Asa Benjamin

I'll let Michelle tell the whole story, but here's the short version and a bazillion pictures.

As previous posts testify, Michelle was a tad sick of being pregnant, and we invited Mom up from St. George for the weekend, if for no other reason than to change things up. I worked from home Friday afternoon because Michelle was having some pretty strong though irregular contractions. We decided to go out to dinner when Mom showed up. So she pulled into the driveway about 5:00 and we left for some Chick-fil-a shortly after. Michelle brought the hospital bag along just in case.

After dinner we planned to go for a walk and Michelle suggested some place close to hospital. We decided to go to Weber State, but by the time we drove past McKay-Dee she said we should maybe walk around the hospital. There's some woods and a pond nearby so we walked around there and then needed to make a pit stop, so we went into the hospital. (Little by little we were committing ourselves.) It was raining by now and we were debating whether to go into the maternity ward and get checked. We decided we may as well since we were there, and lo and behold she was at a 7! And a few hours later we had a baby boy in our arms. Some highlights to look forward to when Michelle writes up the whole story: the lady who practically delivered in triage, the night-and-day difference between our last doctor and Michelle's new midwife, breaking the water, and a stubborn, face-up baby who did not want to come out.

I'm so proud of Michelle for making the choice to deliver without pain medication and then sticking with it even when things got crazy. I think there were real benefits, and the baby was so bright-eyed and aware from the first moment. I have nothing but praise for our midwife, Mari Stuart, and for the nurses at McKay-Dee.

Final stats: Born at 1:04 am on Saturday, April 26 (his due date), 7 lbs 5 oz, 20 inches, long toes, and a shock of dark hair. Sometimes I see more Leah, sometimes Addison. And Leah just told me she thinks he looks like Bryn.

True to form, it took us a while to come up with the name, but we finally filled in the birth certificate application with Asa Benjamin Waite. We love the name Asa, Michelle especially. It comes originally from an Old Testament king, Solomon's great-grandson, and means physician or healer. Michelle has an ancestor, Asahel Perry, who was an early convert to the LDS Church and who according to his son, Stephen C. Perry, was the first to donate money to build the Kirtland temple. So Asa is something of a tribute to him. Michelle also likes that it sounds like a southern name - perhaps because she subconsciously remembered that the founder of Coca-Cola was named Asa, as we discovered later. Doesn't get more Georgia than that! 

Benjamin was my suggestion. I've recently been reading the magnificent sermon by King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon, and we would love for our little guy to emulate in some small way King Benjamin’s example of Christian discipleship and compassion for those in need.

I'm getting to pictures, I promise, but I've got to mention what a help my mom has been. She stepped right in and has provided nonstop child care and housekeeping for two days and does a pretty convincing job of making it seem like she's loving it.