on it. Troubles with the hip joints lead to problems standing or walking, but she likes to stand for a bit while leaning on somebody, totally on schedule with the milestones, so I'm thinking she'll be fine.

She also got her first vaccination on Thursday, which I'd been dreading. I don't know why they don't use normal syringe type needles here in Asia, but some of my HK relatives and my MIL still have their vaccination scars. Akari only cried a little. :'( They swabbed her arm with the live BCG (tuberculosis) vaccine, then pressed a pin pad into the area --hard-- twice. So far she's been sleeping longer than usual during the day, waking more at night, has a slight temperature and fusses to nurse far more than usual. But other than that she's her normal active, babbling and drooling self.
We're going to get her vaccinated in Canada too, while we're there. The Hib vaccine just became available here and is crazily expensive (7000 yen a pop, 4 shots required) and wait-listed, but is free in Canada combined with DTaP+Polio.

I'm sooo looking forward to going back and meeting my brand new niece! I've also been buying lots of different cloth diapers and getting them sent to my mom's house, so we can try what mamas in the West do! So expect to see more pictures of Akari's bum in cute attire in a few weeks! :D

She's been practicing turning like crazy, but she still can't quite seem to get her heavy head to go where the rest of her body is! You can also see where they did the vaccination.

This Roots T-shirt was from my sister. :)

Cute and rude, all at the same time...

She's always kicking like crazy now!

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Yet another contest entry

2009-09-16T06:41:53Z

Because blinkies are fun and I want one! So here's the obligatory post:

Click to join peeps, and say I sent you!

Squeee! New Bartimaeus book!

2009-09-13T12:08:17Z

Something I had NEVER expected is happening- Jonathan Stroud is in the process of writing a new Bartimaeus novel! :D
Link here: Jonathan Stroud's Journal

I'm soooo excited about this! What an awesome time to be getting back into the fandom. I can't wait to tell the girl I'm beta-ing for.

Snugs Boutique Contest entry (Cloth Diapering)

2009-09-12T00:49:50Z

Just posting this here so I can get an extra entry in this contest. :D I just booked a ticket back to Canada with Akari too, so we'll get cheaper shipping if we win! Woohoo!

veaterfam.blogspot.com/2009/09/snugs-boutique-cloth-diaper-review-and.html

On parenthood

2009-09-07T06:57:29Z

I realized recently that becoming a mom has altered my perceptions. Things I would never notice before- stroller brands, the ability of a baby to hold up its own head, bedtimes of the kids etc. are now things I pick up right away when I see other parents.
Different things also bother me- when some salaryman pretends to snooze in the handicapped seats while Akari and I sway with the train right in front of him. When morons makes anti-breastfeeding comments. When well meaning folks ~~especially my relatives~~ give stupid advice.
I know part of it is because I never used to have any opinions about stuff like that. But it seems I've developed all these notions from having been a parent for all of 3 months. hehe
I went to a party at my buddy's house a couple weeks ago. Him and his girlfriend are expecting in November, and they live in a 2LDK (smallish) apartment. Almost the first thing I noticed was that they don't have room in their bedroom for a crib, which I remarked about. To which he replied, "Oh, we're going to make the TV room the baby's room. If we sleep with the baby in our room, it's going to learn to be dependent."
o.O
Honestly, I don't know any independent infants. I don't even know any independent toddlers. Human children rely on their parents for longer than any other species, but they do grow out of it. I don't know how sleeping together for the first few years of its life, when night waking naturally occurs, will make this worse. In fact, sleeping separately is less convenient.
His girlfriend is Japanese and has expressed doubts about the idea of the baby sleeping separately: co-sleeping is the cultural norm. But he's sort of steam rolling over her even she's the one who's going to have to trek over to the baby's room instead of just sitting up, reaching over to the crib, nursing, and putting baby back down again while both of them are still drowsy. She also won't be able to hear the baby until it's wide awake and crying, and then it's a lot harder for both of them to get back to sleep. And she has to go back to work 6 weeks postpartum.
I hope she changes his mind so that she can get a bit more rest. My husband doesn't even wake up during Akari's night feedings, because she doesn't have to cry in order to signal that she's hungry- I can hear her stirring and nurse her before she gets to that point, so he gets a full night's sleep. And the sex part (which is what I'm betting my friend is more concerned about)- well, we have the rest of the house or we can capitalize on the afternoon naps she's starting to take. No, it's not as convenient- but since when was life with kids CONVENIENT? What I realize more and more is just how much responsibility it is- can't go to the doctor or even the toilet without thinking of her first. And it'll be like this for years! The more I think about it, the more I think how carefree and selfish I was before becoming a parent. In fact, I really didn't consider the whole scope of it until we'd already had her.
My sister had a baby 2 days ago. Wonder if I should share this sobering realization.
Oooh, and naptime's over.

