Saturday, April 24, 2010
First Doctor's Visit
We went to Kaiser to see Dr. Peter Lee for Avery's first doctor's visit. She has already grown 2 inches and gained 3 pounds and now measured 21 inches and weighed 9 lbs. Needless to say, we are very happy at her progress, as newborns usually lose weight the first two weeks. Avery had a mild case of jaundice, but Dr. Lee reassured us, noting that Avery's case was actually very mild for her age. Other than that, everything else with her was very normal. We've got a perfect little baby!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
First Week Memories
Hmmm....does "Blog" stand for "Back Log"??? I've been pretty backed up with my blogging, but I figure I better start jotting these memories down before I really forget them. TIme seems to stand still, but fly by at the same time when you've got a precious little one. Anyways, here's how I recall my first week.
I remember the day that we were discharged from Kaiser hospital. It seemed like there was a ton of paperwork that needed to filled before we left (birth cert, etc), additional tests that Avery had to take (hearing), and there was always someone in the room. At one point, there was even a maintenance guy that came in to change the fan in the room! The number of people in our face was getting ridiculous, Tracy and I were grumpy from the lack of sleep, and we just wanted to go home. Finally, after paying the hospital bill and getting the carseat ready, we were ready to take our precious baby Avery home!
Do you ever get a song playing in your head over and over again? Sometimes that happens to me. This time it was Will Smith's "Just The Two Of Us" playing in my mind. "Took an hour just to get the car seat right" and "People driving all bad, got me kinda upset" resonated in my brain. I gently placed her in the car seat base, made sure that I heard two clicks, signifying that the seat was properly latched on the base. I usually take the Geary Street to get back to my apartment, but this time, I took the back streets back to the inner richmond. It seemed like an eternity to get her home. When we finally got back, we brought her up to her new home and placed her gently in her bassinet. We then proceeded to finally get some well deserved rest.
The next few days, we had a gang of very generous visitors come by, way to many to mention, that dropped off gifts and food. Honestly, it was a bit overwhelming at times, but I was also very touched that we were getting so much support from our very awesome friends and family. Of course, my parents came over with traditional Chinese dishes for Tracy, which consisted of a huge bucket of ginger pickled pigs feet and chicken soup. I can understand why the chicken soup would be necessary, but I never did understand the whole pickled pigs feet concept. If we were to be eating this much pork fat, why couldn't it be in the form of bacon or pork belly buns ala Chairman Bao? Anyways, we didn't want to disappoint Grandma, so we ate as much as we could. I can proudly say that we almost finished 8 quarts of chicken soup. As for the pigs feet, good thing Linda and Gil were there to help out :)
As for how little Avery was doing, she was very awesome that first week. She slept what seemed like 20 hours a day, and she only got up when she was hungry or wet. She had absolutely no problems taking to formula, as she consumed 2 ounces of Similac every 3 hours or so. As for diapers, she was pooping out the dark brown stuff, meconium, I believe it's called. The hardest adjustment was the lack of sleep. Like any typical baby, she would wake up every 2 to 3 hours and want to be fed. Although we were tired and the lack of sleep was rough, it was a wonderful tired and we loved dragging ourselves out of bed to prepare her food.
All in all, our first week with Avery was everything we could have hoped for and more. We had a beautiful new baby to cuddle, tons of love and support from everyone, and a diaper genie full of little Avery dumplings ;-)
I remember the day that we were discharged from Kaiser hospital. It seemed like there was a ton of paperwork that needed to filled before we left (birth cert, etc), additional tests that Avery had to take (hearing), and there was always someone in the room. At one point, there was even a maintenance guy that came in to change the fan in the room! The number of people in our face was getting ridiculous, Tracy and I were grumpy from the lack of sleep, and we just wanted to go home. Finally, after paying the hospital bill and getting the carseat ready, we were ready to take our precious baby Avery home!
Do you ever get a song playing in your head over and over again? Sometimes that happens to me. This time it was Will Smith's "Just The Two Of Us" playing in my mind. "Took an hour just to get the car seat right" and "People driving all bad, got me kinda upset" resonated in my brain. I gently placed her in the car seat base, made sure that I heard two clicks, signifying that the seat was properly latched on the base. I usually take the Geary Street to get back to my apartment, but this time, I took the back streets back to the inner richmond. It seemed like an eternity to get her home. When we finally got back, we brought her up to her new home and placed her gently in her bassinet. We then proceeded to finally get some well deserved rest.
