False Alarm: Where is the Baby?

Sorry for getting everyone all worried/excited last night. It looks like Suzuna won't be putting in an appearance quite yet, after all.

Yesterday I started getting what I thought were contractions (and obviously turned out to be "false labor") around 10:30 in the morning. They were coming at about an hour to an hour and a half apart, so I threw myself into cleaning the house to make the time go faster. Well, the house got nice and clean, but the contractions didn't get any closer together and once disappeared for 3 hours. Then suddenly at 9:30 they started up again with a vengeance, coming every 10 or 15 minutes, so when Shoichi got off work at 10:45 we went to the hospital.

As my sister can attest, I was freaking out and afraid I was going to have the baby in the back seat of the car. She stayed on the phone with me the whole time for moral support. (Thanks Kate! You are awesome!) Then I got settled into the hospital and Shoichi took Rin and Rosie to his parents house, at which point the contractions promptly stopped. I was a little worried to go home and have them start up again and have to do the nail-biting ride to hospital again, so I consulted with the midwives and decided to stay overnight.

I had one or two weak contractions, but mostly I just got my nerves worked up waiting and listening to the women in the next bed who was really laboring in earnest. Then the doc came around at about 8:00 in the morning and checked my dilation etc. and said there was no change from when I came in, so I should go home and wait some more.

And here we are. We'll just have to wait and see what happens, but at the moment it looks like it's going to be a while. Ay yi yi!

PS- the picture has nothing to do with this post, but it was the cutest one that came up in GIS for "Where's the Baby?"

One Small Change

We've been discussing the name a little more and checking it out from all angles and we decided to tweak it just a little bit. There's something in Japan called 姓名判断 (seimei handan) which is a kind of numerology based on the number of strokes in the kanji for the name, and the balance between the different characters. Apparently Suzune is badly balanced and therefore "unlucky", so we looked for another similar name with a luckier number of strokes. (NB I don't believe this stuff, but when in Rome...). We'd already been calling her Suzu-chan for quite some time, so we stuck with that, but we changed the 音 (ne-sound) to 奈 (na-a kind of tree).
So at 36 weeks and counting the new official name is Suzuna (鈴奈) bell-tree.

It's a Girl!

We got 100% confirmation a few weeks ago. The next baby Kanou is going to be a girl and her name will be Suzune Catherine Kanou. Yeeha!

Finally

We finally got a clear picture of Baby #2's face. And Dr. Ida says it might be a girl, but it's still not definite yet.

It's Official!

Baby Kanou #2 is on the way with a tentative due date in late September!


And how's this for coincidence? Before our Monday appointment with Dr. Ida, we ran into Akane (the girl who had her baby Rui a few hours before Rin and who I shared a room with) at the hospital, also waiting for Dr. Ida and her due date is about a week before mine! Who knows, if one is late and the other early we may end up as maternity ward roomies again! Freaky!

A Star is Born!

加納麟太朗 (Rinatarou Karl Kanou) was born this morning June 16th at 7:16 am! He weighed 3175 g and was 49 cm long. He is also the handsomest baby you have ever seen, (although I may be slightly biased.)


Beautiful eyes...


Cute little toesies...


and a great big yawn.


Posing with Mom!

At the hospital

Sho-chan, Mom and I are all at the hospital now, biding our time. The contractions have started coming fast and furious, and I've decided to stay for the night, rather than go back home and have to come again in the middle of the night. (I just had a contraction while writing this blog entry in fact and had to stand up and waddle around like a penguin, breathing out my mouth. Foo..Foo... fooooooo.)

The hopsital staff are really great and they encouraged us to go out and have something to eat while it was still possible, which we did. We headed down to the sushi-go-round for some pre-celebration sushi, stuffed ourselves and came back. I think we must've slightly freaked out the other patrons though, since I had to keep grabbing Sh-chan's arm and squeezing it and grimacing. (I saved the penguin dance for inside the hospital at least!)

This will probably be the last pre-birth update, so wish me luck!

Goog Niter!!!

Let's get this show on the road!

Well, signs seem hopeful that Rintarou will make an appearance in the next 2 or 3 days. (...TMI WARNING...) I lost my mucous plug (...TMI WARNING...) and I've started to have some mild, irregular contractions. At least I think they're contractions, but I've never really done this whole giving birth thing before so....

