Monday, December 10, 2007

The Lazy Post






Natalie is at that age where she can just sit in a boppy for a good long time and just coo and take in the little world around her. She's been sleeping very well lately despite the sometimes very loud upstairs neighbors. She is smiling a lot more and even manages a giggle now and then. This is definitely going to be one of the stages of her life that we'll cherish... and miss the most when she grows out of it.

She still is fighting her thrush. The medications she's been taking to get rid of it haven't been ultra-effective to say the least. But we'll thankful to God that thrush is the only real problem she's had lately. Hopefully by the new year I won't have to give these fungus updates anymore.

I have major blog-writing block right now. That includes trying to format these pictures into an eye-pleasing layout. Maybe it's because I just joined Facebook and I spend the majority of my time there taking the never ending movie quiz. Anyway, I will try harder the next time I post. Promise.














Monday, November 19, 2007

My First Thanksgiving (and all I got were my daddy's chins...)


I've been meaning to write this since the day Natty was born. I was reminded by this Thanksgiving holiday to give some public shout-outs to the many friends and family who have made us feel loved and supported by their actions. Some of the people Sunny and I would like to thank simply emailed a congratulations after receiving the news of Natty's birth. Others have offered their help in running errands for us, dropped off meals, or given us gifts. Still others have spent their time helping coming over to help Sunny hold, feed, and comfort Natty while I was away at work. All these things from small to big have a lasting impact on us. It impresses upon us to be better people and better friends. It shows us that God has given us all we need and more and that even the smallest gesture done by one person for another person can have a huge impact. We've been the recipients of those gestures for the past 11 weeks and on behalf of Sunny and Natalie, THANK YOU!




Saturday, November 10, 2007

Yeah, I'm a girl!


I didn't realize how androgynous Natty looks until Sunny put this clip in her hair. I've always seen her as this beautiful little girl but I bet from an outsider's perspective, if she was dressed in neutral colors in a unisex outfit, they would have to guess at her gender. I think the clip helps a lot in emphasizing her girliness. Or someone might just wonder why a little boy is wearing a hair clip.

Our little girl is a fungus magnet. At the time of my last post, she had cradle cap (yay, it's gone!) and that was marked by scaly fungus covering her whole forehead. Now she has fungus covering her tongue. We had thought it was maybe immature taste buds or milk residue. Nope, it's fungus (yeast to be more exact). The condition is called thrush and it's enough to make her hair stand on end.




Lord, we pray the fungus demons will go away. Amen.














Natty had her first round of immunization shots this week. As you can tell, she took it like a champion. She is now 7 pounds, 12 ounces and almost 21 inches long at 9 weeks old. For some reason, every time I look at this picture, I imagine her torso is a nice juicy meatloaf. I should stop looking at this photo.

Tomorrow, we go to church for the first time since Natty was born. We're looking forward to it.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Half Asian, half Klingon?

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Natalie had some flaky skin on her forehead. Initially, it was just dry skin but then something weird happened. What used to be dead white skin cells turned into thick crusty scales. It is a sickly green color and even worse, it has a rotten cheesy smell to it. The doctor says it's cradle cap although a very severe case of it. She also said that she has never seen cradle cap so widespread on just the forehead as opposed to on the scalp. Imagine our pride in having such a unique baby.

We can live with the stinky, crusty forehead. What's really stressin' us is Natalie's new favorite activity: wailing uncontrollably through the wee hours of the morning. Our doctor warned us that Natty might get colicky. I guess that's why they get paid the big bucks. We've been able to narrow down the cause of her colic to gas pain. Or acid reflux. Or hunger. Or exhaustion. Or pure spite.

The cruel thing about Natty's colic is that she's an absolute angel during the daytime. She hardly makes a sound when the sun is up and when she naps, she can sleep through a ruckus. At night, a spider could fart and Natty will wake up screaming bloody murder. I've never valued sleep more than in these past two weeks.

