The Life of the Kimbos: Matthew, Lauren & Michael: 3/9/08

My name is Matthew Andrew Hyun Joong Kim. I am a bit late in posting details of my life but now that I'm somewhat settled in, I'll be posting more frequently so that I can share with all of my parents' family and friends.

I was born on March 7, 2008 @ 10:39AM at NYU Hospital. The doctor who delivered me was Dr. Kecia Gerlach. My mom is Jeannie Kim and dad is Daniel Kim. They were married on June 9, 2007 in New York and shortly thereafter on their honeymoon, I was created in Quebec -- so I'm really part Canadian.

My mom's pregnancy was pretty non-eventful. I gave her no morning sickness and her biggest cravings were pizza, pasta and spicy korean food. My parents found out that I was a boy during the 5 month anatomy scan when the technician announced that she saw my pistol! During the last month of pregnancy, my mom had a bit of bloating in her fingers and feet which my dad massaged for her all the time. Other than that, my mom gained roughly 35-40lbs during the pregnancy and my estimated due date was March 6, 2008.

As my arrival was eagerly anticipated, my mom and dad walked everywhere to try and have gravity take effect. My mom's belly stuck out like a big basketball which my dad thought was really cute -- my mom thought otherwise but it's okay I forgive her as I made her waddle for the last 2 months. They walked me across the Brooklyn Bridge, several times to Soho and they had their last few "date nights" before I came into the world. I got to taste Momofuku, watch Vantage Point from inside the womb, eat Joe's pizza and be bopped around while my mom cooked all kinds of Rachael Ray's 30 minute meals while my dad worked during the day.

During week 39 and week 40, my mom was 2cm dilated and 50% effaced so the doctor kept saying that labor may start any day. For fear of her water breaking in bed, my mom stole some wee wee pads from the doctor and slept on them for 2 weeks but I made sure I didn't break my water. On March 6, my mom had an appointment with Dr. Gerlach and as a way to induce labor, she stripped my membranes to get the prostaglandins going. My mom had also bought castor oil but after reading up on how effective it was she scared herself and instead returned the item back to Duane Reade. On the night of March 6, my mom took my grandmother's advice and went to eat kalbi at Won Jo with my Aunt Emily and Sarah. The kalbi and nakjibokum was so good that I decided that night that I was going to start my journey into the world.

The morning of March 7 @ 3:30AM, my mom had contractions. My dad timed them and we waited about an hour to make sure that the contractions were consistent. To relieve the contractions, my dad massaged my mom's back while she rolled around on the physio ball. After determining that the contractions were 5 minutes apart, 1 minute in length and went on for an hour (5:1:1), my dad decided it was time. We made a call to the doctor, who was already at NYU hospital for a c-section and hopped into a cab.

We got to the hospital around 8:30AM, mom was 6.5cm dilated when they were evaluating her in triage. After rolling her over quickly to the labor room, she was checked again and she was 7cm dilated. My mom wanted to make sure that she got the epidural before it was too late so the nurses worked quickly to have everything ready for the anesthesiologist. In about an hour they checked my mom and she was 9cm dilated. Then at 9:50AM Dr. Gerlach encouraged my mom to start pushing and after some squashing of my head, I popped right out at 10:39AM. My dad cut my umbilical cord and I made my first cries. I weighed 7lbs 9ozs so I made sure that I wasn't too big for my mom.

I had many visitors including my mom's aunts, uncles, my Aunt Soojin from Boston, my Uncle Dennis and Aunt Janet from San Francisco, Aunt Agnes, the whole Lee family, Helen, Jay and Ha-Rin and my Wellesley Aunts Emily, Jen and Sarah. Even my Canadian grandparents snuck away during a snowstorm to come and visit me for a few days after I came home.

The meaning of my name:
Matthew - It is of Hebrew origin and its meaning is "gift of the Lord". It is also the name of one of the twelve apostles, who wrote the first Gospel account of the life of Jesus. 2008 is the year of Matthew.
Andrew - This is my dad's middle name and it means "man warrior". *ROAR*
Hyun Joong - This is my Korean name. Joong is the 39th ancestral line of our Kim lineage and means center/middle. Hyun means wisdom. Put together it means the center of all wise people.
Kim - According to my dad, our Kim line is the descendant of the Shilla King dynasty (KwangSan Kim line). There are several Kim lines and ours is the best.

Things so far have been good. I eat, sleep and poop and make funny faces. I've learned how to pee on my dad several times and keep my parents busy with feeding me and doing laundry. My grandparents entertain me and try and make me play with them all the time. My belly button fell off on Thursday, March 13 during a night time diaper change.

As of today, I am a week and 1 day old. I'm signing off for now as I have to catch some zz's and keep on growing!

Au revoir, Matthieu

The Life of the Kimbos: Matthew, Lauren & Michael

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Pismo Beach, CA

Newborn Pictures

Hello World!