Asa's Magic

It doesn't take much to convince us that we have a special child, but here are a few things that might convince you, too:

1. I started having my first labor contractions within only a couple hours of my mom arriving. This was similar to what happened with Ewan... I went into early labor on the day my mom was scheduled to fly out from NY. I had both boys the day after her arrival, and both times we had booked her flight in advance. I truly wonder whether either they were both waiting for their Gram, or subconsciously I was holding out until my mom got here.

2. Asa was born during a crazy wind storm that knocked down trees all over the county and caused widespread power outages throughout San Lorenzo Valley and beyond. My labor kicked into gear just as the wind outside was picking up and it started to get more intense just as the power went out in our house. When we decided it was time to head to the hospital just after midnight, I walked outside and couldn't help but notice the clearest midnight sky with the brightest stars I'd seen in a long time. The wind was still howling and all the roads near our house were covered with a layer of branches and leaves. No rain or thunder or lightning - just wind. We'd never seen anything quite like it. The power stayed off for almost two days. It came back on (at least to half the house) when we were five minutes from home, on our way home from the hospital.

3. Our dog, Clyde, became seriously ill right around Thanksgiving and my due date. He was clearly in a lot of pain, and he stopped eating and drinking and would hardly move. We brought him to the vet on the morning of my due date and were told that in addition to muscular-skeletal problems, he likely had either kidney disease or had gotten into something toxic. It was hard to know how to treat him, as the medication they wanted to give him for the pain and inflammation would be hard on his kidneys. We experimented with giving him and not giving him the meds, as well as trying him on a special kidney cleansing diet, but for days he continued to barely eat, drink, or move, and we saw only very mild and inconsistent improvements. This was so stressful knowing that at any moment we would have a new baby to adjust to on top of this. Well, guess what happened. The morning that Asa was born, Clyde suddenly regained interest in his food and water and showed a dramatic increase in his activity level, even wanting to play fetch again. Our moms, who were staying with Ewan and our pets, reported the good news to us while we were in the hospital. It was only after we came home from the hospital that the full extent of the situation hit me, and that I realized what a fitting name we had chosen for our new baby: Asa (pronounced "Ay-suh"), meaning "healer."

I'm tempted to add a number four to this list, which would be that Ewan has not only adjusted amazingly well to his baby brother and is sleeping through all the night wakings despite still being in our bed, but he has actually started pretty consistently sleeping through the night and turning to Troy for comfort on the rare occasions when he does wake up for a minute or two. If that's not a miracle, I don't know what is.

Ok, obviously I'm not taking myself too seriously with this post. I don't actually think that our baby has magical powers, but I do think these will be great stories to share with him as he grows up. And we do think he's a pretty special little guy.

Speaking of good stories and since I went into the meaning of Asa's name a bit, I'll share a little more about that. Early on in my pregnancy I had run into a couple of kids named Asa at different parks in Santa Cruz and liked the sound of the name. I mentioned it to Troy and he really liked it, too. We definitely weren't sure about it, but it was at the top of our list for a while. When I was back in NY over the summer, my Aunt Deb asked if we knew what we were going to name the baby. I said we didn't, and didn't get into telling her any of the names we were thinking about. I asked her whether she had any suggestions and she said she would think about it. A couple days later, she stopped by with this list:

She read through her list and we talked about some of the names. When she got to "Ira," I told her that I thought that was interesting and that it reminded me of another name we were considering: Asa. At that, she flipped over the paper and put it down on the table in front of me. This is what it said on the back:

I continued to like the name, but Troy cooled off on it a bit and we talked about a few others, but mostly we didn't talk much about it and decided we would meet the baby first. My non-planning, spontaneous husband didn't feel a need to discuss it until I was in active labor and we were soaking in the jacuzzi at the hospital. Nice timing, Troy. At that point, he brought up the name Asa again and said he did really like it after all. Several hours after he was born, we decided that would be it. The little yellow piece of paper from my aunt will definitely go in Asa's keepsake box. As for the "Beck," many of you know that's my nickname (although I usually spell it "Bec"). We both liked the sound of it for a boy, and the idea of each of our boys getting their middle names from me (Ewan Duke and Asa Beck). We know we've chosen somewhat unusual names for our boys, but we like different and are happy with our choices.

This is turning into a marathon post, but I'm sure many of you are wondering how we've fared in our first week at home. Well, we're doing better than I ever expected, mostly because of how well Ewan is doing. I think I'm also a lot more relaxed this time around. And Asa is proving to be very mellow. I know he's a newborn and things could change, but so far he sleeps a ton and is bothered by very little. We've hardly heard him cry. In the last few days, he's gotten his days and nights figured out and sleeps most of the night, with the exception of waking up two or three times to nurse for short periods, and his days alternate between long periods of being very alert (usually in the morning and the late afternoon/evening before bed) and long periods of sleeping really soundly. I hope this pattern continues! He is nursing well, but doesn't wake too often for it, and sometimes I even have to wake him to make sure he's getting enough. But he is gaining weight well. After having lost a few ounces in the hospital, he was up to 9 lbs, 11 oz by 6 days old, and generally checked out well at his first doctor's appointment. My mom left Wednesday morning and Troy has slowly started back at work. Yesterday was my first full day with both boys, and it went really well. I'm really tired, but generally thrilled with how things are going. I don't know how it's possible to be filled with so much love, but it is. And I know that Troy and I are both feeling it.