Kaden's First Bath!

Our little boy is already two weeks old! We celebrated with a big milestone - giving him his first bath! Thankfully, he seemed to enjoy himself. =^) Here are some cute pictures.

I love how he's looking at James

This is so fun!

Are we done already?

All wrapped up in his froggy towel

Yup, I think we made a pretty good looking baby

Introducing Kaden Michael Wentzel!

Alright, it's been two weeks since the birth of our son and I'm FINALLY getting around to posting a bunch of photos. Sorry for the delay!

The last couple of weeks have been very hard as I've been slowly healing from a difficult labor, delivery and post-partum recovery problems. I won't go into all of the gory details here... Let's just say that things did not go very smoothly. We had hoped to deliver naturally with no pain medications or medical interventions, but that birth plan went out the window before we even arrived at the hospital. Our little man was a little too comfortable in the womb and so, at 42 weeks, I had to be induced. We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 am on Monday, Aug. 12th. The doctors slowly started giving me drugs to help get my contractions going. After several hours I still wasn't progressing, and I was exhausted and starving since they don't let you eat anything after you are admitted. They gave me stronger drugs. I tried to hold out without pain medication as long as I could, but around 11:00 pm it was just too much. So they gave me some narcotics through an IV, and then placed a spinal block which numbed my entire body from the belly down to give me some rest and allow me to relax enough to let my labor progress. We are thankful that the spinal block worked quickly and spared me the worst of the pain which enabled me to push him out without a C-section or using a vacuum or anything like that. But it caused some serious side effects and problems for me once the drugs wore off. More on that later.

I was so thankful to have James there with me the whole time, as well as a supportive nursing staff. He was such a big encouragement and coached me through the entire process. He even held one of my legs up and guided me through the pushing process, encouraging me by reporting that he could see the baby's head, etc. He's normally extremely squeamish and was not planning to watch any of what was going on down below. But in the end I think we were both glad that he was so involved and got to witness the (somewhat gross) miracle of our son's birth!

After 26 hours of labor, our beautiful baby boy was born the morning of August 13th! It was immediately apparent why the pushing took so long. He's a BIG baby! 8 lbs, 14 oz., 21.5 inches long! But he was healthy and beautiful and we were so excited to finally meet him. James and I decided to wait until he was born to name him, so we took a couple of minutes to get acquainted. Then my husband named his son Kaden Michael. Kaden means "fighter" and Michael represents the archangel Michael who is the head of God's armies. It's our prayer that our son will grow up to be a strong spiritual warrior whose faith will make a big difference in the world!

tears of joy after a 26 hour labor of love

the proud papa and his boy

the stats

meeting Aunt Claire!

After the delivery, they stitched me up, cleaned Kaden up, and then moved us into another room where we would spend a couple of nights recovering and bonding before heading home. On the one hand, that time was extremely fun as we got to snuggle with our little guy and celebrate finally being parents! We just couldn't get over how cute he is. Already, we can tell that he is a mix of the two of us. From the eyes up, Kaden looks just like James, with big blue eyes and blonde hair. But his nose, mouth, cheeks and chin definitely come from the Zuercher side of the family. I snapped the photo below on my phone and was struck by how much he looks like my dad and brother. Looks like we have another baby trumpet cheeks in the family!

One of the most fun parts of that first day was hearing that our close friends Caleb and Jordan were also in labor at the same time. Turns out our boys were born on the same day! James and Caleb kept walking our into the hallway to have short pow wows as their wives were in labor. Then they had the pleasure of introducing their sons (who will, of course, be best friends from now on). Below you can see the two proud papas with their boys. Caleb and Jordan's son is named Jack.

We ended up staying in the hospital for about 3 days after Kaden was born. The Labor & Delivery ward was getting very crowded as more people came in ready to have their babies, so they moved us to a room down the hall in the multi-care unit for the last day to free up a bed. They said they chose us to be moved because, of everyone on the floor, we were in the best shape. I found that hard to believe as we were coping with a lot of issues. Between painful perennial tears, nausea from the medications, a throbbing spinal headache, a baby who constantly cried because I wasn't producing enough milk to feed him, and my crazy hormonal mood swings, those first few days were rough. But the doctors took good care of us and got us to the point where we were ready to go home.

bundled up in the car seat and ready to go

Saying farewell to the hospital (for now)

He was a perfect angel all the way home. I was the one crying and in pain as we left the security of the hospital. haha

Our first few days at home were also a challenge. I am so thankful that James had some time off from work so we could settle into our new roles as parents as a team. The headaches that resulted from getting the spinal block made me really nauseous and made it very difficult for me to function. I also ended up getting an infection and a crazy, itchy rash all over thanks to my changing hormone levels that made me even more uncomfortable. Luckily, we have some amazing friends here in Osan who were willing to come over and help, holding our baby when we needed some rest and giving us advice when we needed reassurance. We often joked that it's a good thing he is so cute and sweet, because delivering him did a number on my body.

