Nadia Asia ~ the birth and name

Nadia – french/slavic for “hope”

Asia –  some meanings include “alive”, “life”, “yahweh is gracious” “rising sun”

I am starting this blog post in the hospital…. while baby is sleeping (and I should be sleeping), so I don’t forget the details. With this being my 3rd, the brain cells took another hit for the team yesterday. Don’t want to forget!

So, picking out baby names isn’t at the top of the list of “easy things for John and Chels to do together.” Picking out significant, meaningful names is even harder. And add to that mix our “thing” about putting a place/city name as one of the names… and you have a very narrow playing field.

Last tuesday, with the whole false labor thing that I blogged about here, we just could not agree on a name. We had a very small pool of names that we kept rearranging and trying out together and none of them “fit”. I had also given my baby name book to John’s sister so we were just going on the few names we thought were in the running from previous conversations.

When we came home that day, I determined to get another baby name book so we could try to refresh our pool of potential names. On Wednesday, there was virtually NO progress in my laboring/contractions/etc… so we went out to eat near a Borders Books and I picked up a new book.

Thursday morning, John left for work at the usual 5am. I wasn’t contracting at all, so didn’t think anything of it. Around 6:30, they started…. strong and painful. BAM. I was pretty much sure this was “it.” I called John at 7 or so and he hopped in his car to head back home…. during rush hour. He may or may not have driven most of the way back on the shoulder… I just can’t confirm one way or another.

My contractions were so hard and painful that Sydney was very concerned for her grunting/groaning/almost screaming mother. Poor girl. Probably freaked her out. I didn’t know how long John was going to be held up in traffic, so I asked my superstar neighbor, Christine, to come over so I could just drive myself to the hospital (like 1/2 a mile away). She came over, John picked up Hannah (his sister who was so gracious to switch her work schedule to come stay with the girls) at the metro near us and then we made it to the labor and delivery station.

I did get drugs. And ladies, let me just tell you….. if you do this naturally, I am in awe and totally and completely mesmerized by your strength. WOW. I honestly can’t even fathom it after the pain I was experiencing just prior to having my epidural. Can’t. Even. Fathom. I am not here to say one way is better than another way… I think we all need to know our bodies and evaluate what is available and what we feel comfortable with and go for it. And I went for the drugs. And ohhhhhhhhhh how very thankful I was for them.

Because I did get the epidural, John and I could cognitively and objectively discuss the name issue. I am pretty sure that I would have thrown some obscenities into the mix had I been breathing/screaming through contractions for those two hours before she was born.

As soon as I read out the name Nadia, its like a lightbulb went off for both of us. Nadia… Nadya…. Nadja….. Any way you spell it/pronounce it… it just fit. And it meant “hope” which is very significant to us for many reasons. So boom… that fast, we had her first name picked out. Now on to the middle name… the city/place name.

We had a small list of city names that we liked… Geneva, Milan, Vienna. But then we thought of Asia. Not a city name, but definitely a significant place name for us. We have always thought (and still do) that we will end up in Asia someday. John went to high school there… his parents have spent a good portion of their ministry in Asia. We have a heart for that continent. So we thought that it would be way more meaningful to pick the name Asia than to just select a random city name that meant nothing to us personally, but just sounded cool.

And so her name is Nadia Asia. “Hope for Asia”… Ok, maybe that is alot of pressure on a one day old little girl. But we love her name, and we feel that God led us in the process and that there is a deep, strong reason for her life and purpose…. and maybe, just maybe Asia is a part of that plan. Only God knows and time will tell.

** note: since coming home, i have been informed that Nadia is in fact a city in Australia!! go figure! as someone commented on my facebook page… we must have a grand Australian adventure in the cards for our future. i am down with that!

Nadia was born at 12:24 and it was easy and peaceful. She was the biggest of the babies so far…. a whopping 6lbs 13 oz. She came out with a healthy set of lungs, that is for sure. Especially for being 2.5 weeks early!

It is such a sweet blessing to be living near John’s sisters this time around. No one in the family has ever been living near us to be able to see the babies at birth-time. So, last night, our girls and all of John’s sisters and brother-in-law came out to meet Nadia. It was awesome. So special to us all.

(for the Hudsons… “bust me!”

Adelaide was quite vocal about how excited she was about Nadia, how beautiful and cute she was etc. She wanted to hold her the whole night. Sydney was just not sure about this little thing…. very hesitant. She always does things in her time/way… and with a little time that night she slowly made her way over to Nadia and started cooing to her and talking to her in a sweet voice. It was precious. Don’t ever want to forget these moments.

And then there was the complete and total emotional meltdown from Adelaide as they left. She started out crying about leaving and about how much she was going to miss me that night etc. We couldn’t tell if this was a “for real” emotional thing, or something she was working up to try to stay longer. But it began snowballing…. and pretty soon it was apparent that she was VERY scared/concerned/emotional about leaving the baby and me at the hospital. No idea why really. She left the room SOBBING uncontrollably and John said she went home like that and it only got worse. He put her down for bed, prayed and prayed with her… and it continued. He closed the door to her room at one point and then heard her sobbing out her own prayers, begging God to help her not feel so sad and to be with Mommy and Nadia at the hospital and protect us.

TALK ABOUT RIPPING MY HEART OUT…. When John told me this, I was just a mess. I don’t know what was going on in her little heart and psyche, but oh how I wish I could have been home to hold and comfort her. But oh how thankful I am to have a God that HEARD her little sobbing prayers and in some way and some fashion wrapped His arms around her last night and comforted her when I couldn’t. Thank you Jesus! Adelaide was fine this morning and seems to be her normal self again.

And that is the story of Nadia Asia.