Baby Asher

The c-section was scheduled but we had to call BAMC in the morning at 5:00 to make sure there was a bed available.  They said to come on in and be there at 6:30.  I had to take a shower and so we were there around 7.  We hung out in a room while people came and prepared me.

I had to walk to the operating room.  It took a while for the epidural to numb all the way up.  I think Matt waited about an hour outside of the operating room before being called in.  They said that it would take awhile to get the baby out because it was a 5th c-section.  It seemed like it took a long time.  I could feel the pressure of the cutting across my stomach  and the smell of the cauterizing knife.  There was lots of tugging and pushing.  I wanted Matt to talk to me to distract me so that I could keep my blood pressure down and not stress out about what was happening.  He was born at 10:08 a.m.  When he came out he was screaming and kept screaming and screaming.  They checked him out and cleaned him up and Matt brought him over so that I could see him as they were finishing up with me.  He weighed 8 lbs. and 15 oz. and was 20 1/4 inches long.

The kids didn't get to come and see the baby until the next day because they had Meet the Teacher that night, so there wasn't going to be enough time.  They came the next day on Saturday afternoon. Matt went home and picked up my Mom and the kids and brought them to the hospital.  It was cute to see them see the baby for the first time.  They all had a turn holding the baby.

Since my Mom was staying with the kids, Matt was able to stay with me both nights to help with the baby. Things went well, so we only had to stay for 2 nights in the hospital.  We got to go home on Sunday soon after they came home from church.

Before having the baby every time Carlos would come over, he would ask what the name was going to be.  I always told him we didn't know, so he was determined to help us figure it out.  One day he was going through a long list of names and I was telling him if I liked it or not.  After a huge long list of names there were only 2 that I said sounded OK.  Asher and Reed.  The kids said they really liked the name Asher and started referring to him that way.  Brayden would frequently call the baby Asher.  After hearing it, I didn't know if I really liked it.  When it got closer to the scheduled c-section I looked up the meaning of some of the names we had been considering.  Asher, one of the twelve sons of Jacob in the Old Testiment, had the meaning "fortunate, blessed, and happy one", which I really liked.   I let Matt know the meaning and that changed his mind as he previously felt like it sounded too trendy.

When we went into the hospital we hadn't decided on a name yet.  After the baby was born everyone asked what the name was.  Our nurse asked what we were considering and we mentioned Asher.  She got so excited because that was the name of her son and she said she loved the name.  Neither of us had ever met an Asher, so that was a pretty neat coincidence that the name at the top of our list was the name of our nurse's son.  After talking about possible middle names to go with them we decided Asher Jay would be the name.  We didn't come to this conclusion until the day we were going home from the hospital.

The kids were excited when we came home, and they watched him sleep.