 Pain and sleepless nights aside, there were many exciting and joyful moments too. Kaden is a pretty mellow, sweet baby when his belly is full. (If he's hungry - which he almost always is - he definitely lets us know!) He's been incredibly alert from day one and often enjoys looking around and exploring. He's already got a very expressive face and makes some very cute cooing noises after he sneezes. It's been fun watching him learn and grow and develop. We are so proud of our little boy!

The Sunday after he was born we drove back up to Seoul for Kaden's first well-baby check up. As I said in an email to family later that day, what started as a simple check up for Kaden rapidly turned into a intervention for an unhealthy mama. When we arrived at the hospital, my spinal headache was killing me so I asked the hospital staff if I could lie down while we waited for the pediatrician. They could immediately tell I wasn't doing so well, so they called the anesthesiologist to come in and take a look at me. We decided it would be worth performing a blood patch to help seal up the hole in my spine and hopefully take care of my head ache. It was a pretty invasive procedure, but praise God it worked. A day or two later, once the pain in my lower back subsided, my headache was gone and I started feeling remarkably better. Up until that point I was not feeling up to being in any pictures (shock!) So it was a very exciting day when I asked James to snap a few photos of me and my precious baby!

 Every day, things are slowly getting better as we figure out how best to take care of Kaden. He is a healthy, growing boy who gets stronger and stronger every day. He's already trying to hold up his head and likes to try and "help" me nurse him by grabbing and pushing things around with his strong little arms and legs. He's started sleeping through the night already, though the 3-6 hours leading up to bedtime currently involve non-stop feeding, which is tiring. Again, we are thankful he is so cute. ;^)

Here are a few more pictures I've snapped. Now that I'm feeling better and our schedule is starting to regulate a bit, I should be able to update the blog with pictures and stories much more frequently!

baby smiles! Not intentional yet, but we still love seeing them.

Play date with his best friend Jack!

Another Eventful Weekend in Seoul

Waiting for our little guy's arrival was starting to wear on our nerves toward the end of the week. It's been a huge blessing to have so much time to rest before we have a newborn to take care of. But I've been away from home for two and a half weeks now, with no immediate end in sight. So it was hard not to get frustrated. Thankfully, Jordan and Caleb were up here and in the same boat with us this weekend. So we decided to lift our spirits by making this weekend feel like as much of a vacation as possible. Sometimes just getting out of the hotel room works wonders for our mood.

On Saturday afternoon, we traveled back to the giant COEX Mall to explore their large aquarium. Considering this attraction is in a mall, we were very impressed with its size, set-up, and range of fascinating sea creatures! Unfortunately, it felt like thousands of our Korean neighbors had the same idea so it was more than a little crowded in there. But we still enjoyed gawking at the fish from different parts of the globe. Plus, this provided a way for Jordan and I to get some good walking in without being outside in the heat and humidity!

trees and vines wrapping around tanks full of fish on the ground in the Amazon section

Asians are always concerned about safety warnings!

Tropical Fish - my favorite!

Sharks, rays, and giant fish swim overhead in the underwater tunnel

This octopus wanted to say hi and kissed the glass for us

After we had our fill of marine life, we walked around in search of a tasty lunch. We were pleased and excited to find an On the Border in the mall there! Nothing like some quality Tex-Mex to make you feel at home in a foreign country. The meal I ordered ended up being way spicier than anticipated. Not so great for my heart-burn but we hoped those old wives tales about spicy food inducing labor might work. It did not. But I still enjoyed my chicken burrito and bottomless chips and dip!

 After we were finished wandering around the mall, we went home and took a much-needed nap. Then, later that night, we regrouped and went out in Itaewon for some Greek food. Delicious! They say that babies can taste what you're eating while in the womb. I think it's safe to say that he's already very cultured and has been exposed to all kinds of different foods. Praying that means he won't be too picky!