Old fandoms, new fandoms and baby rambling

2009-08-27T13:21:53Z

It's hard getting stuff done when you're tied to a 2 hour schedule. But I've been moving into new fandoms recently: Avatar: The Last Airbender (due to qwi_xux ), Prison Break, and Buffy: the Vampire Slayer. All of this is possible because of the wonders of the internet and my PS3, which enables me to watch whole seasons of downloaded shows on our TV as I walk the baby around the living room/hand her rattles/nurse on the sofa etc. New fandoms are so inspring. :D

However, despite the possible plot lines brewing in the back of my head, nothing is DYING to be written, the way it was with Full Circle and Revolutionary. Akari sleeps well at night now (5-6 hours, nurse, 3 hours, nurse, final 1 or 2 hours of sleep before she's up for the day), which helps me feel rested like a normal person during the day. But the creative juices still don't seem to be flowing. So to try to get myself back in the writing mood, I've been reading fic again and I've volunteered to beta for someone in my oldest fandom (The Bartimaeus Trilogy). She's not in a desperate rush, and I figure I can look over her story and write out my comments whenever Akari sleeps. In practice, this is harder than I thought- writing this post took me quite a few hours, and I wonder if reading critically will be much easier.

Our typical day:

~6am: Akari wakes up bright eyed and smiley. So nice to see a silly baby grin first thing in the morning. Nurse, then go out to living room for first cloth diaper of the day. (We use disposables at night so she can sleep more soundly because they don't feel as wet.) I then do the laundry while she amuses herself- she has her longest "content by herself" stretches in the morning. She watches and/or tries to cram her rattle/cloth book in her mouth (She's discovered that her hands can be used for manipulating objects in the last couple of days.) as I hang the laundry and/or eat.

7:30 or so: She starts fussing. I hold her upright so she can suck her left thumb until she drops off. Put down sleeping baby and jump on the computer/dishes/finally eat etc.

8 am: She wakes up and we repeat the nurse, change, play, fuss, sleep process every 2 hours or so.

Anywhere between 7 pm and 10 pm: Bath, final nurse, bed. Sometimes she ends up on her long stretch of sleep when we weren't expecting it, so she pretty much sleeps through her bath. She still manages to find the nipple even when she's super drowsy though, and eats with her eyes shut. XD

Ok, I am posting this before I fall asleep on the keyboard! Blah. Tomorrow we are celebrating her 100 days of life (which was actually Tuesday, but tomorrow was more convenient) so I'm going to steam a tai fish and my MIL is bringing over osekihan (rice steamed with red beans and eaten with salt and black sesame seeds), customary dishes for celebration. So I'd better follow that parenting advice of "sleeping when the baby sleeps." :)

First matsuri, trip to HK and earthquakes

2009-08-21T12:24:57Z

I know, I have no right to mock people for neglecting their LJs when my last post in mine was over a month ago. *feels sheepish*

Akari is three months old now, and still growing (6.1 kg or about 13 lbs) and developing so quickly. She loves having cooing conversations with people, which is sooo adorable. <3 In terms of physical milestones, she learned to turn onto her right side just two nights ago (but she can't turn back, which makes her shriek with frustration). It's become impossible to keep a blanket on her at night because as soon as she feels something on her legs, she kicks it off in her bowlegged, froggy way. And since she has insisted on being held upright for weeks now, her neck is a lot stronger than other babies her age:

These pics were from a post I did in clothdiapering on her three month B-day. See how big Little Miss Mohawk has gotten? :D

Summer means matsuri and fireworks, so here's a pic from her first one. My SIL in the blue shirt is also 7 months pregnant in the pic- hard to believe, eh?

