Mum's surgery was successful!

Not all the results are in yet but it looks as though everything went as planned. Way to go Mum!

The Life & Times of Jotaro Henwood

Yukiko & Jo are staying at her parents' house in Osaka for the time being. This way Yukiko can concentrate on taking care of Jo and not have to worry about anything else. I'm trying to spend as much time there with them as I can. Luckily I've got no high school for the month so I can see them and help out. I've still got my weekend job and university course work to do so I'm heading home once in a while. Her parents don't have an internet connection so while I can do my readings there I can't do any online postings or tests.
I never realized just how tiring it is to take care of a newborn. It's not changing the diapers that's bad (no smell yet), it's the schedule. It's changing the diapers twice every 3 hours that's tough. You are guaranteed to have to wake up at least twice in the middle of the night for a diaper change and a feeding. And I'm the lucky one, I don't have him chomping on my nipples all the time. It's nice to seem him getting bigger though. His neck is a lot stronger than I expected. He is turning his head and looking around quite often. He still spends most of his time sleeping but it is really cool when you can see that he is actively looking at us and at the world around him. Curious little monkey.

I'm going to try to post a video of Jo now. I hope this works. This was taken at the maternity clinic almost immediately after he was born.





Even in his mini-futon Jo looks small. He looks like some millionaire sleeping in an emperor-size bed.

More pics of the little one

Jo and his mum continue to do well. They are both staying at the clinic until Saturday morning. One of the nice things about this private clinic is that besides helping Yukiko with the baby for the first week of his life they are showing her how to do all the important things like feeding, bathing, dressing, etc... I'm off from school until April 11th so I'm spending most of my days with them at the clinic.
Jo is very much like his mum and loves to sleep. He sleeps most of the time. One time he fell asleep in the middle of a feeding. He doesn't cry much so that will be nice if it continues when he comes home. He has put on 100 grams of weight. He's given himself a few scratches on his face because his fingernails are very long. Yukiko and I tried to trim them with our special baby scissors but it's difficult because they are so tiny. I've already learned how to change his diapers and did it a few times today. His poop is generally mustard-looking and doesn't smell at all so it's not much of a chore. Yukiko's got a tough schedule though as he needs to be fed and have his diaper changed twice every 3 hours.

And now, without further adieu, the pictures:

Here's a rare pic of Jo crying.



























Yukiko's parents pay their first grandson a visit.

Yukiko's friends: Fuka, Hiroko, Miku, and Yoko.

New Kid on the Block

Jotaro Frederick Henwood (丈太郎くん) was born on March 13 at 3:36 in the afternoon. He weighed in at 3.1 kg and if stood up would be 49.5 cm tall. Both he and his mum are doing great.





I was a little bummed out yesterday because I wasn't home when Yukiko's water broke. I was away in Tokushima for work. I had asked my office to let me work closer just because I didn't want to be away from home in a situation like this. Then, what do you know, the first time I go back to Tokushima Yukiko's water breaks. She phoned me at about 5 in the morning to tell me. I couldn't get home until 8 in the evening. Yukiko's parents and sister came to spend the day with her and other than feeling slightly uncomfortable she was fine. I was really nervous and wanted to get home quickly. In fact, I tried to get home early by switching busses but everything was full so I had to take the bus I originally booked.

