Awww, isn't she cute?! Another Jasmine-in-repose photo brought to you by the Jasmine Fan Club!
Family friend and possible future brother-in-law-in-law (grin), Aji, holding Jasmine in the hospital a day or two after birth.
And here he is helping Jasmine get some sunlight on the sunny streets in Kemang Pratama 2.
Here's the CTG they did for Ita when she was being induced on Dec. 31st. As you can see she was experiencing contractions (jagged line on the right) but they were certainly not full-fledged (later I saw ones peak higher than the pink line) and not frequent enough. The above was over 30 minutes or so. The line on the left shows Jasmine's heartbeat and the short lines to its left show movements of the baby (recorded by Ita pressing a button).
Travelling back in time we can see one of the midwives checking Jasmine's heartbeat while she's still inside Ita. The microphone wasn't cold but the gel was! It was very strange hearing Jasmine's heartbeat but also reassuring since I could listen and determine if there was any obvious flaw!
Jumping forward again here the doctors are cleaning up Jasmine after the caesarean section. No, the dark red color between Jasmine's legs isn't just blood - that was the normal color of her groin for a few days after birth.
Batik on batik, here I am using the traditional swath of cloth called the "cukin" to carry Jasmine around. No, that's not a skirt, just batik shorts. For some reason Jasmine just likes being next to my hairy, sweaty, smelly body. Go figure! Note the really bad posture - why do we do that???
Awww, isn't this cute? Mommy Ita and baby Jasmine laying down together for a break from a hard day's...um, what does a baby do that makes it so tired? Oh, that's right - growing! :)
Grandpa Isdarmo does his duty and helps bottle-feed Jasmine. Why didn't he let her nenen or menyusui? (breastfeed) What, men can't do that, unless they are overweight and taking the right medicine? Doesn't sound very safe for a baby to drnk that kind of milk! Could be like drinking near Chernobyl! ;)
One odd tradition they have here is that you must cut off your baby's hair after 40 days. Why? Because they believe it's dirty from the birthing! A bit odd but I figured that gave me the opportunity to save all the shavings, which they normally bury, and I can present them to Jasmine when she's older. Won't she be excited!? ;) It's made me a bit worried, though, because she had a full head of hair before and, after that, the hair hasn't been growing in some places. I'm told that will rectify itself but I can just imagine Jasmine saying "Daddy, I'll never forgive you for making my hair so screwed up! Now I'll have bad hair days forever!" (CRINGE)
(For all of you who keep complaining that all of the photos show her asleep see below!)
PEEK-
A-BOO!!!! :)
Another candid-camera shot of Glenn bathing Jasmine. She loves to splash around in the water and, since the tub is built to keep her butt in place and her arms are supported as well I can actually let her go and just watch while she plays. The left soap dish actually has a drain in it that is connected to the tub's drain by a pipe (our own idea since the plugs were missing at the store). Pretty nice tub, and pretty cheap! After we're done I hang the tub on a nail in the bathroom.
At the hospital, the day after Jasmine was born, we decide to give her a little love. Note that the next day we moved to a different bed that had a vacant bed next to it so I didn't have to sleep on cushions on the floor! Jasmine is digendong (swaddled, "di" is passive voice). Nice shot of my bald pate, eh? ;)
And here's Grandma Sutarti joining us...
Quite sensibly, since they put Jasmine in a cloth diaper, shirt, and the swaddling blanket, they put a vinyl sheet under her to keep the bed dry! Ita's IV wasn't removed until about 3 days after the operation. Jasmine's eyelids, as you see, were a nice red color and, even now, she has a trace of the red question mark on her forehead.
Here's a close-up of that. At least her pallor is good, right? She never had any problems with jaundice, which was nice.
And, finally, here I am ready to be a daddy (during the attempted induction). Gosh, are my teeth REALLY that yellow?