It’s happened. Team Hokama is now five strong. When Maia was born I coined the term Quadripod because there were four of us and we were a pod, like a heard of sea mammals, or tripod but with, um, four legs (plus I just thought it sounded cool). Now of course we’ve graduated to Pentapod status. Aliya Nakine Hokama was born June 18 at 7:41 a.m. via emergency c-section at Fresno Community Regional Hospital. Unfortunately there were some complications with a prolapsed cord, and just four hours after birth she had to be flown to UCSF Children’s Hospital to undergo a 72 hour cooling therapy to prevent damage to her brain. I drove over right behind her and was met and supported by family until Sarah could get there on the following Monday (June 21). That Monday, at 4:30 p.m., they began warming her up slowly, half-a-degree an hour. She was very sleepy at first, which was expected, and her MRI on Tuesday showed a perfect, healthy, little brain. Of course we have to do some follow-ups down the road and keep an eye on her, but so far she is the perfect, fifth member of our team.

Sarah’s family primarily took care of Maia and Keana while we were at UCSF, until we returned home on Thursday, June 24, just less than one week after Aliya was born. My mom Linda and brother Peter had driven down the day before to help out as well, so it was quite a reunion.

We are slowly getting used to being home and being altogether, but Keana and Maia are overjoyed to have their new sister present and healthy. I’m in the process of writing the full birth story and will hopefully have that up here soon as well. And of course, with my time off, I hope to catch up on all the other amazing things Keana and Maia have been up to as well. In the mean time, be sure to check out Aliya’s gallery, and we’ll get her photos and video up on this site soon too.

We want to once again send out our greatest appreciation to our family and friends that have shown so much support and love during this, how should I say, exciting time.