Haruna's eventful arrival into this world! ...she arrived April 10th, 2006 at 15:15 PDT, 8 pounds, 9 ounces; 21 inches in length, at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital in San Diego.

Meet our first and only daughter, Haruna Kay Morgan. You might be able to guess, her mother was responsible for picking her first name and I her middle. Haruna is a Japanese name meaing "spring child." It is pronounced: hah-roo-nah. The Japanese aren't real picky about emphasizing one syllable over another, so say all three with no particular stress on any. The appropriate Japanese nickname is: Haruchan. Read on for more...

Child Birth

After numerous antenatal appointments; we knew if Akiko didn't go into labor sooner, we would check in Sunday night and she'd be induced.

Although we hoped labor would start on its own, it didn't beat the Sunday deadline. So, we were able to have a nice dinner then drive to the hospital.

The facilities at Mary Birch are quite nice. As you can see from this and the preceding pictures, the delivery room is large and comfortable.

Akiko was in good spirits as the Potasin was administered. She was already 2 cm dialated...but as you know, that's not enough! We needed to get to 10 cm before the baby could be delivered. This picture was around 9:00 PM Sunday night...

Both mother and baby were monitored throughout the night to ensure both were healthy. This included an audio monitor of the baby's heartbeat: we listened to her heart beat all night long. It was quite reassuring.

When the nurse thought the baby wasn't active enough, Akiko was given oxygen. That's what you're seeing here. As you can see, Akiko took it all in stride.

It was a long night! Even with the potasin, Akiko's contractions didn't get very strong until about 8:00 Monday morning. Even then we needed a little help. About that time the doctor paid a visit and decided it was time to help her along. The doctor broke her water: that's when theings started moving faster! Pretty quickly we decided it was time for the epidural. In fact, the first one wasn't enough so we had a second! That actually took the pain totally away, and Akiko dozed off for a couple of hours. Once she awoke, the nurse checked her, and found she was entirely dialated: it was time to get serious about delivering the baby!

I'll skip past all the gory details! Suffice it to say, Akiko only had to push through about 15 contractions to deliver the baby. I was surprised about that.

One minute we're coaching her to push: the next minute the baby is on her chest and I'm cutting the cord.

As with my flying, it's also important with newborn babies to ensure you have good weight and balance! (Forgive the stupid flying joke!)

We all took turns holding her. Akiko was first, me second, my parents also got a chance. These are Jill and Julie, Akiko's co-workers and our good friends: both nurses and here for moral support!

As things settled down, Haruna was taken for a few minutes to be cleaned and dried. Here she is in the warmer at the foot of the bed.

She's still trying to get used to things. (I'm still trying to get used to them too! :-)

After all the excitement, Haruna was a little tired.

I think the emotion finally caught up to Akiko. I know I was choked up for at least the first 15 minutes after Haruna was delivered. Fortunately, no one needed me to talk at that point...don't think I could have.

This is our nurse, and Akiko getting baby back for the first feeding.

With all the visitors gone it was time for a little food! Mom and baby seem to be bonding nicely...