It's my party and I'll cry if I want to...
We’ve been pretty lucky overall – Maile seems to be pretty mild-mannered. Don’t get me wrong, she cries aplenty and definitely has the occassional, inexplicable, “what-in-the-world-is-wrong” meltdown. Some of those are going to happen regardless, but we’ve been getting better at avoiding them if we focus on the transitions.
When we first started we found that Maile was crying a lot after we changed her diaper and before we moved on to the next thing (like feeding) or when we had to supplement her feeding with some formula if we didn’t have the bottle ready to go when she was done breast feeding. As soon as we started anticipating the next move (having the bottle ready to go or having me clean up the diaper instead of mom so that mom could get going with the feeding as soon as we were done with the change) – things went much smoother.
It’s not always possible to anticipate what’s next – and sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to why she gets upset – but we’ve definitely noticed an improvement as we’ve gotten the transitions to go a bit smoother…
What am I?
Given the name of this blog – I thought this story was appropriate.
By the second night in the hospital, Christine and I were exhausted. With Maile being born at 2:31 AM, we really hadn’t slept at all.
At 3:15 AM, the night nurse came in and told us she was going to perform a “heel stick” screening on Maile. (Side note: yes, that’s a link to justmommies.com – the first, but most likely not the last…) In any event, while we had the option to go along to the nursery to watch, we decided we’d use the time to get some rest. The nurse rolls Maile out and Chris and I instantly conk out.
Not sure how much later it was, but I hear the door open and then I hear the nurse saying something to Christine about “Chinese”. We were both completely out of it, so I sit up and all I can make out is the nurse is holding up a form and saying “Chinese” over and over. I knew “Chinese” wasn’t the right answer so I said “no, not Chinese.” I forced my brain to concentrate and I realized she was asking what race Maile was.
Nurse: What boxes do you want checked for race?
Me: Caucasian and Japanese.
Nurse: Chinese?
Me: No, Caucasian and Japanese.
Nurse: There is no Caucasian.
Me: White?
Nurse: Oh, white. Okay!
Apparently, when I’m exhausted I appear Chinese? The form above is the actual form the nurse was filling in – apparently she was going with Chinese until she decided to double check.
I’m sure this won’t be the last time we tackle this issue – just glad they let us check off multiple boxes on this first form!
Maile – pronounced “my-lee”
Each island in Hawaii has its own flower and
maile is the flower for Kauai, where Christine is from. It is the lei I wore at our wedding – its beautiful and very fragrant.
In addition we decided that both names should come from the maternal side of our family. Maile is in honor of Matt’s maternal grandfather, Milton Sondell. He was a great man, kind, caring, intelligent and hard-working. He would have absolutely loved his great grand daughter!
Matt wearing maile lei at our wedding
Chieko – pronounced “chee-ay-ko”
We agreed early on that our children would have Japanese middle names to honor Christine’s heritage. Chieko is Christine’s maternal grandmother’s name, Mabel Chieko Kugiya. Christine’s Grandma Kugiya was kind-hearted and had many friends – we hope that Maile follows in her footsteps.
If that wasn’t enough, dad was also happy that this wondrous combination means that our daughter’s initials are MC Koidin. So if you know a good DJ, my girl is ready to hit the one-twos…
Introducing Maile Chieko
Maile Chieko was born on Saturday, July 11th at 2:31 AM. She was 8 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches tall.
Click the image above for slide show of her birth. (Or click here).
NOTE: There are captions with the pictures. If you can’t see them, click Options in the upper right and make sure “Always Show Title and Description” is checked.
