We took Kayden to the pediatrician this afternoon and she’s definitely been busy growing in the mere ten days she’s been with us.

• Weight: 8 pounds, 7 ounces
• Height: 21 1/4″
• Head: 14 1/2″

I suppose the gains shouldn’t be too much of a surprise given the fire hoses the poor thing has to drink from. Eat! Now!

It looks like Kayden can’t wait for football season to get going again. For some reason, this is her favorite arm position.

She struggles like crazy to free her arms and then sticks them up in the air. Gooooooooooooooooooooal!!!

There’s been some acting out, but that was to be expected. At least the first encounter a few days ago went relatively smoothly…

Apologies for all the cloak and dagger over the past few days. I know everyone is looking for more details and the official name of our daughter. So let’s get right to it. Her name is Kayden Hui-xing Shih. Us crazy parents were negotiating over the spelling of her first name, but ultimately decided to spell Kayden with a “y” rather than an “i.” No Jedi mind tricks were involved.

Tam was scheduled to be induced two Sundays ago on March 30, but she had a cold at the time so that was postponed. We made it all the way to her due date, Thursday, April 3. That morning, we made a trip to the hospital for a Non-stress Test and ultrasound and everything checked out just fine. We were sent home and continued the waiting game.

We didn’t have to wait too long since Tam went into labor that evening just after dinner. We called our doula, Emily Ross (get her if you’re having a baby), and labored at home for a bit. Around midnight, we loaded up the car and headed in to the hospital, leaving Xander in the care of grandma. Good thing we didn’t wait any longer than we did because shortly after we arrived, a flood of expecting mothers showed up, pushing the Labor & Delivery ward to capacity.

We already had the worst case scenario under our belts (a.k.a. – Xander’s 26+ hour marathon birth) so things went relatively smoothly for this 12-13 hour birth. On Friday morning at 7:52am, April 4, 2008, Kayden was shot out of Tam like one of those big-drop water park rides. She weighed in at 8 pounds and 0.5 ounces, was 20″ long, had a 14″ circumference head, and 13 1/4″ bust. And she screamed like a banshee.

Everything checked out just fine: 10 fingers, 10 toes, no crazy conehead, minimal damage done to mom in the process, etc. Kayden initially didn’t start off as a huge fan of breastfeeding, but as the hours wore on, the Shih family eating gene kicked in and it was off to the races. Then she got to brave the standard battery of countless tests, checkups, shots, and cleanings to keep her busy.

Tam and Kayden are resting just fine and we were discharged from the hospital Sunday afternoon.

Now for the other hard part…explaining to big brother that he isn’t the center of the universe anymore. Can he share? We shall see.

I’m dog tired and need to get back to the hospital, but here are a few images of the newest addition to our family!

Goodbye mucous plug. The birth of #2 is going down soon. The due date is today so it looks like we’ll be slightly behind that. More to come soon!