Some Firsts

At the time of this posting, Maika is a full 19 days old. She's not much of a conversationalist yet, but she is a pretty good listener. All members of the family are doing well, a little short on sleep but doing well. Maika is a pretty good night sleeper. She tends to only need 2 feedings during the night. This is something we are grateful for. At least once a day, she goes through a period of time where she doesn't want to sleep. She lays there kicking her legs, waving her hands and making noise. Sometimes there is crying that goes along with it, but it is just a time of being awake that lasts longer than her normal wake time. As a result, when she does get to sleep after this wake time, she sleeps like a rock.
This week Maika did several things for the first time. She walked her dad home after work; she went for a stroller ride, and she went to church. All of these events were approached with some question of how it would go, but it turned out very well. She did great. Yoko has a sling that she puts Maika in when they are going out for a short time. Maika seems to have really taken to the stroller. Erik took her out for an hour and 15 minute walk yesterday while Yoko was at dance class. She didn't cry and slept pretty much the whole time. Today at church she fussed a little bit, but Yoko fed her, and she went to sleep. It is a real blessing, especially for Yoko, that Maika is doing well on going out.
Here are some new pictures. So far, everyone here says she looks like Erik, but we think she is God's unique creation.

The Birth and the Place

We thought we would give you a little picture into where Maika was born and how all that went on for Yoko.

The morning of the 20th, around 5 am, Yoko started to have contractions. They were getting closer so we went into the birthing clinic around 12:00 pm. They checked her out and she was dilated to 5 cm, so they sent her to the room where she would give birth. Around 2:00 pm, Yoko was hooked up to an IV to help move along the process, and for the next 3 hours her contractions became closer and and more intense. Around 5:00 pm the real pushing began, and at 5:41 pm Maika was born. Maika was born at Matsugishi Ladies' Clinic. It is extremely clean and modern. However, the main reason we chose it was for its location. It is literally across the street from where Erik works and is only a 5 minute walk from where we live. When Maika was born, she had a little fluid on her lungs, so they put her in an incubator and kept her in the nursery for observation. While she was in the nursery, she was the biggest baby until a 9.25 lb/4200 g boy showed up.
At this clinic, they have the mothers stay for 5 nights if they have had a natural birth. If they have had a c-section, they stay longer. The room Yoko had was very nice, and they fed her very well. Erik would come over before work, at lunch, and after work to visit.

Saturday the 24th, we check out and headed home. All in all it was a good experience, and one in which we learned a lot. The Lord is good and again had His gracious hand upon us.

Maika Sophia Bentley is Home

Thank you all for the great comments you have given us on the arrival of Maika. She and Yoko came home Saturday morning and are doing very well. As everyone knows, this is a great learning time, but the reality of it can't be fully understood until it is experienced. Currently it is a blessing to be where we are as there are so many things conveniently located. We have a a baby store, supermarket, shopping center, birthing clinic, and Erik's work all within a 5 minute walk. Another blessing is that we just got renters for our house in Arizona. We are having the wonderful experience of seeing God's hand at work. Again, thank all of you for your prayers. More pictures to come soon.

Just Because Someone Has a Birthday Doesn't Always Mean They are More Mature

Last weekend Erik had the great thrill of turning 36. Sarah came to help celebrate, and Yoko's brother and his 2 daughters came by, so we had a full on birthday party. The main dish was a super rich chocolate cake that Yoko bought from a local Italian restaurant. There also happened to be some other food, but the cake was what was eaten first.

Today is Saturday, July 17th, 2010, the official due date of ----- ------ Bentley, but nothing is happening. Yoko lost her mucus plug on Monday, but things have been quiet since then. Keep you eyes open for an e-mail from us as we will try to let you know as soon as it happens.

A Birthday and more Pictures

Yoko officially hit the big 30. She took it quite well and is showing no ill effects from leaving her 20s. Sarah, Erik's sister, came to help celebrate. We all went to dinner at a tasty Japanese food buffet.

We are just 2 weeks from the due date, so these may be the last pregnancy photos we get up. They have been taken over the last month with the hydrangea picture being on June 27th. Our most recent check showed everything looking good, and Yoko has the go ahead to exercise all she wants in order to get the baby to drop. It is an exciting time. Please keep us in your prayers as we enter the world of parenthood.

We Can Almost Count the Weeks Left on One Hand

It's been a month since we took pictures of the growing belly, so we went out today (Saturday 6/5) and found some new settings. Most people would frown upon a pregnant lady climbing in a tree, but when it comes to getting a shot we like, there's no limit.
Rice planting season is pretty much over, and the rice paddies are full of tender green shoots making for a nice background. Everything is so green, a nice trade off to all the rain.

We are doing very well and continue to be so blessed by the Lord. Yoko is still able to keep up her regular exercise classes and ballet. She is walking much slower, but that hasn't stopped her from getting out. Her continued active lifestyle raises eyebrows here.

Other than Yoko's growing belly and the kicking baby, things are pretty mellow. Work is going very well for Erik; he enjoys his classes and doesn't have to wear a tie for 4 months thanks to Cool Biz which started June 1st.

31 Weeks Down, 9 To Go

Our little one has finally moved out of the breech position, and there is a strong feeling that we will be having a little girl. We have been blessed with good checkups and Yoko continues to feel great. She is enjoying her pregnancy. We have been picking up some baby things, and Erik's sister Sarah was very generous and got us a baby bouncer, a bath chair and some baby clothes.

Speaking of Sarah, she came out for a visit during Golden Week (Golden Week is a series of holidays in early May). With Sarah in town, we took in one of the local tourist sites, Boso-no-Mura. We also took Sarah to Costco for some shopping and enjoyed some tasty Indian curry. While Sarah was with us, she took some pregnancy photos and anniversary photos for us.

We celebrated our anniversary with a visit to Hamazushi which is a kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi restaurant. We had planned to have tiramisu (our wedding cake) after sushi, but Erik ate 20 plates so tiramisu will be enjoyed at a later time. We don't mind stretching out our anniversary celebration.