However, said baby is a very hungry one and I still have muscle pain, headaches, and dizzy spells, probably partly from all the milk I have to make... I eat 3-4 meals per day and snacks (and I can have caffeine again too so homemade latte drinks) and still steadily dropping weight.
I weighed 170+ pounds at the end of this pregnancy, a number I have never seen on the scale before in my life, and can't imagine being that heavy without being pregnant, just unthinkable. Now I am down to the weight I was when I graduated high school. I was eating pop-tarts, cheese sandwiches, fries, ramen, etc. on a daily basis and drinking 2 sodas or more a day. My family thought I was "healthy" when in reality my BMI was on the border of overweight (and no, it wasn't muscle weight because I did not work out or play sports.)
However, things are different now and while I enjoy many different foods, my cart at Costco or Sam's Club is usually filled with fruits and vegetables fresh, frozen or canned (no salt or sugar), milk, eggs, plain Greek yogurt, and things like cheese, meat, pasta, bread, are in there sometimes, and snack foods, processed instant/frozen meals, sweets, etc. are almost never in my cart. Chinami loves to go in the vegetable drawer and fill a little baggie with baby carrots, raw broccoli, mini peppers, etc for lunch or a snack on the go, and if we get tomatoes or any type of berry they are gone within a few days. When Kairu is ready, I will start solids the same way I did with Chinami--Baby Led Weaning, or no purees, just finger foods from the start. I hope he has the same love for food, especially fresh fruits and vegetables, as his big sister.
The other day, we finally went to the Dept of Health to file Kairu's birth certificate. For homebirths, we have to go in person and file it by ourselves. So we went to the same back office as we did with Chinami, filled out some forms, showed some paperwork our midwife did with my prenatal checks/birth/newborn exam stats (Apgar 9, 10 if anyone's curious) and everything was in order, except the actual paper certificate would be ordered online later because we didn't want to go to the vital records desk and wait in line for hours.
And so finally, Kairu has his official legal name. Yasushi decided how it would be done. His US birth certificate will read "Kyle", which is his legal American name. When we go to the Japanese embassy to register him on Yasushi's family register, his name will be registered in Japanese as Kairu, or 海琉. It's a little bit more simple, or more complicated, depending on how you look at it, than Chinami's name, and we all call him Kairu, but officially he is Kyle now.
One month has passed and his features are starting to settle in. He looks a lot like Chinami did as a baby, except (I didn't think it was possible, but) more Japanese. His eyelids are single-folded like Yasushi's as opposed to Chinami, who has a crease in her eyelids. He also has the mongolian bruise on his butt which Chinami didn't have. His hair and skin tone are both slightly darker. I didn't think it was possible, but I birthed an even more Japanese baby.
One month has passed and his features are starting to settle in. He looks a lot like Chinami did as a baby, except (I didn't think it was possible, but) more Japanese. His eyelids are single-folded like Yasushi's as opposed to Chinami, who has a crease in her eyelids. He also has the mongolian bruise on his butt which Chinami didn't have. His hair and skin tone are both slightly darker. I didn't think it was possible, but I birthed an even more Japanese baby.
Kairu is a healthy baby, and I'm trying my best to be healthy too, but unfortunately the past week or so has been rough for the rest of the house. Yasushi caught a cold, which was probably the flu, which became pneumonia. Chinami got a high fever Sunday night after he got the pneumonia, and then seemed fine on Monday. I kept her home from preschool on Tuesday even though it was a challenge keeping her inside because she seemed 100% fine, no fever or anything, and on Wednesday she did her sports at UH, went to bed early, went to preschool on Thursday with no incident, ate breakfast, lunch, and we made pizza for dinner and she ate a couple little slices and a salad. Then that night she spiked a high fever again, and was coughing and sneezing. Friday we spent the day resting, she slept a good part of the day, and today we took a walk out around the neighborhood for a fun fair and a musical, then she told me she wanted to go to sleep after we had our bath. However, she doesn't have a fever and I haven't heard her cough or sneeze all day, so she is probably fine. Kairu and I luckily have been safe from whatever this is. I have been loading up on green tea, echinacea, Emergen-C, Airborne, etc. and it seems to have worked. Of course, that could also be another thing to thank breastmilk for.
Either way, I'm grateful for my sick yet energetic 3 year old and my healthy, chubby 1 month old. And for my hard working husband. I love my family!!
Either way, I'm grateful for my sick yet energetic 3 year old and my healthy, chubby 1 month old. And for my hard working husband. I love my family!!
