Welcome Home Hayden

Hayden Philip Clayton Christ

Guess who finally made their grand appearance?  We welcomed Hayden Philip Clayton Christ into our lives on August 23rd at 4:36pm Japan time.  He weighed in at 8lbs 12oz and was 21 inches long.  He is doing great, he's a very calm and relaxed baby and is getting bigger every day.  He had his weight checked at five days and he had already gained back his birth weight!

Hayden meeting his sisters

Overall everything went great, we really couldn't have asked for better timing and delivery.  Our good friend Steve Grantier made it back from his deployment two nights before Hayden was born so we were very relieved to have him back so the girls could stay with a familiar face.  Also, Craig's mom made the last minute decision to come out and help and we thought he would have been here by the time she got to Okinawa but he was born the day after she arrived so fortunately she was able to be there in the hospital with us.

The Christ Family

The delivery was very quick, I started to have contractions at 5am on Thursday and we went to my stress test later that morning, the contractions still weren't close enough but the test showed he was doing fine and Craig and his mom got the chance to see Hayden on the ultrasound.  We went back home and by 1pm it was very evident we needed to go to the hospital.  Once we were there they thought I was far enough along to start pushing but Hayden's heart rate dropped quickly so they had me rest for about an hour before we tried again.  This time everything went well and we had ourselves a healthy and happy baby boy.

Hayden and Grandma

Shortly after he was cleaned up and we were waiting to move rooms Steve brought the girls by and they met their little brother for the first time.  Kamea was a little confused at first, looking from my belly to Hayden and back again but she didn't seem to care too much.  Surprisingly what she was most excited about was playing with the surgical gloves, she put some on and pretended to put sun block on everyone!  Laila was a little upset at first saying "my Mommy" but soon she was asking to hold Hayden and seemed really interested in him.

Kamea holding Hayden

Fortunately we were discharged from the hospital just in time to make it back to the house before Typhoon Bolaven, a predicted Category 4, hit Okinawa.  We had a lot of rain and strong winds but luckily no damage except for the power going out for the day.  The girls had fun building forts and doing artwork during the typhoon and Hayden enjoyed relaxing and sleeping.  He's been a great sleeper and overall a really calm baby.  Now that the typhoon has passed we're able to get outside some and made a trip up to the aquarium the other day and hopefully we'll get to the pool and the beach soon too.

We hope everyone is doing well and I'll update again with some more pictures of our newest addition.

Catherine, Craig, Kamea, Laila and Hayden

Laila holding Hayden

The girls waiting by the door for Mommy and Hayden to come home from the hospital

Proud big sister

Kisses

The girls 

First bath at home