Still, it's hard to be mad at Natty because she just can't help herself. And she's such a cute crusty-headed kid. These pictures are from her last doctor's visit. She's now 6 pounds, 14 ounces at a little over six weeks old.






Sunday, October 7, 2007

Pull my finger...



I guess all parents think their babies are cute. I am no exception. I look at Natalie and I see past the hairy forehead, baby acne, and flaky skin. All I see is my daughter whom I love more than anything.

Having said that, here is an unflattering picture to keep Natalie (and me) humble.










Oh, who am I kidding. Natty is adorable.



Sunday, September 30, 2007

Alien Baby


Alien baby says, "Quit typing and put more pictures up!"





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Friday, September 21, 2007

tiny blessings




In late 2005, Sunny underwent surgery for her Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS). The surgery involved removing the first rib and part of the scalene muscle in order to decompress the nerves running through there.


It didn't work. Sunny still experiences pain and numbness in her neck, shoulders, and arms. She is unable to lift heavy objects and the condition causes clumsiness. Amazingly, the hormones generated during pregnancy dramatically lessened the symptoms of her TOS; the trade-off was a nine-month long morning sickness. Now that her pregnancy is completed, the TOS symptoms are coming back.


I sometimes wonder if God gave Sunny the intense morning sickness to make Natalie small. I see Sunny holding Natalie, establishing that unique mother-daughter bond. I wonder what would have happened if we had a bigger baby? It's a small blessing the way Natalie perfectly fits her mommy. We love Natalie just the way she is.
(The blasphemous dark side of my personality wonders why God didn't just heal Sunny of her TOS, make her pregnancy easier, and make Natalie bigger. This same side of my personality also causes me to waste money on MegaMillions tickets.)


On a closing note (and to end what I started in my last post), I don't worry about Sunny taking care of Natalie while I'm away at work. Sunny is one tough cookie. After the delivery, Sunny experienced what we thought was normal postnatal bleeding. She passed a small blood clot. Then she passed a larger blood clot. Then she threw up and passed a blood clot the size of a softball. Then her blood pressure dropped to around 80 over 30 and she was fighting to stay conscious. Nurses started buzzing around her and the air in our room became leaden.


Our doctor rushed her into the operating room after saying things like "Call Dr. So-And-So" and "There's a chance we may need to remove the uterus" and "Please sign the consent form". I'm left standing there, alone, staring at a document called something like "Uterine Artery Embolism Procedure" mistakenly left behind by one of the nurses. An hour later, Sunny is wheeled back in and the doctor gives me the good news that they found a large vaginal laceration that they were able to sew up without needing to operate. Sunny would tell me that while struggling not to black out, she thought about how she wouldn't let herself die because Natalie and I would need her. I'm thankful that God is merciful and agreed with Sunny. Despite her TOS, Sunny has a strength that has been tested many times over. She's going to make a great mom.


Monday, September 17, 2007

She's here!


Natalie was born on September 6, 2007. She weighed only 4 pounds, 11.8 ounces and was 17.5 inches long.

Sunny and I had checked into Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena at 5:30am that morning. Natalie's due date was actually today but all her ultrasounds indicated that she was a tiny baby and our doctors decided that inducing early would give Natalie the better chance for development, especially since Sunny's morning sickness was lasting her whole pregnancy. Yep, a lot of the food that was intended for little fetus Natalie was actually being flushed away.

After some
Pitocin, a welcome epidural, and maybe 45 minutes of pushing, Natalie was out and crying.
Ok, that's not entirely accurate. Sunny did push for a relatively short time but she had some help. Our OB-GYN attached a vacuum to the top of Natalie's head to help pull her out. And I won't describe the use of scissors.

Everything seemed perfect. Natalie was healthy, just underweight. Sunny and I were sharing tears of joy (and relief). I wish the story would stop here but it doesn't. A lot more tears would have to be shed before the day was over, and not the happy kind.

But this post will end on a happy note: Natalie is here!