Biological Attack!

Today was the day of the 'Super Pooper' aka, Grace. I've never felt such force behind a poop - we're talking loud, smelly, and I can actually feel the projectile triying to shoot through her diaper. Once, I felt it in my hand, as I was holding her by her bottom, another time, I actually felt it through my jeans as she was sitting on my leg. Once I wiped her of her first job, I was unfolding a new diaper, when she peed right where she laid. Fortunately, we had our trusty Dora the Explorer plastic disposable diaper changing mat under her. Dad 1, Grace 0. Next, the stench. See below for my solution.



Dad 2, Grace, 0...the battle rages on...

"They Grow Up So Fast"

That's a phrase you'd probably never expect to hear from a father of a 5 day old baby girl, but after this morning's unexpected trip to the hospital (don't worry, everything's fine), that was the first thing that came to mind.

It all started when right after a huge breakfast prepared by Lola I went to change Grace's diaper, as it was about that time. Upon opening the diaper, to my utter shock, I saw some red mixed in with the usual mosaic of color. So I called in mom and Lola, to continue the job - what if I was wiping something the wrong way? They were just as surprised as I, so I was ordered to call the pediatrician (who just gave her a clean bill of health yesterday). It was 7 am, and normal hours didn't start for another 30 mins, so I decided to check out WebMD in the meantime.

When I finally reached the doctor on the phone, his explanation was exactly what WebMD said, so I felt like I had gotten a diagnosis and second opinion all at once. The Doc said bringing her in wasn't necessary, and I agreed. However, if I wanted to bring in the diaper for him to examine, he'd be happy to. So of course, Cicely jumped at that option, and just for added safety, we brought in Grace as well. After looking at the diaper, the Doc reiterated what he had said over the phone, and just gave me that "you've got so much to learn, new Daddy" look. Fortunately, he's an old guy, so I'm okay with him giving me that look - I get it from my Dad everytime I go back home. And most importantly, Cicely had piece of mind.

So what happened? Apparently, excess estrogen from Mom is still inside Grace, and because her immune system is still developing, it takes a few days to rid herself of those hormones. In the meantime, because of the estrogen, her little body actually thinks it's in puberty.

So technically speaking, it's "that time of the month."

They grow up so fast, don't they?


Random video for your Virginia Grace daily visual fix:

Battle Rythm...

...which is the Military's fancy way of saying, 'routine' - as in, settling into one.

Sometimes, it feels like a battle - not necessarily with Grace, but with my eyes when we have to get up at 2 am to put her back to sleep. Or when we went to her follow up appointment today, and Cicely proceeded to hang up toys in the car to 'keep her occupied' for the 10 km ride. "Occupied?" I said, "Babe, she can't even make out anthing more then colored blobs of mass right now, let alone toys...you're shootin' all our ammo before the war has even begun!"

But I suppose that's the difference between Cicely and me- she's the more compassionate one, whereas I take a more pragmatic approach. In the end, I think we balance each other out quite well.

As for the routine itself, we've got her feeding about every 2-4 hours, and napping in between - once she gets a stomach full of mom's milk, she's out for the count. And I'm talkin' a LONG count. Like 2-3 hour naps. I suppose that can't last for long though. And it messes with nightime sleeping, so we'll have to work on that. Although, if this were the East Coast, it'd be a perfect schedule.

I did want to apologize in advance for the next story, as I didn't take any pictures to go with it.

The only huge concern we had going into Grace's (we still haven't decided what to call her, 'Virginia', or 'Grace', but for typing purposes, I'll stick with the shorter option) follow up appointment, was the fact that she hadn't pooped since the day we left the hospital. I figured since she's not eating solid food, she must be peeing out all of Mom's milk - she does have a lot of wet diapers, afterall.

We were running late for the appointment today, so after I got her dressed (it took me a while to get the onesie on her safely) in the outfit Cicely specifically picked out for this event, and packed into the carseat (not her favorite place) we were heading out the door when I smelled a familiar, yet strangely mezmorizing odor. I knew it wasn't me that time, but it smelled a bit strong for one of Grace's farts (which happen often, to my never-ending amusement). So I buried my face into the carseat and with a wafting motion and a big whiff, I was immediately repulsed.

