"Belly" Ache

Here's Pete, a fellow graduate school survivor, visiting us for a residency interview and bracing himself for an authentic South Philly gastronomic experience at Tony Luke's. From left to right: cheesesteak "wiz wit", roast pork and provolone, chicken cutlet parmesan, and the "beef buster" (roast beef with horseradish sauce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, bacon and curly fries). Pete's the one with glasses.

Baby's First Northeaster

We survived our first real snowstorm in Philly in style.

Got Milk?, part I

Friends Song and Danielle visit bearing well wishes and a pot of Danielle's famous miyok gook (Korean seaweed soup) which is supposed to facilitate lactation. This is in addition the Chinese ginger wine, chicken soup, sweetened black vinegar, and fenugreek tablets she already taking. There's actually a very interesting literature on prescription and non-prescription remedies for poor lactation.

Doting grandparents

Here's Aidan with Jen's parents. They are graciously helping out for the next month. Life is good.

Plum Becomes a Prune

Nothing is more exciting (or more frightening) to new parents than bringing that new baby home. After 9 plus months of preparation, the day finally arrived. Everything seemed alright. The baby was born at a robust 8 pounds and 6 ounces. Mom appeared to be making a speedy recovery. We decided to breastfeed and dutifully attended all available lactation classes and consulted more experienced mothers. The good news was that Aidan seemed to be a natural. He latched on well, appeared to moving his jaw and mouth appropriately. Still, after 48 hours no milk appeared. We were told to stick with it and to expect her milk to come in "at any time". Compounding our anxiety was the fact that Aidan was jaundiced. This is common in breastfed Asian babies, so we held our breaths and took the moppet home.

The next 24 hours was the longest day of our lives. During this period, Aidan appeared to feed very well. Yet, something was wrong. His naps grew shorter while his cries grew longer. Literally, in the course of 12 hours, we saw his lips become chapped and his cheeks shrink. We knew dehydration is risk for breastfed babies, but clinical picture was not clear. He looked dry, but he continued to make the appropriate number of wet diapers. He latched on well to Jen's breast but easily lost interest. He also refused the bottle of formula we tried to supplement. During the whole time, he was easily arousable and very interactive, but his color became more yellow.

The morning came, and we went to check his bilirubin. It was higher than at discharge, so we decided to take him into the intensive care nursery. His total bilirubin reached 17 mg/dl, his serum sodium was elevated, and he had lost 1 pound and 1 ounce from his birth weight in 72 hours. He was immediately admitted for hyperbilirubinemia and dehydration.

Over the next two days, he responded very well to IV fluids and phototherapy. He's now nursing well and sleeping well. We're still continuing to breastfeed, although supplementing with formula a bit more liberally. We wanted to share this experience to highlight how subtle neonatal jaundice can be and to share some resources to answer some questions.

Thank you for your prayers.

Hello Mommy! 

Better Late...

What an incredible way to start the new year. On January 6, 2005 at 10:56 AM, we welcomed our son into the world. His name is Aidan Atticus Lee and weighed in at 8 pounds, 6 ounces. He was a whopping 21.5 inches long! I still marvel at how he could fit into Jennifer for the last 41 weeks. Jen marvels too, although she would add a few other choice verbs as well.

He was originally due on December 30, 2004. The date came and went without any stirring. I was on-call at the time so we were initially relieved that the baby was late. However, as the days past our anxiety grew. Why isn't he coming out? Is there something wrong? Will he be too big to deliver vaginally? So we walked and walked and walked some more. Multiple laps around Ikea: nothing. Pacing the aisles at Target: still nothing. After exhausting every possible shopping mall in Philadelphia (hey, it's cold out here), we decided put aside our worries and enjoy some alone time together. What would we really miss doing after the little guy comes? So we headed to the nearest stadium seating theater and watched the latest Wes Anderson flick "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou". Not the greatest movie, but guess what? Jen started going into labor. I'll let Jen chronicle that particular experience, let's just say over 36 hours of contractions later, we had our baby boy!