Don't Judge a Baby by His Name

I confess. The name Spencer didn't exactly roll off my tongue at first. In fact, I had spent many a month trying to think of alternative names for my nephew. Even going so far as to try to strike a deal with Linh during March Madness. Obviously, she didn't bite because it turns out I would have won that wager fair and square. But as soon as Spencer was born and I saw him in all his preciousness, the name was the last thing on my mind. Who cares anymore? They could have called him Orange and it wouldn't even matter. So now I can say Spencer, Spencer, Spencer without hesitation. The kid's in danger of being seriously spoiled!

What a Cutie!!!!

That's all I keep saying when I see Spencer or his pictures, what a cutie! I have some pictures of him hung up by my desk to show off to my co-workers how cute my little nephew is. I got to see him last Saturday, and even though all he did was sleep most of the time, I was just really entertained by watching him sleep. There were about 6 people in the living room talking and watching tv, and in the middle of the room was Spencer sound asleep ( well at least I think so, at times it looked like he was concentrating hard to sleep). I would come over to his bassinet and just watch him sleep, I would touch his cheek and he wouldn't move. Then I see him start twisting to try and get one of his arms out, and it looked like he was about to cry because he would make a smushy face but he would just fall back asleep. Even when he woke up a couple times, he didn't even cry, just opened his eyes for a couple seconds and then just go back to sleep. Then he got really cute when he tried to stuff his whole fist in his mouth. Scott and Linh told me to not let him do that, so I would gently pull his hand away from his mouth and he would do a slight push-up with his mouth open towards his hands and try to get them back in. I tried hard not to succumb to his cuteness and let him put his hand in his mouth, it was a hard struggle. I know they'll be more times like this to come, hopefully I'll be strong enough to hold my ground.

The Visit to the Place-That-Must-Not-Be-Named

Well, Spencer had his first visit to the doctor today (4/24). It was also his first car ride and first extended time outside since coming home. So this was a nervous day as we wondered how Spencer would react outside the home. But strapped into his car seat, he's a fighter. Luckily, he got no shots today. The nurse was commenting how good he was when she was taking his measurements (again, with guests, he's an angel). He actually exceeded his original weight (6 lbs, 0.5 oz) and now weighs 6 lbs, 7 oz, and grew 3/4 of an inch (now 20 inches) despite drinking only about 10-12 oz of milk a day. I guess babies typically take about 10-14 days to get back to their original weight (he was 5 lbs, 12 oz, when we left the hospital) since they are bloated right after birth. So after unclothing him, he was fussy and moving all over the place. Once the doctor came in, he started to settle down as Dr. Salem gave him his exam. Everything we were worried about turned out to be nothing to worry about... peeling skin (no need for lotion, this is normal), bluish marks on his ankles (just Mongolian spots, perfectly normal and will go away in a few years), enlarged nipples (normal), lots of hiccups (normal)... seems like I'm not reading the right parenting books. Final prognosis: Perfectly healthy baby. Thank goodness. In fact, so good we won't see the doctor for another two months. And at that time... shots! Lots of them. Not going to be a pleasant day.

Our indescribeable precious bundle of joy

Scott and I have really enjoyed spending every minute with Spencer. He is an amazing child. By observing and interacting with him, we have learned more from him than what we are teaching him. He has taught his mommy the importance of being patient and calm in stressful situations. Eight years of hands-on crisis interventions and trainings, and facilitating parenting classes have left me clueless when my child is crying and screaming in the middle of the night. Now, I can really empathize with those parents. What happened to setting limits, establishing routines and schedules, and being in control? It all went out the window. Spencer is winning the war. With his beautiful smile and facial and body gestures, he makes us laugh constantly that his daddy and I forget about our sleep deprivation and migraine headaches. His pouting lip and stretching arms leave a lingering memory of him on his aunties' and grandparents' minds that they want to visit him frequently. We are so attached and in love with him that our home becomes a fun and entertaining venue.