Just as Murphy's Law would have it, Grace decided that after 2 days of waiting, this most inopportune time was actually perfect timing for her. I took her out of her carseat and onto the changing table. After unbuttoning the outfit, I was overcome with the same stench from before, and with a visual forever burned in my mind - which is probably why I didn't take a picture - I'll never forget it. An oozing, forest green amoeba like substance had leaked out of her newborn diaper (which, because of her petiteness, are WAY too big for her) and all over her clothes. I immediately called in for covering fire (Mom) and heavy artillery (Lola) as I retreated like the French on D-Day.

And that, folks, is my story for today. And since you all came here not to listen to me wax poetic, but for pictures, here are a few random samples from the day:

Here's her "I'm about to get high maintenance on you, Dad" look.


One of our better efforts to swaddle her.


Her favorite type of nap - on the Boppy pillow.


Her first manicure.


Babysitting Daddy style.


More Boppy induced peace.


Dad bottle feeding with Mom's pumped milk - that's teamwork!


Although we're not sure what this means, it's by far her most common expression while awake.


This gargantuan meal awaited us for lunch today after we came back from Grace's appointment. It's AWESOME having Lola here!

Homecoming...

So after a long weekend of ups and downs filled with fevers, infections, sugery, IV's, thermometers in every place and all sorts of drugs, visitors and phone calls from family back in the States - my girls are finally home. This is undoubtedly the next step towards the daily trials and tribulations of a new set of parents, chronicled ever so eloquently by a beautiful English teacher via the blogosphere. But first, I wanted to thank all of the U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka staff who worked a long weekend in the maternity ward, all for just one baby (we were the only ones there).

Here is LCDR O'Connor, he was the Family Practitioner who was on duty in the Maternity ward on the day Cicely went into labor.




Here's LTjg Kristal Smith - she was the duty Nurse the night of Labor.




This is CDR Stoker - she's the OB that LCDR O'Connor decided to call in when things looked like they were getting a bit more serious - she eventually made the call for a C-Section, and also performed the surgery.


Last, but certainly not least, is LT James Estoesta. He was the nurse who had just taken the shift when Cicely just took her epidural. Of all the people on this list, James by far, had the most positive impact on Cicely, me, Lola, and most importantly, Grace. As it turned out, he was actually the husband of Cicely's aerobics instructor, and more importantly, he's one of the breast feeding consultants at the hospital - and to top it off, he lives two floors above us in our tower - how convenient! Throughout the 3 days we were there, James showed the most competence, confidence, bedside manner, and leadership ability (he had some really bad junior Corpsmen working on his shift - which didn't do us any good). James, my hat's off to you, brother.

Cicely and I are forever grateful to all of these fine Medical Officers for bringing our beautiful daughter into this world - a world that as we knew it, no longer exists...but will only get better with each new day.

Entertaining Visitors....

We finished up our first round of visitors yesterday - we're so thankful to have so many wonderful friends here in Japan! Without them, I'm sure this tour wouldn't have been such a great experience...

The Bach's came, and of course, little Mimi had plenty of questions, like "how come it' a girl? Her hair's too short!"


Chief Lucas and his family came; he was the first Chief Mike had working for him on his first ship when he was a brand new Officer stationed in Jacksonville. Mike hadn't seen him for about 4 years until we all got stationed in Japan.


Yoko, Kazuho, and Maiko surprised us as well - they're like Virginia Grace's Japanese Aunties!!!! I'm sure when she's old enough to sit still, they'll all be involved in dressing her in her first Kimono!


Who wouldn't want to come visit this little angel?

VT c/o 2031's Newest Member!

She's Asian, and a girl - so of course she'll be smart....and thus far, she's taken all traits after mom (except for the farting, which is purely from Dad)....so if going to Tech is the only thing she takes after Dad for - Mike's happy ;o)

Mike & Cicely +1

This entry will be short on words, and long on pictures, since pictures say a thousands words anyway.

Labor has started....