We went to HK for a few days so she could meet my Grandma and all my other relatives. (The pic is the view from our hotel room.) She was such a good baby on the airplanes, so a trip to Canada definitely seems doable in the future. Having the bassinet seats helped a lot --thank goodness the staff at check-in thought to mention it-- and Cathay Pacific gave us free diaper sets (2 diapers, diaper cream and baby lotion) on both flights. (I ADORE Cathay, great service and great deals on tix, especially their All-Asia Pass.)

See her smiling at the airplane pics at the airport? Papa totally brainwashed her!

My Grandma was overjoyed to meet her first great-grandchild. :) Actually, everybody was ecstatic. My aunt refused to eat lunch at times just so she could score more time holding the baby! And of course we ate out a lot, although HK isn't the easiest of places to travel with a nursing child. Few nursing rooms, and the toilets where you are expected to feed your baby are often filthy. (One I fed her in wasn't even air-conditioned, and HK was 39 C (106 F) and 95% humidity on average while we were there.) It wouldn't be so bad if they actually allowed me to nurse in public, but that never seemed to be an option for some reason, even though I would wear a huge top (in the picture below) that I could stick her under to nurse. Nobody can see anything except her little feet sticking out, so I don't know why I had to be shuttled off to feed her... :S Anyway, my grandma made me the fish and papaya soup in the picture, which is supposed to be good for milk supply. (It tastes really good, honest! My husband loved it.)

We visited my grandpa's grave to show him Akari as well. (In the pic with the bonus of my husband's thumb. I'm wearing braces for my De Quervain's tendonitis in the shot as well- they help a lot although the pain is still there.) And of course, the cousins all got the chance to hold her, including one proud five year old "uncle." (I think it's second cousin in English, but in Chinese the closest translation is "uncle.")

Our five day trip flew by so quickly- these pics were from our last few hours in HK.

We've had quite a few earthquakes here in the past couple of weeks, so I've been belatedly prepping our earthquake sets with diapers and clothes for Akari. Totally forgot about adding things for her into them until we all had to go hide under the table a few days after we got back from holiday!

Anyway, I should post this and then get her into the bath and then bed. :)

お宮参り (Omiyamairi) at Meiji Jingu shrine

2009-07-15T04:59:25Z

As promised, here are some pics from Akari's first shrine visit. :)

Omiyamairi is supposed to occur on the 32nd day of a baby girl's life (and 31st for a boy- dunno why there is a difference) but we went a bit later to coincide with the days off my husband got for the overseas mission. It's one of the big milestone picture ops in Japan, so we went to the studio and got some professional pictures done. As a bonus, they let you borrow the baby kimono for the rest of the day after the shoot so you can go to the shrine all dressed up. Renting these kimonos costs quite a bit (from 5000 to 30000 yen), so it's actually quite a good deal.

All dressed up at the studio. She was actually really sleepy during the shoot, so the photographers kept calling her name and waving noisemaking toys to try to keep her awake.

At Meiji Jingu, waiting to get into the inner part of the shrine. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed inside, but I had my hands full with her during the ceremony anyway. All was fine and dandy --she was drowsing peacefully away-- until the junior priest started off the ceremony with a rousing rumble at the huge taiko drum. DX Then she wailed through the rest of the ceremony, all through the waving of paper wands, singsong blessings of the priests and the bowing and drinking a bit of sake. The other pic is outside under one of the torii. The ones at Meiji Jingu are just so majestic- I think they're made from cedar.