The next few days, we had a gang of very generous visitors come by, way to many to mention, that dropped off gifts and food. Honestly, it was a bit overwhelming at times, but I was also very touched that we were getting so much support from our very awesome friends and family. Of course, my parents came over with traditional Chinese dishes for Tracy, which consisted of a huge bucket of ginger pickled pigs feet and chicken soup. I can understand why the chicken soup would be necessary, but I never did understand the whole pickled pigs feet concept. If we were to be eating this much pork fat, why couldn't it be in the form of bacon or pork belly buns ala Chairman Bao? Anyways, we didn't want to disappoint Grandma, so we ate as much as we could. I can proudly say that we almost finished 8 quarts of chicken soup. As for the pigs feet, good thing Linda and Gil were there to help out :)
As for how little Avery was doing, she was very awesome that first week. She slept what seemed like 20 hours a day, and she only got up when she was hungry or wet. She had absolutely no problems taking to formula, as she consumed 2 ounces of Similac every 3 hours or so. As for diapers, she was pooping out the dark brown stuff, meconium, I believe it's called. The hardest adjustment was the lack of sleep. Like any typical baby, she would wake up every 2 to 3 hours and want to be fed. Although we were tired and the lack of sleep was rough, it was a wonderful tired and we loved dragging ourselves out of bed to prepare her food.
All in all, our first week with Avery was everything we could have hoped for and more. We had a beautiful new baby to cuddle, tons of love and support from everyone, and a diaper genie full of little Avery dumplings ;-)
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Introducing Avery Thuy Vy Wong!
Hi everyone,
Tracy and I would like to introduce the newest addition to our family,
Avery Thuy Vy Wong! Baby Avery was born at Kaiser Hospital on Geary
Street in San Francisco on Sunday, April 11th, 2010 at 11:43am. She
weighed in at 6 lbs, 4.9 ounces and measured 19 inches long. We both
loved the name "Avery" so that's how she arrived at her first name.
"Thuy" is Tracy's Vietnamese name and "Vy" is Tracy's mother's maiden
name. Of course, "Wong" is my last name :)
Tracy and I would like to introduce the newest addition to our family,
Avery Thuy Vy Wong! Baby Avery was born at Kaiser Hospital on Geary
Street in San Francisco on Sunday, April 11th, 2010 at 11:43am. She
weighed in at 6 lbs, 4.9 ounces and measured 19 inches long. We both
loved the name "Avery" so that's how she arrived at her first name.
"Thuy" is Tracy's Vietnamese name and "Vy" is Tracy's mother's maiden
name. Of course, "Wong" is my last name :)
Little Journey into Our World
Tracy began getting contractions late Thursday evening. We laughed at
the ticklish contractions, saying, "This is it?" Of course, easy for
me to say, but Tracy agreed that the feelings weren't at all painful.
However, the contractions were now fairly regular, occurring at
periodic intervals of 20 minutes each. These contractions continued
all throughout Thursday night and we knew that Baby Avery's arrival was
going to be in the next few days.
So that Friday morning, Tracy and I decided that we should do a few
things to pamper ourselves before we went into labour. We decided to
enjoy a nice meal, which consisted of French Toast at Blue Danube, our
favorite coffee shop, which is only a block away from our apartment.
We got a pedicure at Zen Day Spa on Haight Street afterwards. Okay, I
admit to getting one too but Tracy treated. And finally, we drove out
to Polk Street, had fish tacos, a lemonade and a nice, cold New Castle
while people watching.
We arrived home at about 7:00pm. The contractions continued to be
regular, occurring at ten minute intervals throughout Friday evening,
but they started getting very intense at 4:30am on Saturday morning.
The contractions were now only spaced about 5 minutes apart and the
pain was intense. Tracy would doze off for a few minutes at a time,
only to be awakened by a wrenching pain in her lower back and
abdomen. We both knew that we should be making our way over to the
hospital now.
When we arrived at Kaiser, the nurse checked Tracy's dilation, which
only measured at 2cm. However, the pain was really bad for Tracy and
we asked for a dose of morphine. The pain killers quickly took effect
and Tracy was able to finally rest. Unfortunately, they did not give
any to me, but I'm a pretty heavy sleeper. We were both quickly out
within minutes.
At noon, the doctor checked Tracy's dilation and she was only at 3cm.
She advised us that we shouldn't spend the whole day in the hospital
and that it would be better if we walked around to help induce labour.
We decided to sleep a few more hours, enjoying the nice
morphine-assisted rest, and checked out at 4:30pm.
Later that evening, as we awaited patiently on the living room couch of
our apartment, the contractions began to intensify. This time, they
were spaced only 3 to 5 minutes apart. We waited for about 3 hours of
consistent contractions and then made our way back to Kaiser at 12:30am
Sunday morning.
When the doctor checked us this time, Tracy had only dilated to
3.5cm. We were worried that the doctor was going to recommend that we
go home again. We asked for her opinion on whether or not we could
take an epidural. The doctor said that the epidural could either
prolong the labour process or it could help relax Tracy, allowing her
to dilate quicker. Writhing from the pain, Tracy and I agreed to take
the chance on the epidural and asked that it be administered. Two
hours later, Tracy had dilated to 8cm! We were elated that she could
start her pushing soon. After two more hours of resting, Tracy had
dilated to the full 10cm and she started pushing.
