Life with Corey started long before we even knew what his name was to be. On a summer day in 1999, we were shown the first confirmatory ultrasound after pregnancy was suspected -- he was the size of a pea, if that. From there, we watched him progress through the months in a series of ever-more pronounced human features until the delivery-room handoff to Dad.
Unlike in America, where parents-to-be often are given only one or two ultrasound images in take-home, photographic-print form throughout the whole nine-month gestation period, in Japan the obstetricians we saw furnished us a new ultrasound image with practically every visit. We thought, "This is cool!" and took the opportunity to begin compiling what has turned into the most detailed pictorial documentation of a baby's development this side of the Library of Congress.
Thinking I'd try to be an up-to-date spouse, I made a particular effort to educate myself on the finer points of what "we" were going through at each stage of pregnancy, accompanying my wife Gayle to prenatal hospital visits, reading the likes of "The Expectant Father," by Armin Brott, and taking childbirth-preparation classes at the Tokyo American Club. All in all, we did feel better equipped psychologically when the time came, but of course only Gayle could feel the pain.