Wednesday, July 11, 2007

life with a 3 and 1/2 day old

hey, our baby is 3 1/2 days old almost to the minute (originally written at 6:15 pm).

okay, let's backtrack. in case you didn't know, karen was pregnant. she did fairly well considering there was this alien creature growing inside of her, almost at times trying to poke out of her body later in the 3rd trimester (i'm talking appendages poking out like at least 1 inch). mainly just mild nausea in the first trimester but otherwise no major complications with the pregnancy.

so, we're all minding our own business watching 48 hours mystery late saturday night on the 7th (just missed a 7/7/07 baby...not that that was some big goal or anything) when karen's water (we think) broke. it was only a small amount so it was kinda hard to tell but then she started having contractions. mind you, prior to this, no contractions or anything. just another day in the life. her due date was 7/6. well, needless to say, barely 7 hours later and with only 7 cycles of pushing (according to the nurse), a baby was born! she weight 7 lbs, 2 oz and was born on 7/8/07 at 6:13 am. unbelievable how quickly your life changes.

the critter's name is katherine (kate) suna (pronounced sun-ah) lim. sun (means angel) is my mom's name and the "a" is actually another symbol referring to atlanta, thus an angel born in atlanta. that was my dad's clever idea. she is the only grandkid of theirs born in the a-t-l.

as an aside, we delivered at northside which was okay at best. most nurses were pretty good but some were pretty bad. the environment was like a 2 star hotel but probably more like 1 and 1/2. they did open up new floors which i'm sure are nicer but we'll probably deliver somewhere else next time, you know, spread the wealth.

so we came home yesterday and last night was the first sleepless night. as a physician you think i would have a little confidence or knowledge about someone's health but i have no idea what the heck is going on with this kid. i was getting frustrated at 5 this morning because she kept crying and i had no idea why. i had fed, burped, and changed the diaper but i think she actually may have still been hungry. who knew feeding, burping and pooping could be so complicated.

she's like me in a few ways--sleeps with her mouth open, goes from awake to passed out in 1 second flat, and i guess she looks a little like me, too. she does have the famous lim chin known in various females in the extended family. she has big american-sized eyes which the grandparents are happy about. she's also like karen in that she does not like being messed around with at all. she will wail like she's about to invade some pigs and run 'em into a lake during diaper and outfit changes. (when she cries her body turns bright red all over which is kinda funny and her wrinkly skin and sour face really does make her look like an alien.) i say she's like karen in this way because when we took our birthing class (for you single men out there, yes, there are classes on this) they're talking about massage, effleurage, etc during labor but karen was like "it's okay if you don't touch me at all during labor. just stay away." i thought that was fine, just call me when the baby's out!

it's so weird being a dad, kinda like being married. you look over and realize there's this new human attached to you in this lifetime, very existential. i love looking at her though, holding her, kissing her face all over. i know, can you imagine a man talking like that? i guess that's what kids do to ya.