The second stage of labour lasted for an hour and forty minutes.
Sparing all the interesting details, Avery Thuy Vy Wong was born a
happy, healthy baby on Sunday, April 11, 2010 at 11:43am. She weighed
in at 6 lbs, 4.9 ounces and measured 19 inches long. Tracy was very
courageous during Avery's birth and worked very hard during the
delivery. As for me, I managed to witness the entire event without
passing out :)
This first week has been pure bliss. Both Mom and Dad are enjoying
this week staying at home, feeding Baby Avery, changing her diapers and
entertaining cooing family members. We both agree that we are the
luckiest, happiest parents in the world to have such an easy going
baby. She loves to eat, loves to sleep and only cries when she's
hungry, has dirty diapers or is cold. Noise doesn't bother her, as
she sleeps soundly through both the chatter of visitors having dinner
at our apartment or the grizzly bear-like snores of her Dad. My theory
is that she got used to my snoring while she was still inside of Tracy
and finds it very comforting. We'll see how long she can tolerate it
:)
the ticklish contractions, saying, "This is it?" Of course, easy for
me to say, but Tracy agreed that the feelings weren't at all painful.
However, the contractions were now fairly regular, occurring at
periodic intervals of 20 minutes each. These contractions continued
all throughout Thursday night and we knew that Baby Avery's arrival was
going to be in the next few days.
So that Friday morning, Tracy and I decided that we should do a few
things to pamper ourselves before we went into labour. We decided to
enjoy a nice meal, which consisted of French Toast at Blue Danube, our
favorite coffee shop, which is only a block away from our apartment.
We got a pedicure at Zen Day Spa on Haight Street afterwards. Okay, I
admit to getting one too but Tracy treated. And finally, we drove out
to Polk Street, had fish tacos, a lemonade and a nice, cold New Castle
while people watching.
We arrived home at about 7:00pm. The contractions continued to be
regular, occurring at ten minute intervals throughout Friday evening,
but they started getting very intense at 4:30am on Saturday morning.
The contractions were now only spaced about 5 minutes apart and the
pain was intense. Tracy would doze off for a few minutes at a time,
only to be awakened by a wrenching pain in her lower back and
abdomen. We both knew that we should be making our way over to the
hospital now.
When we arrived at Kaiser, the nurse checked Tracy's dilation, which
only measured at 2cm. However, the pain was really bad for Tracy and
we asked for a dose of morphine. The pain killers quickly took effect
and Tracy was able to finally rest. Unfortunately, they did not give
any to me, but I'm a pretty heavy sleeper. We were both quickly out
within minutes.
At noon, the doctor checked Tracy's dilation and she was only at 3cm.
She advised us that we shouldn't spend the whole day in the hospital
and that it would be better if we walked around to help induce labour.
We decided to sleep a few more hours, enjoying the nice
morphine-assisted rest, and checked out at 4:30pm.
Later that evening, as we awaited patiently on the living room couch of
our apartment, the contractions began to intensify. This time, they
were spaced only 3 to 5 minutes apart. We waited for about 3 hours of
consistent contractions and then made our way back to Kaiser at 12:30am
Sunday morning.
When the doctor checked us this time, Tracy had only dilated to
3.5cm. We were worried that the doctor was going to recommend that we
go home again. We asked for her opinion on whether or not we could
take an epidural. The doctor said that the epidural could either
prolong the labour process or it could help relax Tracy, allowing her
to dilate quicker. Writhing from the pain, Tracy and I agreed to take
the chance on the epidural and asked that it be administered. Two
hours later, Tracy had dilated to 8cm! We were elated that she could
start her pushing soon. After two more hours of resting, Tracy had
dilated to the full 10cm and she started pushing.
The second stage of labour lasted for an hour and forty minutes.
Sparing all the interesting details, Avery Thuy Vy Wong was born a
happy, healthy baby on Sunday, April 11, 2010 at 11:43am. She weighed
in at 6 lbs, 4.9 ounces and measured 19 inches long. Tracy was very
courageous during Avery's birth and worked very hard during the
delivery. As for me, I managed to witness the entire event without
passing out :)
This first week has been pure bliss. Both Mom and Dad are enjoying
this week staying at home, feeding Baby Avery, changing her diapers and
entertaining cooing family members. We both agree that we are the
luckiest, happiest parents in the world to have such an easy going
baby. She loves to eat, loves to sleep and only cries when she's
hungry, has dirty diapers or is cold. Noise doesn't bother her, as
she sleeps soundly through both the chatter of visitors having dinner
at our apartment or the grizzly bear-like snores of her Dad. My theory
is that she got used to my snoring while she was still inside of Tracy
and finds it very comforting. We'll see how long she can tolerate it
:)
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