Two milestones!

Week 2 was off to a great start.  

Yesterday, I had my first sponge bath at home.  Overall, the experience was far better than the last one I had at the hospital where I literally cried my lungs out from beginning till the end.  It was just miserable being all wet and shivering in the cold.  Daddy and mommy knew I could not stand it so they kept me warm by first wrapping me up nicely with a thick towel, then gently cleaned me one part at a time with warm soapy water.   See how much more I enjoyed the experience this time: 

Tonight, I hit another major milestone in life -- The stump of my umbilical cord fell off, finally!  Daddy found that out while doing his usual diaper duty after mommy finished nursing me at about 9:30-ish.  It caught everybody by surprise since they all thought it wouldn't fall off so quickly.  And even if it does it would likely still be partially attached for a while.  But no, it just fell off.  

Hurray, I've got a cute belly button now!  

Lucas A. Lum, 8d old.

I am one week old!

It's been 7 days since I was born which means I'm officially 1 week old now.  Happy 1-week birthday to me! ;)  

Speaking of birthdays, I forgot to wish mommy happy birthday yesterday as I had no idea when everybody's birthdays were yet.  Sorry!  She was staying home and did not celebrate much since she was still recovering and had to take care of me.  But daddy promised to celebrate with her on another day once things settle in a little more.  Daddy, please don't forget to add me to your RSVP.

Yesterday was also an important milestone for me as my 4th bilirubin test came back normal which means I am no longer at risk of newborn jaundice.  To me, it means my poor ankles no longer need to be poked for blood, hurray!  note: For those of you who do not know, bilirubin is an orange-yellow pigment in the blood and excessively high-levels of it in a newborn's blood (usually presented as jaundice) could cause damage to brain development.  

My level at 30hrs postpartum was within normal range (9 mg/dL), though a bit on the high side.  So to play safe, the doctors had me repeat the test several times the next few days to determine if any treatment, such as phototherapy, would be necessary.  And luckily my results were all trending the right direction and yesterday's result came back well within normal range.  The small traces of yellow on my face and eyes also gradually faded away as I got rid of the bilirubin through my poopies.  Daddy and mommy were both relieved by the outcome.  In fact, I owe them a big thank you (and sorry) since I had put them (especially daddy) through an endless diaper changing cycle these past couple of days.  Sorry and thank you to both of you!

Getting a name for me

Coming up with a name for me was a challenge.  Daddy and mommy read through sites after sites, names after names and still couldn't pick out anything.  There were a few 'leading candidates' initially but for one reason or another none really stood out as a clear winner at the end.  So frankly, I was a bit worried that they might end up calling me 'Bugger Lum'.  :(  

For my first name, they wanted nothing too common because they didn't want 5 other kids in my class to share the same name when I get old enough for school.  Then they also didn't want anything way too trendy and unique as a few years down the road the name might become obsolete.  After months of searching, they finally decided on the name "Lucas" which was short, simple and meaningful.  The name means "Bringer of the Light" and surely I will light up their lives from now on.  

With the first name set, daddy and mommy then moved onto researching for a middle name which they wanted it to be somewhat unusual.  Daddy came across "Avery" and fell in love with it immediately as it contains both "V" and "Ry".  Not only that but it also has an interesting meaning of 'The leader of all elfs' or, the most mischievous of all mischievous little fairies.  ;-)  Hehe, we'll see.

Finally, grandpa Teddy and grandma Helen from Hong Kong got me a really cool Chinese name 林澔霆 with the help of a feng-shui master.  The name is somewhat unusual but it sounds very nice both in Cantonese and Mandarin.  The reasons for the choice of characters have to do with my date/time of birth, number of character strokes, five elements of my life, etc.  Oh well, it's too complicated for even mommy to understand.  So out of curiosity, she looked up a Chinese dictionary for possible meanings instead.  Turned out 澔 means "A lot" and 霆 means "Thunder".  So perhaps one way to interpret my name is to be the "Bringer of breakthroughs".  Pretty cool huh?  Well the only catch is that the chinese characters are complicated and daddy was quite amazed when he saw them.   Well, I guess for as long as I don't get penalized to write my Chinese name 100 times, I will be absolutely in love with it.  

Enjoying home

This is my first blog.  It wasn't my idea, it was mom's idea.  She is a bit of a geek.   Both daddy and mommy help me write it, because sometimes I have trouble finding the write words.  Right?

This has been my first week home.  It has been a busy week.  Things got rolling Sunday night, 4/19/09.  I had enough of the tight confines and decided I need a little more breathing room.  After keeping mom up with busy contractions and kicking to let her know I was ready to see the world (9 days early), I finally saw the light of day 4/21/09 at 1207 am.  People tell me I am slightly big, but I still feel pretty small compared to everyone else I see.  I was born 7lb, 9oz and 21 inches long.  Good thing daddy installed the car seat the day mommy went to the hospital, otherwise I wouldn't have had a ride home from the hospital.   It was an unusually sunny and gorgeous day in San Francisco to be out for my first car ride after being in the hospital for a couple days. 

Home is nice.  Mommy is busy keeping me well fed with my favorite food.  She's nice enough to keep my food warm, just the way I like it.  I'm really hungy and I'm getting a bigger appetite.  I'm a grazer not a gorger.  I like small meals every 3 hrs, sometimes every 2.  Mommy is nice enough to accomodate my schedule as best she can, although I can hear her curse every now and then behind her breath.  Daddy also tries to help out and clean me after I finish eating.  I like to yell at him and tell him to hurry up, because those diaper wipes are freakin cold.  Daddy also is also staying at home cooking, cleaning, and trying to take cat naps when he can.  He says it is harder than residency, but I'm not sure what that means. 

Saturday Grandma came to visit.  She is helping out, I'm glad to have the extra company.  Don't tell my parents, but I think she seems like a pro whereas my parents are still rookies.  I'll have to coach them a little better.  Every now and then I'll yell at them and give them a few pointers where I can.  

Oh well, I think I'll do another blog later.  I'm gonna take a quick 2hr nap, then I think I'll have a little midnight snack. 

Lucas A. Lum, 5d old.