Hello everyone - as you can tell from the title, Cicely is not posting this blog entry - in fact, I'm under orders to do so vice hold her hand and comfort her through the contractions...thank God Mom's here. Anyway, she woke up at 1:00 am this morning (Japan time) and has had contractions since....it was slow progress, so at around 4 pm, we asked the Dr to break her water. The contractions are a bit more painful now - she thinks she doesn't want the epidural (sp?) but we'll see.

More to follow...

More Gifts for My Considerate Baby

Mom arrived safe and sound last night bearing more gifts for Virginia Grace from both grandmas and a couple family members. This girl's wardrobe has now officially grown larger than both of her parents combined- and she's not even born yet!

Yes, that's right...she's still warm in cozy in her mama's belly. Despite some promising looking 'bloody show' (again, sorry for TMI) and uncomfortable cramping/contractions that had me up at 3am this morning, my doctor's appointment today had me at only 3 cm dilated with contractions happening every 10 minutes.

I was instructed to walk around and come back when the contractions were 5 minutes apart. So mom and I walked around a nearby shopping mall to try and get things going. We only succeeded in making the contractions more intense, but not any closer together. Finally, jetlag caught up with mom so we ended up going home and taking a nap.

I called a friend to vent about the lack of progress and she pointed out that Virginia Grace is only giving grandma a chance to get rid of some jetlag. Afterall, if I ended up going into labor today, my mom would not have gotten any rest! What a great perspective and it's nice to know I have such a sweet considerate baby.

Mama's On the Way

My mama, that is. She is now on a plane flying across the world to Japan from Virginia Beach to be here for me when the baby comes. It's almost midnight, but I can't sleep because I'm so excited to see my mom again.

The last time we saw each other was when we both went to the Philippines for my grandma Virginia's funeral last May. Now we get to see each other for the birth of my baby, Virginia Grace. The circle of life exemplified...

Last Belly Picture Update...hopefully

Here I am at 39 Weeks. This will hopefully be the last belly update since I am determined to have this baby by next weekend. My mom comes in Thursday, I have an appointment on Friday, and she will be born soon after that. Please send good labor vibes my way....

A Daddy's Job

A daddy has many responsibilities, one of which is installing the carseat properly. Now that we're 10 days away from her due date, we figured it was time to go ahead and install the carseat we've had for a few months now. That and the fact that everyone at the baby shower was shocked we hadn't installed it yet.




Notice the use of the manual. Normally, Mike is a manual-not-needed kind of guy, but when it comes to his baby girl's safety, he's all about it. Maybe it's just my pregnant hormones, but that thought makes me just melt and love him so darn much.

Surprise! It's a Baby Shower...

I've always dreamed of becoming a mother and along with that is the inevitable baby shower that a mother-to-be gets. However, I thought that because we lived in Japan away from family and friends, I would not be getting a baby shower. Especially since I am less than 2 weeks away from my due date.

And I hate to admit it, but in the interest of full disclosure, I was feeling quite sorry for myself.

But that pity-party I was throwing was all for nothing. On Saturday, I thought I was walking into my friend Vernessa's house for an afternoon of girl talk but was greeted instead with a houseful of friends, adorable baby decorations, tons of gifts, and a beautiful pink cherry blossom cake. I was walking into the baby shower of my dreams!

I am blessed beyond belief to have such a supportive and loving group of friends here. My unspoken fear when I became a Navy wife was that because of all the moves I would inevitably have to make that finding good friends would be difficult. But my experience so far has erased that fear and I now know that I have nothing to worry about.







My friend and baby shower hostess, Vernessa, made me a beautiful 'diaper' cake. It has different sized diapers to use as Virginia Grace grows with hair bows and headbands for icing and topped with newborn onesies and baby shoes! It's so beautiful that I don't want to take it apart!


Here I am with Vernessa and Maritza- the two baby shower party planners!

Recently there always seem to be 3 pregnant ladies at baby showers, but this time, I've moved up to the top of the birth order list.

Everyone kept asking me if I was truly surprised or if I somehow had a clue that I was walking into my baby shower. All I have to say is look at my outfit, hair, and lack of make up. Does it look like I was expecting to be guest of honor at a party and have my picture taken all afternoon long???

Virginia Grace is one lucky baby- look at all her presents!