Anyway, she's still growing like crazy- more than 5 kilos now (10 lbs) and she's almost too big for the newborn size diapers. She's also hitting developmental milestones like cooing, social smiling ~~and posing for pictures~~:

Her hair is filling in a bit, and she makes great eye contact- especially when she's upset and demanding something! But it's gotten a little bit easier since my last post- I've discovered that I can put her down for short naps during the day now. She turns all red and scrunches up her face to cry at first... and then relaxes. :D She also self-soothes with her thumb more often:

Even now she's slurping occasionally as she drowses in the highchair/bed thingy across the room from me, letting me spend time on the computer! (2nd pic) :)

All this is great because I've developed tendonitis in my wrists. D: The doctor said it's a combination of hormones and overusage of my wrists. It's downright painful to pick her up at times, and I've been relying on the carrier more during the day even though it gives me stiff shoulders. Unfortunately, she also seems to be increasingly attached to me- she refuses to be soothed by my husband now, and screams bloody murder when he takes over while I try to shower or cook dinner. I had no idea babies were capable of separation anxiety so soon, although I'd read that they could recognize their mothers by smell almost from birth. We're just trying to get her used to him anyway, although the neighbours are probably wondering why we're letting her cry like that! She cried for a solid couple of hours when I went to watch the new Terminator movie last week while he watched her. (We watched it in turns.) We were so prepared: I'd pumped milk just in case (although I fed her just before going out) and she was sleepy when I left. But she wasn't happy about the change!

Uh-oh. Starting to fuss (she needs a change and feed every two hours during the day, almost like clockwork), so I'm going to cut and post this!

Surfacing with apologies!

2009-07-12T08:35:54Z

Sorry for my lack of commenting/posting/being on MSN and whatnot guys. It's been as much as I can handle to get the housework done while taking care of Akari during the weekdays, and we're usually out on the weekends taking care of things like meeting extended family members/ getting her passport/ buying okaeshi (gifts to thank people for giving us gifts)/ visiting the family graves etc. We also don't have wireless I can use at home for my iPhone, so I can't even lurk as much as I used to! *sniff* I'll try to catch up on friends page posts soon!

Most importantly:

Happy Belated Birthday to alliterationluv , Vixen confused0705, oceanee and coconutty_tree!

Genesis Awards

2009-06-24T02:43:06Z

Whoops! This post is super-late BUT I HAVE A GOOD EXCUSE. Even now I'm typing this one-handed after yet another abortive attempt to put Akari down for a nap. WHY WON'T SHE GO TO SLEEP SOMEPLACE OTHER THAN MY ARMS? DX

Anyway, just wanted to announce that while "Full Circle" didn't take home any prizes (darn!), "The darkest hour..." got a third runner up nod in Best Drabble. :D

Link to the awards is here if you want to check out the winners!

Homecoming

2009-06-21T02:36:00Z

There's really no place like home. :)

Can I just say how awesome it is to be sleeping on a bed again? (^o^)/ Futons are comfortable, but beds are just so much easier to get in and out of. I don't even mind the annoying low water pressure of our shower- just because it's our shower.

We moved back Friday, which was quite an undertaking- needed two cars to bring all the assorted baby stuff we had somehow accumulated while we were there. Akari woke up during the trip and cried for about 40 minutes --she sure hates being trapped in that car seat-- and even now her voice is all weird and hoarse from the extended crying jag. D: But she's been sleeping and eating well, so she doesn't seem bothered by the change. And I'm sooo glad the dog can't wake her up from her naps anymore! It was getting to the point where I was ready to smack him --Akari would finally be sleeping after I rocked and hummed and slooowly and carefully put her down on the futon (which from a standing position is not easy)-- and then the dog would waste all that effort with his demented barking because some random person walked by. Or he could hear a car backing up in the distance (but couldn't even see it!) Closing the door to the bedroom didn't help either, because the door was literally paper thin. Traditional Japanese houses: not so great at keeping out noise.