Anyway wish me luck and in a few days there should be a picture of the newest Kanou up here!

How is babby borned? How girl get unpragnent?

Rinatarou is due today, but he seems to be a bit shy about making an appearance, and Dr. Ida says it'll probably be a few more days before he is actually born. The nurse told me to do squats to try to get him to come down more and another nurse suggested washing the windows. I just hope he'll be ready to come out soon! I don't want to be pregnant for much longer.

9 weeks

We're finally down into the single digits! YEAH! I'm so excited.

The Face!

We finally got a good ultrasound pic of Rintarou facing outwards! Enjoy!


Can you see the face? Here, look again:

It's (really) a boy!

We went to the ob/gyn again today and we got 100% kintama confirmation. I actually saw the balls my self today so it's official.
Also; last time we went we were told that the baby was upside-down and I'd have to sleep on my right side to encourage him to turn over. Well so I did for 3 weeks, and he turned over! Yeah! I was worried I might have to have a C-section, but the doctor said that most babies will right themselves before 30 weeks and it's only after that you have to begin worrying.

A bit of bad news is that we'll have to change docs again. I'm sure the next doc will be great too, but I've really come to like Dr. Fujioka as she has a really good sense of humor and really makes the visits enjoyable. I think bedside manner is really important in an ob/gyn. (To tell the truth I also felt very comfortable with her because she was also a jolly, chubby lady like me)

More later... I have a bunch of pics I've been meaning to upload, maybe I'll get to them on my day off tomorrow!

It's (probably) a boy!

So by this time most readers of this blog (all 3 or 4 of you) have probably heard that we have a tentative gender identification.

We went for the 6 month checkup on Sunday and Dr. Fujioka told us that "the probability is very high" that the baby is a boy, but it's still not 100%. We saw the ultrasound and Dr. Fujioka pointed out what may or may not have been the elusive baby balls, but she said because the baby is facing away it's very difficult to tell. Hopefully we'll get a clearer picture on the 7 month checkup.

For now though we're going with the doctor's judgement and calling him Rintarou. I think he may very well be a boy though, 'cause little Rintarou can kick like a mini karate-master.

Get Your Kicks...

As of yesterday the baby has begun kicking! What a truly odd sensation it is. It feels kind of like gas, but much more sudden and less diffuse. Any mothers out there know what I'm talking about? I'm really enjoying it now, but I can imagine it'll get old once the baby gets a bit stronger and really starts putting some leg in it. For the moment, however, I'm on Cloud Nine!


What a kicking baby may look like (not my stomach)

The Dog Days of Pregnancy

This Sunday Sho-chan and his mother and I went to Nakayama-dera to get my pregnancy belt (腹帯). It's supposed to protect the stomach while you are pregnant and help you have a safe and easy delivery (安産). You are supposed to begin wearing it on the Day of the Dog in your fifth month. Why the Day of the Dog you ask? Because dogs have many babies safely and easily and you can get a little bit of the dog's good luck by begining to wear the belt on their day.

Nakayama-dera is famous for its pregnancy belts, so there were a whole lot of pregnant ladies there, as well as many couples with tiny babies coming for their "thank you" visits after having a safe delivery.
Here are some photos:


This is Me and Shochan with our freshly purchases belt (it's hard to see because of the light, but the white thing I'm holding is an envelope with the belt, a lucky charm, a thank-you candle and some other things.


This is me with Sho-chan's mother. She is a very sweet lady and a good mother-in-law (and only about 4'11")


After we got the belt, we had lunch together at the noodle-shop in the temple. In the shop there was a pigeon that had somehow wandered inside.

What's in a Name? (Part II)

In the comments on the last post, Mom asked a good question. What do the kanji in the various names we're considering actually mean?

Here's a quick rundown:

Leina / 玲奈：玲＝the sound of a bell,  奈= a kind of tree

Junna / 純奈：純= pure, 奈= as above

Erika / 絵里花：絵= picture/painting, 里=village/hometown, 花=flower

Yuzuka / 柚香：柚= a kind of citrus fruit, 香= fragrance

Rintarou  / 麟太郎：麟= a Chinese unicorn, 太郎= a suffix for a boy's name

Also, I've finally hit the halfway mark, 20 weeks down, 20 weeks to go. I'll be going to the temple with Sho-chan and his mother this weekend to get my special pregnancy belt at the safe-delivery temple, Nakayama-dera. I'll post pics next week!

