2 Weeks Now

Well, he was 2-weeks old as of yesterday, but I was too worn out by the end of the day to post.

We had his two-week check-up yesterday, and it went very well. We met his regular doctor for the first time, and he is wonderful. He speaks English well and is very gentle and kind.

Although exclusively breastfed babies usually simply regain their birthweight by two weeks, Nehemiah, decided that that wasn't quit enough, so he added another 200g (7.04oz) on to weigh in at 4.45kg (9lb 12.6oz)! Take that, nurse who said he had lost too much weight the day after he was born and needed to have formula OR ELSE.

A few days after he was born, his height went down to 52.6cm (20.7in), which I am sure is due to his head rounding out. He decided to play with those numbers and is now 56.2cm (22.1in) long--up one inch. That's our boy!

He still has very slight jaundice, but it is nothing to worry over. The doctor noticed his one hip was clicking a little, so we will be checking it again at his next visit. Hopefully, it won't be clicking anymore.



I was a wreck for a couple of days before his appointment just thinking about the shot he would be getting and how much he would cry. Thus, while I was dressing him to go out, I put on his Iron Man socks for added strength. It made me feel better, at the very least. When we took him to get weighed the day after he was born, I cried watching him just wait to be weighed because he was crying, and there was nothing I could do to help him. When he had his I think it's called PKU test, I had to hold him while they pricked his heel. I felt like such a bad mommy for putting him through that. He was not happy at all.

At this appointment, we had him get the BCG shot, which is for tuberculosis. I was really against getting it at first, but I read other expats' opinions on it and looked up what it would mean if we didn't vaccinate him and he caught it. Korea has the highest rate of TB amongst industrialized countries, and we use public transportation and are in contact with Koreans all of the time. Even though it'll cause a little bit of a hassle when receiving the PPD skin test later on down the line and leaves a mark for some time, I know we made the right decision.

Anyway, we talked to the nurse giving the shot and asked if most babies cry when receiving it. She said that many don't cry. He was sleeping at the time, but when she started swabbing the area to clean it, he started shrieking a bit. The nurse said to him, "Why are you crying? I didn't do anything!" Hee Suk still thinks that that was hilarious. As soon as he got the shot, he stopped crying. Go figure. The cold of the alcohol (I presume) must have been worse than about 9 little pins going into his arm. Silly boy.

Anyway, our next appointment is on December 11th. I will get checked out by my doctor first, and then we will go to his appointment (same hospital). That'll be round two of the Hepatitis B shot. For those who think it is an STD, you are pretty sorely mistaken. Hep B is also more common here partially because of the food sharing culture, so for us, not vaccinating him against it was not an option. I know two people who caught it and don't even know how, and that's two too many if you ask me.



In other news, we tried out his baby carrier, the Pognae (Korean version of the Ergo), and it was wonderful! He was so content in it, and it was very comfortable for me to use. I am a believer. I felt much better walking around with him strapped in it and with just holding him in my arms.

Tomorrow will be just the two of us all day, as Hee Suk will be going down to Daegu with some other family members to visit his father. The doctor estimates he has about three weeks left to live, so this might be his last chance to see him. I really wanted to go as well so that Nehemiah could meet him before he passes on, but for a number of reasons, everyone agrees it is best if we stay behind. It really breaks my heart that it looks like he will never be able to meet his Halabeoji. We're thinking of making a video today for Hee Suk to show him just to have a little bit of a special connection there.

Friday, we will be going to the American embassy to register his birth and apply for his social security number and passport. Let me tell you, America does not make it easy. It was so simple for Hee Suk to just go in alone and take care of all of the Korean matters, but for America, all three of us have to go, and I have to be able to prove I have lived in America for at least five years. The website says that showing my passport with my exit and entry stamps is good enough, but the lady I spoke with today said that the officer may or may not request more evidence. I have access to my UMN unofficial transcripts (which are acceptable evidence), but I can't access my N'dale ones because I can't remember my student ID or password to the e-services website. She said, "Oh, well you can contact your university and they can send it to you!" "I'm coming on Friday. I don't think they can get it here in time." We'll see how it goes. I of course did not bring along any of our utilities or pay stubs or anything for me because really, why should I have needed to? I will call N'dale tonight to try to get my student ID number at the very least. If they do require more evidence, I can just fax it to them, but still. I think we'll be fine, but you just never know. Why does it have to be so difficult?