My MIL has been staying over for the past couple days to lend a hand while we make the transition, but it's been really easy. So comforting to putter around in my own kitchen, using my own dishes and pots and pans again while she watches the baby. Although secretly, I feel a bit of pressure to make nicer meals while she's over, so it will probably be even easier once she's gone so I can slack off on the cooking a bit. hehe

My FIL is also bringing over the rocking chair and stroller today before we all go to base to welcome my husband back from his overseas mission. He hasn't seen Akari for two weeks, and she's grown so much in that time- I know he'll be surprised to see just how much chub she's put on and how much more aware she is now. She passed her 1 month check-up with flying colours, having put on about 50 g/day (average is 20 to 45 g/day) and growing 5.5 cm longer/taller. Her lanugo (the fine hair on her back and shoulders) and newborn jaundice have pretty much disappeared. Seeing the pediatrician put her through all those reflex tests without supporting her head did shock me though! He was just so matter of fact about it too, even though she was protesting her ill treatment the whole time. What the heck are you doing to me, mister? DX *kick and wave arms furiously*

She's been smiling more and more, so we're hoping to get a real social smile soon. And last night she finally broke from her pattern of eating every two hours! She's been like that for the last couple of weeks, which means I have to change her, feed her, get her back to sleep (all of which usually takes about an hour) and then get the remaining hour's sleep before she wakes up and we repeat the whole thing until about 10 am. At least she doesn't try to play or cry much at night- she usually reserves those for before midnight. Oh, and colicky episodes are becoming few and far between, to our relief.

We'll be doing her Omiyamairi (1st visit to a shrine at about 1 month of age) this week, so expect those pictures to be up soon! Until then, here's my favourite picture of her when she is about 3 weeks old: Yo!

I've also put up a pic of her and my mom, who visited for a couple of days in tangent with a visit to HK to see my grandma, who had a heart attack about a few days before Akari was born. Everybody in the family conspired not to tell me because they didn't want me to have any extra stress, so her trip out was a big but nice surprise. You can barely see it, but Akari is wearing her first bling in the picture- a silver bangle. She also got gold jewelry and jade adornments from my mom and grandma that she won't be able to wear until she grows up, throwbacks to that whole Chinese girl dowry thing. My grandma is bouncing back just fine, BTW. We are under orders to fly to HK ASAP, so she can "hold her great-grandchild." :)

Wave to all the nice people, Akari-chan!
Bye bye!

Picspam of the offspring

2009-06-09T15:53:25Z

MY offspring, that is, while she sleeps in my lap. (Don't want to disturb her when she looks so content, although I have to get to the computer downstairs to reply the meme replies...)

Pretty in pink

I think she looks like such a big girl here.

Look at how kurikuri (black and round) her eyes are!

Napping wiith Papa. Took this on Sunday- we don't get to see him for at least two weeks because he's doing an overseas mission starting Saturday. So he pretty much spent all of Sunday holding her while she slept.

Just look at those cheeks! This was taken this morning- she's 3820g now, having put on more than a kilo (2 lbs) since birth. I also noticed that her elbows have dimples now. :)

Anyway , here's a short list of stuff I've learned about my daughter:

She got hiccups at least once daily in utero, and the pattern continues- however, unlike the claims of "What to expect: The first year," she is bothered by them. She gets downright annoyed by the interruptions to her breathing.

She loves taking baths and has stopped protesting during the "getting undressed" (and getting dressed) parts of the process.

She dislikes having her diaper changed unless it's really wet. And she kicks as much as she can during to emphasize her feelings. ;)

She's lost that totally newborn smell- now I think she smells like milk (or cheese even).

