Kaylan is getting in a regular schedule now of crying every two hours, being fed, then sleeping until the next cycle. Great things come in small packages, unless of course it comes in a disposable diaper. Once you get used to the lack of sleep and the fatigue, babies are truly wonderful. Every little tot is a gift to be treasured. Their smiles, cries, and every little movement is something to be remembered. They are growing every day and the challenges of parenting change along with them. Mommy and I are both looking forward to helping our little bit of heaven grow into a beautiful little angel.

-Mom and Dad

After going past our due date of Sept. 30th and visiting the doc, an induction date of Oct. 5th was set, due to Audrey’s large head circumference. At midnight, Audrey pre-empted our scheduled morning call and sent Yun into labor. After waking me (Huey) up a few times, Yun got up at 1:05 to walk around. Still half asleep and somewhat disbelieving Yun, I vaguely remembered to tell her to grab a towel in case her water broke. At this point, contractions were irregular and about 10 minutes apart. Deciding that perhaps she was in false labor, Yun laid down around 1:25 and almost immediately went into another contraction. Breaking her water on this contraction, I rapidly became alert and started looking for the phone. We had been waiting for this baby for the past 3 weeks (Not counting the whole pregnancy of course) and I was ready to meet her. Calling the doctors office gave me an answering service. After letting them know the situation, I was told the on-call doctor would be paged. After what seemed like an eternity, we got the call from the on-call and we were told to head for the delivery room.

Half expecting a relative quick delivery, with the wife having been at 2-3cm for a few weeks, I was completely unprepared for what lay ahead. After checking in and getting situated, we dug in to wait for the progression of labor. Yun made some progress early but stalled early in the morning. Stalls around 5cm and 7cm took us deep into the afternoon, what started as a hopeful 10 hour delivery had dragged into a marathon 16 hours. Our doctor finished with her clinicals and was able to come check our progress. Knowing beforehand that our baby was atleast 8 pounds, we knew that we might have to prepare for a Caesarean. At this point, Yun was developing a fever and Audrey’s heartrate had escalated from a steady 130bpm to 170bpm. The decision to head for the operation room was quick but not without a few tears.

From decision to delivery, it was only around 40 minutes. Hearing her first cries of complaint sent Yun and I into emotional tatters. Gathering my wits, I somehow made it over to the baby’s crib and was handed a pair of scissors to cut Audrey’s cord. Bringing her to show Yun, I couldn’t help but fall in love with her pursed lips.

The 9 month+ wait was filled with excitment, confusion, anxiety, and some mad scrambling to purchase all sorts of baby furniture. All that melted away the moment we heard her voice.

So what happened after that? While those details are a bit more mundane, I’m sure there will be plenty more exciting news to come, but you’re going to have to wait with the rest of us. I’m going to go see my daughter.

-Huey

38th week. Time is ticking. Every night before I go to bed, I’m wondering if tomorrow is the day. Yoyo, that’s her name. When are you ready to meet your parents?

My leave started about two weeks ago. 8 months. Such a long time. I’m tired. Tired from having to get up early everyday. Tired from a full schedule. Tired from walking around with a big belly. Tired generally, especially towards the last few weeks. Now with all the work load gone, I’m at ease. Spent the first week getting ready for the nursery. Crib, mattress, bedding, dresser, changing pad, stroller, car seat…the list goes on and on. Never realized that such a little tiny person needs so many things. And imagine! That’s just the beginning. We painted her room pink, light blue on the ceiling and highlighted with lavender crown molding. She better be a girl. (Ultrasound is never 100% sure about girls).

2006 is a busy year. Quite a few friends and coworkers became proud parents. Reading their blogs and looking at their baby pictures are my big enjoyment. One of my coworkers used to take his cell phone out around 5pm everyday and announced that it was time to look at the cutest kid ever. haha…… btw, his son is very very cute, with really big eyes.

Except for being heavy; having to wobble and stay away from coffee and coke; not being able to sleep well and exercise regularly; pregnancy itself was not too bad when I think about it. People are always very nice to you. Known or unknown, people asked me about my due date or boy/girl. They talked about their own kids and experiences. Recommended baby products to me. My team all took good care of me, although from time to time they teased me “not to piss off the pregnant woman”. Most of my cravings got satisifed. No need to worry about weight (overweighted anyway). Have excuses for not doing certain things. Get away with mood swings. Best chance to do shopping on behalf of baby and motherhood and so on so forth.

Couple of my friends told me to enjoy the last stage of the pregnancy, as it is such an unique experience and honestly will be our last few free days. However, I’m really anxious. Cannot wait to meet this little tiny person kicking and stretching so hard inside me (doing that right at this minute). Maybe I’ll be regretting that thought soon. But that’s later. I’m not worrying about it now.

Baby 还没出生，å??字就已ç»?有了一大堆: 胡隆é?™ï¼ˆä¸­æ–‡å¤§å??，爷爷奶奶起的），yoyo-胡悠优（å°?å??，外公外婆起的），Audrey Hu （英文大å??，Huey and I tentatively agreed on this one unless we find something better later)，ä¸?知é?“å°?å®?å®?到时会ä¸?会confuse。

Thus far, we’ve been able to keep the paparazzi at bay, but we expect to have photos of mother and father soon. Keep checking back for updates as we get them.

As we don’t know the sex of the baby yet, we have put off picking a name until we do. Yoyo Hu is the nickname his maternal grandparents have given him.

-Huey