Coincidences & Dreams

About the first day or so at home from the hospital, we were putting mittens (well, socks since the mittens kept falling off) on Spencer. So with Linh holding him, I asked him to raise his hand. And he did. So I put the sock on and we laughed. Then I asked him to raise his other hand. Pause - nothing. Okay, good. But then he raised his other hand. Nervous laughter. Do you ever have that dream (or nightmare) where after your baby is born, the baby starts talking to you? That's what it felt like. I didn't tempt it further by asking him to do anything else, because at two instances, it's just a weird coincidence that we can joke about. I don't think we could handle it if he obeyed a third consecutive command.

Duel Wielding

On Day 8 (4/23), Grandma & Grandpa Tamashiro came down to help us watch Spencer for most of the afternoon. For the first time, we left Spencer to run a few errands and came back in about an hour. It was hard. But of course, Spencer is just "perfect" when around his grandparents, making him an "easy" baby to take of. So after feeding my parents and thanking them, it was just the three of us again. Soon, it was changing time. We have all heard the stories of boys suddenly shooting off like a fire hydrant in the midst of changing. I had my first experience of that on the second day but it hasn't happened since. So with grandparents now at home, Spencer had a special surprise for us. Shooting off like a fire hydrant with Number Two. Yes. Without getting too gross, the bassinet suffered some collateral damage and had to be torn down and washed. But Spencer wasn't done yet. So while cleaning up his Number Two mess, off goes Number One! Then Number Two again. All this with an evil smirk on his face. And after all the drama was done, he goes back to sleep while his bassinet gets cleaned. Maybe he knows we're taking him to the doctor tomorrow (4/24)?

Two Thumbs Up!

It is universally agreed that Spencer is one cute baby (of course, what kind of person would say otherwise about any baby?), and of course, we absolutely agree. Speaking of thumbs, Spencer found his yesterday (April 22), although very awkwardly. Once he has escaped his swaddle, and if he's hungry, he'll start sucking on anything. At first, it was cute because he was sucking where his thumb would be. In other words, he hadn't yet been able to stick his thumb out, instead having it curled inside his hand. So when he tried to suck, he was really sucking his hand, not his thumb. All that changed, when after many tries, he got his thumb inside his mouth. Now, it's not the normal way a baby sucks his thumb, as he has his hand upside down as he sucks on his thumb. I would try to get a picture of it but I'm trying to discourage the behavior (for now). Alas, Spencer is winning most of the battles :-)

Numerology

We avoided two potential pitfalls in the delivery date. Linh started to have very regular contractions on Friday the 13th but luckily it didn't get bad until Saturday, where we went in for about four hours for a check-up, but were sent home. When it got really bad on Sunday, April 15th, we knew it was tax day. Luckily, although Linh was partially induced at the beginning, Spencer didn't come out til a couple of hours into Monday. So we avoided a Friday the 13th and a Tax Day baby!

Unswaddleable

One of things we learned was how to swaddle the baby, to mimic the womb by constraining his arms close to his chest. It worked for a few days. It's a great concept. You swaddle the baby tight and you can carry and move him around easily. The nurses said don't be afraid to swaddle him tight. However, on about the fourth of fifth day, Spencer was pulling a Houdini by escaping one arm at a time. It was fascinating to see him comfortable and peaceful and then all of a sudden, movements under the fabric begin happening. There's an up and down motion that is ever so slight but eventually he wriggles his hand upward and pauses. Then with another "humph", he wriggles even more vigorously and all of a sudden you see the tip of the mitten. Then the hand. Pause. More movement and the arm pops out next to his ear. Sometimes he is content and sometimes he continues on and gets the other hand out as well. When he gets one hand out and places it next to his ear, Aunty Van says that's his "cell phone pose". When he gets both hands out and places them next to his ears, that's his "headphone pose".

20th Century... Meet the 21st Century

The worst part of staying at the hospital for four days/three nights was not having internet access. We had to rely on Linh's cousin Vi to send emails to everyone who was invited to the Baby Shower and for our friend Carina to give Vi some pictures of Spencer. However, I was in contact through my cell phone. Yes, you can no longer tell people you actually know an engineer who doesn't own a cell phone. Sorry. So, with one month free of Verizon VCast, I was able to view my emails through Gmail (WAP) and able to send short messages (just the vitals) to people who were on my recently sent contact list since typing up everyone's email address on the number keypad would've taken me forever. So I got the phone the Thursday before the delivery date. To be fair, I had a pay-as-you-go cell phone from Virgin since mid-March which I let die, but this is my first bona fide cell phone, one (free!) that I will have for at least one year. With no newspaper or internet, the cell phone was a life saver. In fact, I have used the video, music, web, personalization (background, ringtone) features and barely have used it to make phone calls.

