aga

Of all the changes going on in our lives, the one happening in EunBong's womb is the most substantial, all 10.25 cm of him...

We'd had a feeling it would be a boy, before EunBong was even pregnant, and when we went for an ultrasound last month, it was still too early to tell, but the nurse said even though girls will have a lump she was 70% sure it was a boy. "It's standing up!" was EunBong's direct translation, which made me laugh considering we were looking at 12 week old fetus. 

When Fina saw the image on the screen she wasn't quite sure what was going on and was a bit scared by it at first but we told her it was a baby, then pointed to EunBong's belly, where the nurse was performing the ultrasound. "Omma aga?" Fina asked, Korean for "Mamma baby?", thoroughly puzzled. "Yes, baby," and I pointed back and forth from the monitor to EunBong's belly a couple times until Fina exclaimed, "Ah, aga! Woohoo! Woohoo!"

When we got home, I went online and showed Fina some detailed imaged of babies developing in the womb then, again, pointed to EunBong's belly and Fina. For the next few days we would ask her, "Fina, where's Baby?" and she would shout, "Omma aga, omma aga!" and go over a kiss her belly. 

By the end of the week, though, Fina would come over to us with a tense face, eyebrows rippled, rubbing her belly with both hands, and moaning, "Ooh, aga, aga..." "No, Fina!, No! Mamma has baby, not Fina!" I'm definitely not ready to hear that one yet! 

After moving to Gyungsan, I brought EunBong to see a baby hospital that I always had a good feeling from when I passed it on the bus to downtown. EunBong had checked it online and it had a very good reputation and a low rate of c-sections, a serious detail when choosing a hospital in Korea. 

Fina was impatient waiting in the lobby, so I took her outside for a walk. There was a small crop of chili peppers growing between the lots in the back and Fina picked one up off the soil and decided to make it her toy. The Korean word for chili is "gochu" but it's also used as a word for penis. Childhood friends will refer to each other as "gochu" friends when they're older. Traditional, a string of chilies was hung over the doorway when a son is born. So, people gave Fina a bit of a look when she came barging back into the hospital waving her "hochu, hochu" around like an Olympic flag. When I brought her into the doctor's office, where EunBong was just beginning her ultrasound, the doctor looked at the chili being squeezed Fina's hand, then pointed to the monitor, laughing, "Oh, gochu!"