Sunday morning we slept in and then met up on the mezzanine of the hotel for some brunch before sending Caleb back to Osan. I'm thankful that we can be here to keep Jordan company, especially during meals, until our baby is born. It's no fun being alone! Praying the time passes quickly and we get to meet our boys soon. But till then, we're trying our best to make the best of it!

40 Weeks - And Still No Baby...

Well, Baby Wentzel is now officially overdue. I went in for a check-up on Thursday when I reached true full term status and was told that I still haven't made much progress. I guess he's content to stay where he is for right now. Aside from a higher-than-normal blood pressure, both of us are still healthy, so the docs are willing to wait a while before intervening and trying to get the baby out. I'll go in for another check-up this coming Thursday, where they will use various methods to evaluate the baby's health. If we're still looking good, they're willing to wait till the following Monday, August 12th, before inducing me. But if it looks like the environment in my womb is no longer healthy or the baby is under stress, they might induce me on Thursday. Ideally, I'll go into labor before then but... all of my pre-labor indicators have slowed to a near-stand still so I'm not feeling optimistic. We really want to have this baby naturally with no medical interventions, so if you could join us in praying for continued health and for labor to begin on its own in God's perfect timing, that would be wonderful!

No matter what, we will meet the little guy in no more than 8 days! Crazy!

Stork Nesting

As I've mentioned before, we felt completely comfortable with having this baby here in Korea. However, the one inconvenient thing is that our base at Osan does not have any labor and delivery capabilities. So I've been traveling up to Seoul almost every week since we arrived for check ups and L&D classes at the Brian Allgood Army Community Hospital on US Army Garrison Yongsan in the heart of Seoul. The commute wasn't terrible - a little over one way on a bus. Definitely doable for a routine check-up. However, that would be incredibly inconvenient if I was in labor. Thankfully, our military insurance pays for expecting mothers to travel up to Yongsan and stay at the big military resort called the Dragon Hill Lodge starting at 38 weeks so you're close to the hospital when the time comes. We call this maternity residency "stork nesting".

I spent my last couple days at home before moving up to the Dragon Hill rapidly finishing up my "nesting" tasks. We completed the nursery, cleaned the house, and I cooked up several crockpot freezer meals that we can eat after the baby arrives. I also made sure James had plenty of his favorite foods and snacks in the fridge since I knew he'd be home alone for at least a week. I wanted to make sure he ate more than Thai food and trail mix that week. ;^)

On Thursday, July 18th, I packed my bags and boarded a bus to Seoul. After checking in at the Dragon Hill, I went over to the hospital for my 38 week check up. The doctor examined me and said I was dilated to 1 cm, which was exciting because something was happening, but we still had a long way to go. So I mentally prepared myself to spend several days in this hotel while we waited for our little boy to arrive!

As inconvenient as it is being away from home for so long, the Dragon Hill is not a bad place to hang out. My room is comfortable - with a comfortable queen sized bed, a couch, table and TV with DVD player. I have a little "kitchenette" area with a sink, mini fridge and microwave plus dishes and utensils so I went to the grocery store and bought myself some snacks and meals that I could prepare without a stove. Inside the hotel there are several restaurants, plus a convenience store that is open 24 hours which has helped keep me fed when I'm too lazy to take a cab off base. The hotel also has a really nice, air conditioned indoor gym and pool facility where I go at least once a day to try and walk that baby out on the treadmill. I've also discovered in my time here that the BX, food court, smoothie shop, library, bowling alley and base movie theater are all within walking distance. It's a very convenient central location!

The best thing about being up here, though, is definitely the peace of mind that comes with knowing that the hospital is a 3 minute cab ride away. The labor and delivery nurses encourage us to call or drop in at any time, day or night, if we have questions or concerns. That has come in handy a couple of times already as I had one false alarm and a couple of other pressing concerns that they were able to easily help me with. That safety net is definitely worth the weeks of living out of a suitcase.

My days are not very eventful - but that is probably a good thing. Stork nesting has pulled me out of my home and my usual routine and completely opened up my schedule. It's kind of nice knowing I have literally nothing I have to do all day. I can sleep in, rest, watch TV and movies, read, exercise, wander around, eat and take naps whenever I feel like it! While I sometimes get bored and lonely, I can see how this forced "me time" will be a huge blessing right before our newborn baby turns our world upside down. Sleep while you can, as they say!

