Three of my best memories, briefly documented.
Zachariah William's Birthday - March 5, 2009
I started to feel my first contractions at 6:00 in the morning. I stayed in bed as long as I could before waking Jason up to help me time contractions. When they were 5 minutes apart and getting stronger we left for the hospital. Jason offered to drop me off at the door, but I wanted to stay with him. Traffic was busy and the parking lot was full, so we had to drive to the 5th floor of the parking garage, we took the stairs down to the street (I didn't want to risk getting caught in the elevator of a parking garage). By the time I was in the delivery room, I was so tired, I could actually sleep between contractions. The contractions were starting getting stronger, and for couple of hours, I remember just imagining waves lapping on a beach. Somehow that eased the pain. The doctor broke my water and it was time to push. Almost an hour later, little Zac was born.
Jason held him beside me and we just fell in love. I will never forget the way my Zaki stared at me, with his wide open eyes, only minutes after he was born. Zachariah means 'God remembers' and my hope is that he'll always know that God will never forget him. His middle name, William, means 'determined protector' which suits a big brother perfectly. It was also the name of Jason's Granpa.
Zac is such a blessing in our life and I am so happy that God put him in our family.
Asher Jadon's Birthday - August 18, 2011
Little Asher was born in record timing, and hasn’t slowed down since. I had my first contraction on the morning of August 17, then another later that evening during dinner with some friends. No big deal, they didn’t hurt, I was just feeling a bit nauseous. I started feeling more at around 3am the next morning, but they weren’t consistent. I woke Jason up at around 4am. It wasn’t until 4:40 when my contractions were 5 mins apart and when we left for the hospital. The contractions sped up on the way, so Jason sped up too. We left the car at the hospital door, rushed upstairs and within 15 mins Asher was born. I was blown away how fast everything happened and so thankful we were all safe. We named Asher an hour later, his name means ‘Happy and Blessed’. My emotions exactly. He didn’t have a middle name for a few hours, but we finally decided on Jadon, which means ‘Thankful’ and is also taken from the name Jason. Shiloh David's Birthday - February 13, 2013
The day began early in the morning with short mild contractions. It was exactly a week before my due date so I figured I was close to being in labour. For the rest of day, I could feel contractions every once in a while. It wasn't until 8 pm that they started getting closer together, but not longer or more painful. Jason decided that we should go to the hospital just incase, even if we were way too early. After letting the nurses know what happened last time, they decided to admit me. We were given a small space with a bed until a delivery room was ready for us. After an hour and a half of mild yet consistent contractions, our delivery room was finally ready. I walked down the hall to our room and soon as I sat on the bed I knew I was labour. About 5 minutes and 3 pushes later, little Shiloh was born. He came so fast, the doctor didn't make it on time. The cord was wrapped around his neck twice and tied in a knot. His was definitely the most active pregnancy.
He nursed right away and didn't cry for hours after he was born, even when the nurses were measuring and weighing him. So far he is a pretty calm baby. Mostly just cries when he is hungry.
I've always loved the name Shiloh and that it means 'peaceful one'. I also like the name David, which means 'beloved', plus it's Jason's dad's name and Jason's middle name as well.
Raiyah Caralyn's Birthday - April 12, 2015
I started having contractions in the evening of Saturday, April 11 and randomly throughout the night. They continued Sunday morning and hoped the day had come. In an attempt to speed things up, Jason and I went to the park and walked around for a couple of hours. The contractions nearly stopped so we came back home to take a break. At around 2:00 I started to feel contractions again and they were getting stronger. We went to the hospital at around 2:40 to be on the safe side. Raiyah was born just over an hour later. Labour wasn't as fast as it was for Asher and Shiloh, but everything went well. I am thankful for another natural birth and I recovered the quickest this time.
Raiyah is taken from the word Ra'ya, the Hebrew word for beloved friend or closest companion. Caralyn is a twist on my late mother's name, Carolyn, which also means beloved in Italian.