This morning, Monday, we woke up at 7 am and Yukiko's contractions still hadn't started. We were told to go in to the clinic if they hadn't started so we arrived there at just after 9. Normally they would have sent us home until the contractions were well on their way but this is a private clinic and we had a room booked so they said we could stay. Then at about 9:30 her contractions started, albeit very mild at first. So mild that Yukiko wanted to sleep. The head nurse (who is very friendly with us) kept telling Yukiko to stay awake and walk around or something. But Yukiko just wanted to sleep. At about 1 o'clock the contractions really kicked it up a notch. Yukiko was in obvious pain and there was really nothing I could do but let her squeeze my hands, give her tea, and try to reassure her. Did I mention before that this clinic doesn't allow anesthetics? Well it doesn't, so I felt really bad for Yukiko.
When the pain got really bad Yukiko forgot all about her breathing techniques and would just let out little yelps of pain. I felt pretty useless trying to remind her how to breath properly. When the head nurse would come in to check on things she would take control of the situation pretty decisively, "Tsuda-san, don't use your voice! Breath out like this fu-fu-fu-fu." I'm glad she was there to help out. I was really glad when the staff finally gave me my special clothes to put on at about 3 o'clock. Until then I'd been saying to Yukiko, "not much longer now" or "he's coming soon" but to her it probably seemed like I was full of it. Now here was some proof that the big event was soon to come.
After we got wheeled into the delivery room it was obvious to me that Yukiko was just exhausted. From what I've read in my pregnancy books one of the benefits of anesthetics is that they give the mum a second wind to help deliver the baby. When it came time to push Yukiko didn't have much steam left. At one point the baby's head was sticking out but Yukiko couldn't push anymore. The top of his hairy little head looked about the size of a tennis ball. I figured if his head was so small then it wouldn't be too hard to get out. Boy was I wrong. The head nurse (who handled most of the delivery) realized that Yukiko was tired too and performed a quick episiotomy to help things along. I'm not sure if she used any anesthetic here or not but it certainly happened very quickly. Yukiko was being stretched out so much that may not have noticed it anyways. On the next big push Jo's head popped out and it was much bigger than a tennis ball. He had that 'conehead' look that many babies do because their heads get smushed when being forced out the birth canal. The clinic staff call it a 'peanuts' shape. When he came out he was very purple and the umbilical cord wad a dark blue. His purpleness worried me and I wondered if he was breathing properly. Turns out everthing was just fine. They cut the umbilical cord and took him to another room to be cleaned and checked out. I went with him while the doctor on delivered the placenta and sewed up Yukiko. The nurses kept commenting on how 'gaijin' (foreigner-like) Jo's face was, with a tall nose and big, navy-blue eyes. He'll be a big hit in Japan I'm sure. Once we were out of the delivery room I was allowed to use my video camera so I took a lot of footage of Jo being bathed and cleaned. When the umbilical cord was removed I got to hold it. By now it was drained of blood and very white. It had a strange, rubber like texture. Then I got to hold him for the very first time. I was a real papa now. Wow, what a great feeling. Then, almost as quickly, he was whisked away from me and I got to see Yukiko again. She was tired but very relieved and happy. All in all it was a pretty short labour I think, about 6 hours in total with only 20 minutes or so in the delivery room. They brought Jo in to see her and suggested that Yukiko try breastfeeding him. She didnt' know if she would be able to because no milk had ever come out before. Once again, the head nurse took charge and gave her breast a little squeeze. To Yukiko's surprise a drop of milk popped out. Jo then latched on and mum and baby were united again.
In the evening, Yukiko's parents and sister came by to visit. They were really excited and everyone congratulated us. Visiting hours ended at 8pm and I went with Yukiko's family to a local restaurant for dinner. When I got home I was busy making phone calls, sending emails and updating this blog. I was really exhausted when I finally got to bed. But Yukiko was the real hero. I'll never forget what she went through and the special boy she made today.

Baby Watch Update!

Yukiko's water broke this morning! We are expecting the contractions to begin within the next 24 hours. She has been to her clinic for a checkup and bother mother and baby are doing fine. If the contractions don't begin in the day or so we will head to the clinic where the doctors will induce labour. This baby boy is coming real soon!!!


While I'm anxiously waiting at home I'll update some old stuff I've forgotten to, or just haven't gotten around to posting here.

After our trip to Oji Koen (see the last posting) we got another package of baby clothes and toys from my mum. She is a fantastic shopper! The clothes are amazingly cute and we have so many now that we won't have to buy anything for probably his first year.

A great shirt from our friend Winnie Law-Law :)

Lots of our friends came to visit us too.

Emi with Hiroki & Hiroko with Miku

Fuka & Miku

Yukiko & Miku

As part of my driver 'training' in Japan we went to a delicious little vegan restaurant near Rokko station called Vegi-Smile. As usual, the food was delicious. Yukiko really likes it too. The hemp tea wasn't all that great though. I guess hemp wasn't really made for drinking. We all know what it's really made for right? ...that's right, high quality clothing and paper.

Vegi-Smile has a cool, jazz-like interior.

On January 20th Yukiko threw a little surprise party for me at my favourite Mexican restaurant in Osaka. I had a strong suspicion about the party but I didn't know who would be showing up. Big thanks to Seigo, Keiko, Yuka, Craig, Miki, and of course, Yukiko for setting it up for me. It was lots of fun. Although I was a little disappointed that the vegetarian, avocado burger had been dropped from the menu :(

Miki, Craig, Moi, Yuka, Yukiko

Yuka gives Yukiko & I some parenting pointers

On the 22nd of January I went out to a 新年会, or new year party, with a bunch of friends from the Japanese school I used to go to. It was at a delicious, macro-biotic vegetarian restaurant in Shinsaibashi called Maman.

Shinsaibashi's electric-boogaloo glow



Yukiko is quite the mastermind. Unbeknownst to me, she had arranged this little get together as a second surprise party for me. And I was completely fooled. When everyone in the restaurant started singing happy birthday I had no idea who it was for. I didn't realize it was for me until the waiter plunked the cake down in front of me. Well done Yukiko!

Beautifully timed, this picture captures me at my most stunned.

Everyone in the restaurant broke into applause. Which was really funny because they were having some business function and seemed to be writing tests at one point in the evening.

Cynthia, Tomita Sensei, Sara, me, Yukiko, and Piyo (errrr... Cliff)

At the end of January we were visited by Yukiko's sister again. Seigo was clever enough to realize that the Chinese New Year started the next day so we all went into Kobe for the afternoon. First up was Sweets Harbour, a whole shopping complex devoted to sweets and desserts.

Yuka & Seigo

Yuka & Yukiko

Kobe's Chinatown at night.



Seigo, Keiko and Yuka stop for some delicious Chinese food.



The night's main event, the Illuminated Dragon Dance.

To gear up for the baby we went on a bit of a buying spree. Luckily, Yukiko's co-workers teamed up to buy us a great baby bed. We went to Babies-R-Us and picked up a new child seat and baby stroller.



Keiko picked up this great tryke for Yuka at Costco.