[Edit] After hours of trying, I finally remembered my student ID number! I am pretty much awesome. The only reason I eventually remembered was because I recalled it being similar to my Target employee ID number. We should be good to go! [/Edit]

Anyway, my plan had been to type up my birth story for his 2-week post, but I'm still getting there on that one. Thank you all again for your thoughts and prayers~!

The Lost Photos

The Wednesday before Nehemiah was born. We went to the National Palace Museum by Gyeongbokgung, and there was this gorgeous gingko tree outside.


My official 39w3d photo: November 6th.


We went to Changgyeonggung in the afternoon and had a wonderful time. We went there over one year ago and took some hanbok photos, but it felt like the first time since we were able to just walk around more casually and enjoy.


In traditional Korean culture, the placenta of royalty was saved and buried in a jar with a kind of monument like this erected in its honor. This one was for King Taejo, if I am not mistaken. We were trying to channel placenta vibes, lol.


We went to one of our favorite buffets afterward. To settle our super full tummies, we stopped by the Great King Sejong museum and had this picture taken.

Looking at these photos now, I think I got very big in the end. I didn't feel so huge while pregnant, though. I still can't believe a 4.2kg baby was in there. It's still unbelieveable and simply incredible to me.

For fun, here is my one-week post-partum photo:



Like I mentioned in my last post, getting used to my more-or-less original body has been far more awkward than the gradual changes that occur in pregnancy. It was hard for me to look in the mirror for several days.

Anyway, just wanted to do a quick photo post while I am saving all of our photos to different spots to clear out our memory cards. With Nehemiah, it wasn't hard to fill up 4GB pretty fast.

God is so good~

One Week Reflections

There are so many things I want to type, but I just wanted to post a few bullets about our little blessing's first week out of the womb.

I think I am still in shock. It's strange to be pregnant one minute and to hold your baby in your arms the next. It's unbelievable. I'll type out his birth story later, but it really was everything I could have hoped for. When he was born, it was pretty much just like my dream. He didn't cry (but was definitely alert) while he was on me, but the minute they took him away, he let them know he wasn't very pleased.

My tailbone is still slowly healing, but now that swelling has gone down, I feel my stitches a bit more. It's not a huge deal, but it isn't comfortable, of course.

One thing I noticed almost right away after delivery is not needing to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes. It's funny how easily noticeable the number of times you go to the bathroom is.

Pretty much "having my body back" has been strange. Growing bigger and bigger was just fine by me, but now being back to about normal is so weird. It's strange to look at myself in the mirror. It's also strange for Hee Suk, too, because he's so used to having his hand on my belly and talking to Nehemiah there. He still puts his hand on my belly, and we just cherish the memories together.

Breastfeeding was a bit of a challenge at first. Nehemiah was not interested in feeding for about half of the day, and for the first couple of days, it was painful. I am thinking that maybe a poor initial latch led to it hurting me more, but it is really wonderful now.

The rooting instinct just amazes me to no end. It's incredible to watch him try to find his milk. When he is lying on my chest and is hungry, he makes the most adorable and hilarious piggy grunts. There are definitely many things I cherish about his feeding times.

Nehemiah is so curious and loves to just lie down and take in the world around him. He loves looking at his Appa especially, most likely because his face is a little more dynamic having dark hair and dark eyes. I feel I look even paler than usual still, so I am not much to look at for a newborn. He does love looking at me as well, though.

Ah, you might be wondering how we chose his name...

We picked out his English name two years ago when just casually discussing baby names. We wanted something from the Bible, and I had suggested Micah. To Hee Suk, the English pronunciation of Micah sounds like a Korean trying to say "my car," so that was a no-go. Out of the blue one night, I suggested Nehemiah. We talked about who he was in the Bible and later looked up his name to see what it means: "Comforted by God." We fell in love with it for him. What wound up being a little ironic is that we chose the name as a sort of prayer for him to be comforted by God, but in the end, it was I especially who needed the comfort. It was no surpise to us when we found out we were having a son--truly God's timing and will.

His Korean name changed several times. Hee Suk kept trying to come up with a boy's and a girl's name that were related to the Bible, but a girl's name never did come to him. When we were at the hospital for my food poisoning, I asked him about a Korean name, and he mentioned Pyeongan (평안 - 平安), which means "peace." It was perfect. It obviously turned out that a girl's name was not needed. Again, truly God-led.

Anyway, those are just some bullets from the past week. It really is incredible that we were in the hospital one week ago, adoring our son for the first time and learning his personality and how to take care of him and that we are home now making so many new blessed memories as a family of three. We are so, so incredibly blessed, far beyong measure.