She is starting to actually see stuff now, by the way her eyes follow things. Also, she's learned to suck her thumb on purpose instead of by happy accident. It's just amazing to watch her progress, although at times figuring out what she wants can still be a frustrating guessing game.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

On being a mom for two whole weeks now

2009-06-01T12:06:27Z

My left arm hurts from carrying Akari all day. I'm told it'll get better once my muscles get used to toting the extra weight. It makes me happy that she's put on so much weight though, looking more and more like one of those pudgy babies in ads with the fat cheeks and plump limbs. She's more like a little person now too, complaining when I talk on the phone while she's trying to drop off to sleep, (Whoops! Sorry!) but she's mostly a good, quiet baby: alert and contentedly looking around once she wakes.

Doctor LJ is a lifesaver! The breastfeeding community has saved my newbie mom butt a couple of times now. Nursing is really simple, but like anything, there are often problems starting out that only people with experience know about. The books I bought didn't adequately prepare me for engorgement when my milk came in (OUCH) or to deal with overactive letdown (very distressing to have Akari choking on her only food source). The only thing that bothers me about the community is how crazily gung-ho some of the members are, acting as though formula feeding moms are villains or fools.

Speaking of lifesavers, my iPhone is a wonder device. I can only get on the computer for a limited time now, but I can still check my email and friends page (and slowly tap out replies), play music, take pictures (and post them to Facebook).

Paid the hospital bill on Friday. The total? 1,010,110 yen. (About $10000.) I have insurance that should cover most of it, but that takes the "most money NRG has ever spent at one time" prize.

Akari's recently started to show colicky symptoms at night, and it's scary how angry and in pain she seems when she cries. I feel so helpless- she's not wet or hungry, and she gets so upset that it's almost impossible to soothe her. She just seems like a completely different baby from the one I care for the other 20 hours of the day. D: I've taken to researching colic soothing strategies and I'm hoping that cutting dairy out of my diet will help. (Some studies have shown that dairy sensitivity may be to blame for some colic striken babies- the proteins pass into breastmilk and irritate baby guts.) It's helpful to know that even if it continues, she'll likely only have colic until she's about 3 months old, but it's a small comfort when faced with an inconsolable baby at midnight. (T_T)

明莉ちゃん pictures

2009-05-21T21:12:12Z

As promised, pics! She's finally settled into a schedule of sorts (up every 3 hours or so needing a diaper change, milk, and a bit of company), and I'm tapping this out at 5:34AM because she's just gone down and I may as well stay up til breakfast.

These were taken on her actual birthday.

3 days old and asleep on a pillow on my lap.

She's asleep most of the time, but she doesn't fuss much when she is awake. (So far, anyway.) She's just alert and observing, which I find absolutely adorable.

We'll be leaving the hospital on Sunday, and I'll certainly miss all the awesome food here! This was dinner a couple days ago: fish croquettes, consommé soup, somen noodles with eggplant, baby corn and tomato in an olive oil/tomato sauce, "new" onion salad, and yamaimo niimono with rice (and apples for dessert). The drink is always the same though, bancha, a type of grain based tea.
I'm pretty much fully functional again- I can get up out of bed without pain now (although i'm still on pain meds) and take care of all her needs and mine. Still, I'm glad we have the whole week here to learn the ropes (had a baby bathing lesson yesterday, and have had constant lactation support) and heal up before going home. Some of my friends in Canada had C-sections as well, and were sent home after two days! I could barely turn onto my side in bed at that stage, nonetheless take care of a newborn! I can't imagine how they managed without serious help from friends and family. So while I think free Medicare is awesome, there are obvious downsides to being entitled to only basic care.
Ok, trying the cut now! ~~Now all of you have to comment on the supreme cuteness of my offspring.~~

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And she's finally here!

2009-05-18T12:02:43Z

Here's 明莉 (Akari) at long last! She was 2672 gm and 47.5 cm long at birth. She was born at 3:18AM on May 17th via emergency C-section, but she is healthy and alert (and still loves to suck her thumb!) and I am recovering just fine.

EDIT: sorry about your f-lists guys! The LJ app for iPhone screws up when it "restores previous draft" and no longer gives pic and cut options. Some of the following may be TMI, so I feel I should warn you to scroll by without reading if talk of nursing and/or surgery squicks you out. Sorry again- I'll see if I can fix the post and add photos via Safari, but I have no Internet access besides this thing, and I'm in pain, tired, and I have to feed a newborn in 3 hours or so, so forgive me if I can't, ok?