Abuelita and (No) Baby News

My student Shouta did a short homestay in California over the winter break and he gave me the above Abuelita (Little granny) chocolate drink as a souvenir. It's apparently very popular in Mexico, and after trying it I have to say it's quite yummy. I can't remember ever seeing it in the Mexican section at the supermarket, but if you ever come across it give it a try; it's creamy and lightly spicy.

As for the baby, we went for the 20 week check up today, and got the good news that the baby is healthy, energetic and growing at the right pace. Unfortunately he/she did not want to cooperate and give us a clear shot of his/her crocthital area, so we'll have to wait until next month's check-up to see if it's a boy or a girl.

Also, regarding names, the boy's name is decided; it's 麟太朗 (Rintarou). But we still have a few candidates for the girls name including: 玲奈 (Leina), 絵里花 (Erika), 純奈 (Junna) and the new contender 柚香 (Yuzuka).

Baby Update

We went to the doctor again this morning and we got to see our first stomach ultra-sound (up until now they'd been sticking a camera in my hoo-ha; sorry TMI!) The baby was much bigger, almost 9 centimeters and we saw it moving its little arms and legs and we saw the line of the spine. It was excellent. It seemed like the baby was very genki, almost dancing around.

The doctor told also us that I'm now in the safety period so I can exercise more and get dental work done (this is a biggie since I somehow chipped a tooth 2 weeks ago and had been waiting for the doctor's OK to visit the dentist.)


Also it's not definite yet, but we saw something that looked like it might be baby balls. The doctor said it looked awfully suspicious, but that it's still too early to tell.

PS Also check out a new post on Bibliomania

Passenger to Frankfurt

What a Wonderful Weekend!

This weekend was absolutely great!
1) We went to the hospital to see the latest ultrasound of Baby Kanou and were treated to a very clear view of a teeny-tiny perfectly shaped baby foot! We were also able to see the whole shape very clearly and see the umbilical cord. Super exciting!!

2) My friends Naoko and Shiho came to visit and we had a lovely time eating some truly amazing cake from Saint An and watching the sumo.


3) The last match of the sumo tournament, Ama vs. Hakuho was a fantastic drawn out battle to the bitter end. Hakuho eventually won, gaining him his ninth tournament victory, but Ama showed that he is truly worthy to join the ranks of the Ozeki, and I am looking forward to his promotion in January! Congrats to Ama and Hakuho! (This just in- I read that along with his promotion to Ozeki he'll be gaining a new shikona {sumo name} and it won't include the character 安. The cheap horse is cheap no more!)



4) Sho-chan got a cool new hair cut. Here is posing with the stylist Ippei-san. She was alittle camera-shy.


and here is Sho-chan again. I really like this new cut!


5) Ippei-san mentioned that there was a new Indian restaurant that had opened up near us, so we went to check it out. luckily it was still open and we had dinner there. The food was top-notch, the portions were generous, the price was reasonable and the staff were very friendly and courteous. Absolutely 10 out of 10. We will definitely be going there a lot in the future. If anyone wants to go, it's called Subhi Mahal and it's in the little plaza next to Toridoru down the road from the Minamigaoka 7-11.


6) On Sunday my former co-worker Hisae called up out of the blue, and wanted to meet on Monday. I was thrilled, and so she came to our house for a nice chat with her husband Ma-kun and their cute little baby boy, Souma. He was the sweetest, chubbiest little baby and not at all shy with us. Here he is with Sho-chan.


7) Hana-chan came over to work on the budget and we got everything settled, and in the black!

8)Finally we went to the video store and rented Maiko-haaaan! It's about a man who's obsessed with Geisha and Maiko, and it was totally hilarious and over the top. Abe Sadao is really a wonderful actor. Please watch it if you get the chance!

Check out: Saint An's website and be prepared to drool over the succulent and inviting cakes displayed therein.

Also a new post on Let's Signing! I've been busy!

A Womb with a View

Please check out the link I've installed to the right: "Kanou Baby Countdown". It goes to the parenthood.com site and shows the weekly development from embryo to fetus to baby, and tells what's happening each week. It's pretty neato.

And thank the FSM, I haven't had any morning sickness.....yet.