Thankfully, James was able to come up here on the weekends those first couple of weeks and take me out to explore the city. We went out to several delicious international restaurants and toured some of the big tourist sites around Seoul. Below are some snapshots from our first weekend together:

Dinner at Santorini, a delicious Greek restaurant

We walked around the Korean War Memorial & Museum that Saturday afternoon

One of the most interesting things about the Korean War Museum is that it's not only focused on what we call The Korean War. It highlights all of the wars and struggles with foreign conquerors that Korea has dealt with all the way back through antiquity. So we got to see ancient weapons and artifacts showing how they fought against multiple invasions from various empires around the globe. No wonder they don't have a whole lot of unique or distinctly Korean cultural traditions, architecture, etc. They were almost always ruled and influenced by someone else!

Later that evening we went on a pilgrimage across the city to find the one Korean location of our favorite Japanese restaurant called Pepper Lunch! We used to have regular date nights in Misawa where we'd travel to the local mall and eat at Pepper Lunch before going to see a movie at the Japanese theater. It was one of the few places I new I would miss and crave when we left. So when I found out they had a location here in Seoul, I knew we had to find it! Of course, it was buried in the basement of one of the largest shopping complexes in Asia. But thankfully, we found it, and enjoyed some steak & pepper rice - even if it wasn't quite prepared the way we're used to. That's Korea for you, though - "The Land of the Not-Quite-Right."

After dinner, we took three subways back to the international restaurant district outside the base where we met up with some friends who were up having drinks at a local pub. I got a kick out of the fact that I can now legitimately claim a seat in the "priority seating" section on the subways because I'm large with child! haha.

The next morning, we slept in, ate brunch in the hotel, and then headed out for what promised to be a memorable experience. We had heard that the biggest church in the world is located here in Seoul. Their sanctuary building is probably comparable in size to many mega churches in the States. But the Yoido Full Gospel Church of Seoul has over 1 million members! They hold several packed services each weekend, plus several people tune in and follow along via a web broadcast. The cool thing about visiting this church is that they have a whole section up in the balcony set up for international visitors. They have bulletins printed in several languages that outline the sermon content, plus headphones that you can tune in to one of 10 different channels that provide a word-for-word translation of the prayers and sermon in your language. We felt a little like we were at the U.N. or something. Over all, we were very impressed. The sermon was good (although long), and the music was fantastic! At the beginning they had some contemporary worship music. But during the rest of the service it was more traditional hymns sung by a choir of 100+ people accompanied by a small orchestra. No joke. I'm not sure we'd pay the cab fair to go back but it was a memorable experience!

Our second weekend in Seoul was a lot more laid back. Most of our trips out the gate involved food rather than adventure. But that's ok! Jon and Claire were up here saying farewell to some non-military friends and invited us to join them for dinner. Their hosts are a very nice French couple who cooked us an authentic French meal of homemade bread, salad, pork chops and ratatouille! SOO delicious. We love being able to tag along with Jon & Claire because they can provide a much more unique travel experience than any one else we know. =^)

That weekend I also made sure to take James over to the hospital and give him a tour of the labor and delivery unit. He was planning to go back to work for at least another couple of days and I figured it was important for him to know where he was going incase I went into labor while he was away. He was very impressed with the staff and facilities. We look forward to checking in over there and delivering our baby. Eventually.

Thankfully, he didn't have to stay away long. He worked for two more days and then decided to just go ahead and take some leave so he could join me up here 24/7 until this baby arrives. It sounds like we've still got quite a ways to go but as I've not been feeling so great the last few days, it gives me a lot more peace of mind to no longer be hanging out up here alone. =^)

Also, with my partner on my arm, I feel more confident about exploring out the gate. So we've continued our culinary tour of the local international district over the last couple of nights. First we went to the famous Vatos Tacos for some California style Mexican food.

We splurged on this shared dessert to celebrate reaching 40 weeks. Holy moly was it good - fried cinnamon & sugar coated tortilla wedges topped with ice cream, drizzled in melted Nutella sauce and sprinkled with powdered sugar. =^O

Now the real fun gets to begin while we're up here waiting because Jordan just checked in to begin stork nesting yesterday. Now we have friends to hang out with! I'm thankful we're able to provide her some company while her hubby is at work during the week, too. I know all too well how depressing it is to walk into a restaurant and ask for a table for one. So last night we took her out for a little Thai food followed by some celebratory chocolate mint shakes at a chocolatier. YUM! If I must wait another week or so for this baby to make his debut, I will comfort myself with good company and sweet treats. ;^)