[Unknown LJ tag]

It looked like a normal delivery right up to the end. I was finally dilated to 9cm, having toughed it out without the epidural because I'd eaten dinner just before, figuring my contractions still weren't strong enough to warrant another hospital visit. But when I stood up to put my dishes in the sink, I discovered my pants were wet, so off we went again. Turns out it wasn't my water breaking, just incontinence courtesy of the descending baby head, but since I was dilated to 5cm, we were admitted.
Getting to 9cm was such hard work (and took much less time)! I can't imagine how hard it would have been without my husband there rubbing my back during each contraction and encouraging me. The midwives and nurses here are so supportive and encouraging as well. (No doctor til the end, because it was nighttime.)
We had just moved to the birthing room when the fetal monitor showed that her pulse had dropped dangerously, probably because the umbilical cord was being compressed. (No more amniotic fluid to cushion the cord because my water had broken earlier.) So I was taken (on my hands and knees) to the OR on a stretcher as fast as they could, leaving my terrified husband behind.
The surgery was not fun. :( My husband asked me after which part was worse, the labour or the surgery, and I said the surgery. Despite the spinal anaesthesia, I could still feel a lot of pain and discomfort, and I was naked and strapped onto a table and scared. I was soo glad I'd chosen a doctor who could speak English because he could talk me through what they were doing, even if I couldn't see it. At one point, I felt this massive weight leave my body, and seconds later, I heard her cry! They let me see and touch her for a minute before they whisked her off to my husband and to do tests. But I was stuck in the OR until they removed the afterbirth and sewed me up again. :S
Now we aren't the religious sort, but my husband was praying to our ancestors the whole time. He says he got all teary-eyed when they brought her out. We both still get choked up thinking about what could have happened. I was also in pretty rough shape after they brought me out of surgery, shaky and shivery. So it was a few hours before I felt able to hold her and give her her first feeding, but it was pretty incredible. It felt so good to calm her and feel her nursing happily- she didn't want to let go of the first breast, and fell asleep while suckling the other.
Anyway, I should post this and get some sleep. Just wanted to let you all know the happy news. :)

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AAARRRGGHHH

2009-05-16T07:32:00Z

I'm still pregnant. (T_T)

Started having contractions every 10 minutes last night around 11, and we went to the hospital at 2am... but I was only dilated 1.5 cm. This was unchanged by 8am, so they sent us home. Just better to relax and eat and sleep that way (as if sleeping is possible when having regular contractions), not to mention cheaper, but it was such a letdown to have to walk out of there baby-less. The midwife said that some women are in early labour like this for THREE DAYS. ~~Somebody had better shoot me if that happens...~~

I was pretty crushed at first, but everybody's been working at keeping up my spirits, and I'm getting used to the regular doses of pain. My husband looks a lot better after getting some proper sleep, and I'm a lot better at breathing and staying relaxed through the contractions now. We're going to go for a walk later to try to speed things along, and now we know when to try to check in again: when the pain is three times as bad as now (even if contractions are still 10 minutes apart) or if the interval shortens to every 6 minutes.

*Sigh* Just wanted to keep you guys updated.

Uh...is this it?

2009-05-13T23:18:48Z

I woke up this morning having what feels like cramps and started having bloody show last night. So maybe it's happening soon? I really hope it isn't- my husband is on flights to and from Yonago (Tottori prefecture) today, and won't be back until 5... Have a doctor's appointment this morning anyway. *is nervous*

EDIT: FALSE ALARM! I'm only one cm dilated, and the contractions are just Braxton Hicks that have become more painful. The doctor expects that I'll give birth within the next two or three days though. The anticipation is KILLING ME...

Happy Birthday!

2009-05-08T00:41:53Z

d_angel : Hope you have an awesome B-day today! *throws confetti*