4/15/2007

The New Taiwanese

According to my dad: "It's a strange feeling when a child is born. You've never seen this person before, but you're going to know it for the rest of your life--and watch it develop from pure potential into a fully elaborated human being. Get ready for a ride."

Ahleena was born April 12th at 3:45am. And she has elaborated herself from the get-go: "Where's mom? I want to feed. Not later, but right now. Do you hear?" This pic is of her at one hour old - fresh out of the oven. I went to work a day and a half later. When I got back to the hospital, my wife was resting on the bed, exhausted but looking like a goddess. She had just got finished 13 straight hours of feeding! She said:

"Every time I try to put her back in her box, she starts to cry."

Shufang gave birth after 15 hours of labor. At 12:00am, the nurse told me that it would be at least 12 hours more. I wandered out into the lounge, looking for a place to crash. A middle-aged guy was sprawled out on the sofa, with the TV cranked and his bare feet up on the armrest, so I returned to the labor room. A couple of hours later, the nurse said things were speeding up. Maybe it would be another five hours, depending on my wife's strength. I returned to the lounge. The TV was off, but the same guy with the bare feet was letting off chainsaw snores, so I resettled in the labor room. The next thing I knew, the nurse was dressing me in hospital civvies: hat, mask, smock and flip flops. "Where's Dr. Lee?" I asked.

"I'm right behind you."

"Where's my wife?" They took me into the delivery room and she was already pushing Ahleena out into this world.

My dad's got it right: What a ride.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

congratulations! She's beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Wow, an even prettier mom and a lovely baby! The pics of Shufang and Ahleena remind me of a poem by William Blake.


Infant Joy
"I have no name;
I am but two days old."
What shall I call thee?
"I happy am,
Joy is my name."
Sweet joy befall thee!

Pretty joy!
Sweet joy, but two days old.
Sweet Joy I call thee:
Thou dost smile,
I sing the while;
Sweet joy befall thee!

Best wishes to you all!

Anonymous said...

whoopee

Its means you will grow up!
congratulations

rose

Anonymous said...

Hello! Congratulation. I am so excited to see that. Welcome to be part of the "Dad's club.

Anonymous said...

Patrick,

Congratulations to be a father! She is so cute and has beautiful eyes as a new born baby. And she will keep you busy for the first month !

Best wishes to you & your famil

Anonymous said...

Congratulation! What a cute girl. There is nothing more exciting than a new baby. You and Shufang must be proud.

Take care of all three of you .

Anonymous said...

Congratulations!

Always at night it seems. The kids like to like you know how much work they are early.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations!!!! Enjoy your little bundle of joy. Life from now on is DIFFERENT!

Ahleena looks more Asian. But babies look different from day to day...

Anonymous said...

You are both strikingly attractive people so Ahleena is blessed either way. My guess is that as she grows up she will look more and more like both of you possessing both mom and dad's best features. Get that girl into modeling/commercial work NOW!!!!

I hope she has both your kick-ass world explorer type attitudes, bro. Yeah!

Anonymous said...

Awesome. Congratulations!!! Well done Shufang - 15 hours!

Anonymous said...

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATS you guys! Well done Shufang!

Our Amy just turned 15 on the 17th of April. (15 months that is
hehehehehhahaahahahahohohohohoooooooooohhhwooowwww)
I finally got a new Mac & I will be able to post stuff on You tube for you guys to see. Thank you for sharing your stuff with us. By the way, our camera only seems to use .avi format and I cant get those into iMovie. Do you know anything about this? So far I've been limited to making sort of animated movies out of still photos taken in series. I think they are kinda cool. I'll send you some of those. Now go to bed. Immediately. You'll need it.

P.S. Good news! Thank you for letting us know. Do you guys need any baby stuff? Maybe we can give you some of ours. You are all invited to dinner sometime.

Anonymous said...

PATRICK AND SHU-FANG,

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE BIRTH OF HEALTHY AND BEAUTIFUL AHLEENA. LET US KNOW WHEN YOU WANT TO INTRODUCE HER TO PEOPLE, AND WE'LL BE THERE TO MEET HER.

CHEERS.......ED, LUKA, ADRIAN, AND JOAKIM

Anonymous said...

Hey there Patrick......

Many congratulations....you must be a very happy man........

chat about it when i see you.....

gong xi gong xi

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to both of you and your new family. It must be an incredibly proud and speechless feeling. Shufang, I'd imagine that you must be relieved as well...looked like quite a load you were carrying around. 15 hours is a long time to be in labor. So I hope everything continues to go well and that you two can finally get some well needed rest. Your parents must be so proud. Patrick have your parents come over here? Well I look forward to seeing some more pictures and videos. Greg also passes along his congratulations and best wishes to you both. Take care and get some rest.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! What a lovely baby girl! When will be good for us to visite your family? Please tell little Ahleena. Auntie Angela and Janet have alredy a lovely gift for her. Please let us know when will be the best time to visit

Also, please bring our greeting to Shufang.

Anonymous said...

Hi Patrick. I forgot if I had ever sent you my congratulations for your baby. I bet things have been very crazy and not conducive to restful, sleepy nights, but that's a great inconvenience. Anyway, congrats to you and your wife!

Anonymous said...

Hope all is well with you and your lovely family.

Why did you name your daughter Ahleena? Any reason or story behind it?

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