Second Week in Daejeon - Welcome Edan

Wei Halmoni Denise and Wei Halobagi Mushroom (Grandma and Grandad) holding Edan right after his birth. See the wonderful story below.

Bonnie at her prenatal visit the afternoon prior to the beginning of her labor. Here, she is being prepped for the last ultrasound. Bonnie couldn’t believe her abdomen was that distended until she saw this photo. Dr. Choi then told Bonnie, during an internal exam than she was already 2.5 centimeters dialated! Dr. Choi manually stretched the cervix, and sent her home. Shortly afterward, her water broke, contractions started, and Jiho, Mushroom and I returned with Bonnie to downtown Daejeon to start the labor process at the hospital!

Dr. Choi took a special interest in her very brave patient. Bonnie was reading her reference books up until she started pushing. Dr. Choi made frequent checks on her, as you see in this photo of Bonnie laying on the exercise ball in an attempt to relieve intense back pain. Dr. Choi told Bonnie at her follow up visit the next day how much respect she had for Bonnie and her mighty effort during the completely natural birthing process.

Mushroom played his didgeridoo for over 3 hours to help Bonnie focus on other things besides the pain of pushing, while I coached and Jiho supported her from 8:30 p.m. until Edan arrived at 11:18 p.m. I don’t know how many times we counted to 15 on the pushing, before the nurse told her to go to the count of 20. Then, as Edan was crowning, there was no counting, just deep breaths and pushing, pushing, pushing…!
We were never so happy to see a baby cry - he didn’t breathe for several seconds after his birth. Dr. Choi smacked his feet and back several times to get him to take his first breath. When he finally let out his first cry, we all were overjoyed! I cried, and I think I wasn’t alone with the relief of seeing this new life enter the world!
Halmoni and Halobagi Yoon and new Dad Jiho showing off their newest family member.











The Montoya and Yoon families join you in welcoming Edan Isu Yoon! Edan was born on Great Uncle Cass’s birthday 2/20/06 (2/19 American date), at 11:18 p.m., and weighed in at 7 pounds 9 ounces. He was 22 inches long, a slender baby, and he’s perfect in everyway!

First Week in Daejeon

Jiho and Bonnie in their front room in the married officer's quarters on the army base in Daejeon. Bonnie has decorated the apartment to look very homey, not cold and sterile. Of course, her display of dolphin posters, and the Route 66 poster we got for Jiho while in NM make it very comfortable and welcoming.
My "photo of the week", of Bonnie sitting on her couch, patiently waiting, and waiting, and waiting.
Ms. Ha, Yeon Ho and Jiho at the maternity clinic, where Bonnie had her vital signs checked, an ultrasound, and an internal exam to see if the cervix has begun to dialate (it hadn't.) She's in good health, and the MD expects the baby close or slightly later than the due date. Bonnie is eager to get the show on the road. (The photos get better, I promise.)
A photo taken from afar of some interesting architecture just outside of Daejeon's downtown. Daejeon is known as "the science city", so there is a place called Expo Park where science fairs are held. Thus, the silver tower building in the background. I thought the plane looked pretty cool "flying" through the photo as well. It's really a traffic light arm coming off a power pole.
Does your grocery look as crowded as this one in Daejeon on Saturday afternoon? This was only one aisle.
Jiho and Bonnie are shopping for cases of strawberries in the grocery store, amidst many other shoppers and sellers hawking their veggies and fruits. Produce is sold by the gram, rather than by the pound. Bonnie and I went on the bus a farmer's market, where we saw much of the same crops, as well as grains, meat and seafood. You are very lucky I didn't think about bringing my camera, because Bonnie pointed out a container of dog hind quarters. The feet were sticking up out of the box...eeeewww! We Americans tend to have such visceral reactions to such things, but have to keep our reactions in their cultural perspectives. The visit to the dollar store was great! Much smaller selection, but interesting. It's funny, they have some of the same junk we have. You could clean up on gag gifts.

Jiho, Bonnie, Ms. Ha (Jiho's mom), Yeon Ho (Jiho's brother), and I went to a department store that also had a grocery store on another level. Bonnie is displaying cute animal holders, which affix on the vehicle dashboards. They are used to carry small items. The magical event of the trip was the escalator -type of conveyor belt we rode up and down from the parking area. Can you imagine a small shopping cart not rolling up or down on the belt? Special wheels and slots in the belt held the carts, but they looked magnetized at first glance.

Here is a restaurant, which serves yummy beef and seafood! We parked close to the mushroom standing to the side of the parking lot. Jiho's friend not only backed up and over a full trash can twice, but he then backed up and ran into the side of Jiho's passenger side door of his van. Good thing the door is resilient plastic, it just bounced back. His friend needs driving lessons, and to slow down when he backs up for sure!
Pictured here are Bonnie and Jiho at a table with beef and seafood platters. One kind of broth is heated on one side of the large pot for the beef and another broth for the seafood. The guys cooked the meat, greens and different kinds of mushrooms for us. Besides being very yummy, it was fun to watch the broths cook in the same pot, with the same source of gas heat from a burner below. However, the broths were often times different temperatures, depending upon how much new meat was added at a particular time. Following the cooking and consuming of the meat, Jiho tossed in the chili, garlic, and green onion along with two different noodles into their respective pots. It was so tasty!

Bonnie & Jiho's Professional Pregnant Photos

Bonnie is now in her final month of pregnancy. She's due on Feb. 22nd, 2006!