He's Here!

Nehemiah Pyeongan Ko was born on his due date, November 10th, 2009, at 2:02am, weighing 4.2kg (9.24lbs) and measuring 53.8cm (21.18in). This technically goes along with my dream since it was November 9th in the states. ^.~ The labor was completely natural, and I wasn't even numbed for the millions of stitches I suppose I wound up with for internal tears (but perineum is okay!). I was the hero of the history of the hospital pretty much.

I don't think I wrote this, but after our last visit to the doctor at 39 weeks, I told Hee Suk he was going to be a 0-10 baby. I wasn't dialated or showing really any progress at all. He totally was a 0-10 baby, and active labor went very quickly. I will share more details later.

Recovery has been more difficult because my tailbone has shown me no mercy. Yesterday, I was finally able to start using my donut pillow to semi-comfortably sit. That and my breastfeeding pillow have been lifesavers today.

He is a perfect little angel, even though his first diaper change at home resulted in us needing to wash our comforter. We are both amazed by him and have been brought to tears of joy many times. We are blessed more than we could have ever deserved. God is so amazing.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We are so, so incredibly blessed.

Paran Photos

These are the first three we received. There was no excitement from us when we did get them, as we were completely underwhelmed and couldn't understand why they chose three shots of me looking down. Seriously, were these the three best shots they took? Moreover, why on earth did it take so long to get them back to us?

Since we received them in the evening, we resolved to call them back the next day and see if they would be willing to send us at least one cut where my face was more visible, knowing not to really expect anything since they were free after all.

Well, we forgot to call the next day and instead called the day after. They said they would be happy to send us two more cuts--one of just me and one of us together. We were pleasantly surprised to receive three more cuts and couldn't understand why they didn't just send us these in the first place, as they were overall much better. That, and they got them to us very quickly (within a day). Still wondering about that three-week thing...





I'm too lazy to do it now, but I don't think I ever mentioned that Apple Tree Studio sent us a whole bunch of other photos for free. We ordered two more prints, but they sent six! Their service is really outstanding. It's funny that we expected more out of Paran but got so incredibly much more out of Apple Tree. Just goes to show...

Anyway, I am contemplating another post. For now, please enjoy the photos. ^^

Officially One Week Out

We are officially one week away from our due date. It is so crazy to think about! What's even crazier is that he really could be here any day now.

He wanted to prove to us yesterday that he is stronger than the powers of the full moon, so he is sitting pretty cozy. Hee Suk is still convinced he will come this week, and as for me, I am trying to stay away from guesses in order to preserve my sanity. The whole guessing game just doesn't work so well for me, so I am happy to just take each day as it comes.

The crib is all ready to go and looks gorgeous. I have been lazy with pictures, and we have it covered with one of our extra blankets for now anyway to keep it poppin' fresh for when he decides to come. You will see plenty of it after he arrives, though. ^^


After much debate, we decided to splurge on a Fisher Price Rainforest Bath Center. We both really like the net attachment for newborns, so we decided the ease, convenience and peace of mind were all worth the extra money. It arrived today, so we are happy.

The hospital bag is all packed and ready to go. I've got a little checklist of last minute things I'll need to throw in and grab, but otherwise, we are in great condition. Hee Suk has been running through ways to help me manage my pain so that he knows at least a bit of what to expect (who can ever truly know?), so I think we're both feeling a bit more confident.

I've hardly had much of an appetite at all. Hee Suk thinks I drink far too much water (I must admit that with dinner especially, I do drink a lot more than I should), but all I really want at times is something to drink. This usually ends up being water, my milk or some kind of juice. Otherwise, I usually want some simple kind of bread product. It almost seems my appetite has cycled back to the first trimester in a way since I have been wanting french fries and ice cream, but I am still able to eat just about anything. Hee Suk always asks me what I want to eat, but I am such a pain that I ask him what he's in the mood for and try to follow that unless my body seriously objects. That's proven to work pretty well so far.

I have an aversion to sandwiches now, though. This works well, though, as I have switched over to salads with turkey and boiled eggs. Yum~

We have been going out on daily exercise excursions. It was so cold yesterday, so we went out to Yongsan to just walk around and see how things were there. It's been awhile since we were last there, and we were so surprised at how many shops were closed and being replaced. We're trying to figure out where to go tonight, as it is still very chilly.

