Sep
24
Sleep, eat, sleep, eat
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We’ve made it through the first week as new parents, and things are going well. Special thanks to family who have been a great help by cooking us feasts. We’re still getting used to Samantha’s rhythms and syncing our routines to her needs. Eating and sleeping are basically all that newborns do, and both seem to require a bit of managing and mindfulness if Samantha is to be satisfied.
Feeding can be somewhat of a learning curve and quite challenging, especially if the baby is being breastfed like ours. Luckily we managed to get wonderful lactation consultation, and Samantha’s been eating heartily and gaining proper weight since. Not sure about other first-time fathers, but I sometimes feel quite helpless and vulnerable for these first couple of weeks, since I won’t be able to do much on my own if Samantha cries (uh, I mean scream) in hunger. Bottles won’t come into the picture until 2 weeks or so.
Babies’ sleep routines and durations also might not be as self-evident as one may expect. From my readings, it seems as though a rule of thumb is to never awake a sleeping baby. I know some parents would naturally want to wake their baby to feed them, especially if they’ve slept for many hours. But apparently hunger is controlled by the stomach, while wake/sleep cycles are managed by the brain. Hunger does not play a role in waking a baby. So if her developing brain is being fed with sleep, should we disrupt that in order to feed her stomach? What to do? For now, letting her sleep uninterrupted seems preferable. Plus, the long sleeping appears to condition her to sleep easier subsequently, as it’s a learned behavior.
More later…
Sep
19
We’re happy to announce the birth of our baby daughter, Samantha Helen Wong! She was born on Monday, September 15th at 11:10 am and weighed in at 5 lbs 14 oz.
The whole procedure went exceptionally well. Joanne did a great job and is
currently doing and feeling well. We just arrived back home on Wednesday. Here are some pictures.
More to come on our first week as parents…
Aug
29
Promotion Code: HSEA6RW4LY4E
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That’s the code for 15% off from US to Lima, Peru on AA. Wish we could go again. Although it’s still probably way more expensive even with the discount than what we paid a couple of years ago. But actually, 2011 would be a nice time to revisit, with the 100th anniversary and the return of it’s artifacts from Yale (although I hear this is yet again mired in controversy). Our daughter will be 2+ by then, maybe she can enjoy all of Machu Picchu’s newly restored colors with us!
Aug
22
Talking to a stomach
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I began speaking to the baby in Joanne’s stomach a couple of months ago, mainly in the form of reading. I’ve skipped a good number of days, but for this last month I’m trying hard to maintain consistency and read to the baby each night. They say it’s a good way for the father to bond with the newborn, where in most cases she would be predisposed to mom’s sounds and touches by nature. This is in addition to the music that Joanne has been playing for her as well. We try to aim the iPod speakers down under her belly, as to encourage her to move into a head-first position in preparation for labor. Whether or not this all works, I guess we’ll find out.
Any dads out there feel weird talking to a stomach? I still do. But she does kick when she hears my voice, kind of neat.
Aug
16
Announcing our New Nephew!
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Cole Calace, our third nephew, was born this past Friday, August 15th. The exact time, I’m not sure, but he weighed in at around 8 lbs. He’s healthy and looking good.