Active Labor

We were at the hospital for a total of 14 hours from check-in to delivery with the "active" (or painful, even with the epidural) part lasting about 1 1/2 hours. The final "push" was about a half hour and surprised me how quickly it came. When they wheel in that gurney loaded with tools into the room, the mood instantly changes. He's coming. And when the towel was draped over Linh's chest (to lay the baby right after he's (and we were hoping he didn't become a "she") born (and for me to eventually cut the umbilical cord), it dawns on you that in a few minutes, the baby will soon be out. It all happened so fast. And I didn't faint. Cause it was real gross. I think if Linh would've had my view, she would have fainted. But it also was extremely fascinating (as was the circumcism, which I also had to take part in (holding Spencer down) and I didn't faint there either) as there's something to watching your child being born that takes out grossness of the blood, guts, and whatever other stuff was pouring out of Linh at the time.

Ice, Ice, Baby

One of the things I remembered that would make the whole delivery process go better were "ice chips". Just about everyone I talked to, including the past IEEE Region 6 Director, Evelyn, said don't forget about the ice chips. And I have to agree with them! I must have had four to five "Big Gulp" cup size-fulls of ice chips to eat. And the nurses would continuously get them for me. Okay, I also used it for its intended purpose, to feed Linh since she can't eat anything once she has started the delivery process. Linh didn't care too much for them until the contractions came about a minute apart and she had to push. So when I wasn't feeding Linh ice chips in-between "arrrghhhs", I was eating them. Funny thing is, I always use the ice cubes from our refrigerator and not the "crushed" option... and still do.

Treated Like a Queen

The folks at Los Alamitos Medical Center are wonderful. The staff and nurses are kind and helpful. It just happened that when we checked in on Sunday (4/15, Noon), we (well, just Linh) were the only scheduled delivery that day (and into the next morning). In fact, there was just one other baby on the whole 2nd floor (the whole floor is the Baby Center, which makes it more secure and doesn't interfere with the other hospital operations). The next day (starting around mid-morning), there were now 11 patients on the floor. So needless to say, the whole staff had just us to tend to and while I heard stories of maybe 2-3 staff (doctor, nurse, assistant) in the room with you when the baby is born, we had about a half-dozen help. The two nurses who helped pull Linh through this ordeal (hey, I helped, too!) were Katherine and Ruby. Katherine was great in keeping Linh calm and they were talking up a storm (again, she was the only mother-to-be on the floor) and walking her through the whole process when they hooked Linh up to pain medication, fluids, antibiotics, and then the epidural. Unfortunately, nurses change every 12 hours but Ruby stepped in at 7 pm to further talk Linh through as the moment came closer and closer. Ruby was tough on Linh in getting her to push harder and harder but also supportive when changes began to happen and was there at "ground zero" with our doctor (Dr. Chao). We can't express how thankful we are to those two nurses (and the nurses that followed) as well as the rest of the crew for taking great care of us (and the food was good, too!).

Here is Spencer

Seven days. It's been a week since Spencer Phung Tamashiro was born and this is the first time I've had a short stretch of time to capture some thoughts and will be soon be responding to some emails. We want to thank everyone for their kind wishes and congratulations. It's been a very long week but one of the most fulfilling weeks. I'll be adding stuff in the next week or so detailing the present as well as the past so these posts won't make chronological sense for a while. Today (April 22) was his first full smile (inadvertent, I'm sure) and the first day we've pretty much given up fully swaddling him (more on that later). Also, both sets of grandparents were here together being entertained by Spencer, who, as always, is a perfect gentlemen when guests are here, which makes me think we should invite people at 3 am when he's still awake and fussy.