Exchanges
Baby clothing here is often just not nearly as cute as items you can find in the states. It is also way overpriced and not sized for newborns. As last week was my last week of teaching (for the most part), we received a couple of kind gifts that we just never saw ourselves really getting to use. We found out that it is actually ridiculously easy to take the items in and exchange them for something else, so we did. The first one we received, we wound up exchanging for a little pillow since Koreans are overly concerned with beautiful head shapes. (Don't worry, it will only be used during hours of alertness.)

For the other item we exchanged, we got him two little plush toys with shakers inside. One is a little teddy bear on a ring, and the other is a cow on a wristband (slightly different from what is pictured). One of my favorite things my mother send over is this little armband with a dog on it, so I was happy to get another one. I just love imagining our little one shaking his arms around, not knowing what's going on, and later on down the line discovering what it is that is making that sound.

Exchanging the second item wound up being an adventure, though...

Despite the rain on Saturday, we decided to go to Lotte Department Store in Myeongdong since I needed to be out and walking anyway. There are buses in front of our place that drop you off right at the main entrance, so we didn't see it as a big deal. When the bus came, Hee Suk got on first. I stepped up with my right foot, but I wound up slipping forward and smashing my left shin into the bus, wallet flying from my hand to where Hee Suk was. All I can say is that hurt. It is getting better, but it still aches with a little pressure. The rest of our trip was pretty uneventful, thankfully.

We discovered later, though, that our little cow must have been a sample because some of the stitching had already busted through and the band looked a bit stretched, so we wound up going to another location to re-exchange that on Sunday. He is in the wash right now with his little teddy bear buddy. ^^

Paran Photos
Tomorrow is the date by which they promised to send our photos to us, so hopefully, we will see them then. I still fail to see why it takes weeks upon weeks to pick three photos and touch them up, but oh, well. I just hope they pick photos that we both like! We all know that everyone has a different concept of beauty at times...

Tomorrow
Anyway, we have a doctor's appointment tomorrow that should be pretty quick. She will do another pelvic exam to check for any potential progress and just check him quickly to make sure he is alright. Though the numbers don't truly mean much timing wise, I am interested to see if any progress has indeed been made. All I really care about is no more blood draws! No more NSTs (unless we go more than a week overdue)!

For when we do head to the hospital...
We'll be keeping it more under wraps. I love my friends, but I won't be able to handle feeling responsible for keeping so many people updated on our progress, especially if there are any sorts of emergencies. I think even more so is that I won't be able to handle knowing so many people are anxiously awaiting an update after catching wind that we've headed to the hospital. After he is born, we'll make announcements and certainly share pictures. ^^

At any rate, I need to get ready to go out and walk around a bit. Hopefully, I will be posting those pictures tomorrow!

Lord, You have so greatly blessed us, in big ways and small alike. You know exactly how much we can handle and have been with us through our toughest times. Thank You so much for always thinking of me, even though I so often fall short of Your glory. I do not deserve Your blessings, but You continue to pour them down on me. Thank You so much, my Lord.

A few updates from our appointment today

--Holy growth spurt, Batman! Our son is now measuring at 3.5kg (7.7 lbs), up .8kg (1.76 lbs) from last week. Our doctor is sort of not-so-secretly hoping he comes next week, lol. Hee Suk was beyond shocked at his growth and said to me, "See, I told you your belly was much bigger!" I gained just under 1kg, which means that more than 80% of my gain was his!

--The Non-Stress Test should be called something else. I hate it. There were no issues today, but I still hated it. It was nice that there was another Japanese animation on, but still.

--The doctor who did my autologous donation nearly had me crying during the process, but it wasn't that she did anything wrong. She told me my iron levels (hemoglobin count) were lower today and that I would need medicine. I thought she might have meant vitamin, but I just didn't want to hear of having any issues and just don't like taking medicine. I was at a 12.0 last week and came in at 11.7 today. We asked my doctor about it, and she said not to worry. Anything below a 12 shows up as red in their computers, but I am doing just fine. Sounds good to me!

--The tech who did my ultrasound last week did it today as well. Today, though, she hardly said a word to me and was just quiet the whole time, taking quite a bit longer than last week. At the end, she said, "I measured the fetal weight and amniotic fluid, so your doctor will explain the results." I don't do well with that. It just sounded so ominous. Going to the doctor, I was all thinking I was anemic and that something wasn't quite right with baby. Thankfully, it was all nothing in the end, and I shouldn't have to see those people again unless we end up overdue.

--No GBS thankfully! I am so, so over being a pin cushion. I look like I do drugs pretty heavily. My poor arms. ;~;


I have more updates to make and pictures to share, but I am tired. And my show may or may not be on now. ^.~