David and Co. has now increased from 3 to 4 members! The original due date was the 25th and 2 days late sounds like nothing but it seemed like we were waiting forever for our second child to be born. Early in August Shinobu was told that the baby had dropped too far and another 4 mm and she would need to be hospitalized. Once we safely into September, we quickly switched gears and Shinobu was doing squats, exercising and doing all that she could to speed up the birth. Yet as we learned, it was in God's perfect timing that our daughter Nina seemed to be born.
Monday evening after putting Joa to bed, I also fell asleep quite early. I was awoken just before midnight and somewhat facetiously asked Shinobu if she was having any contractions since there had been no signs for 2 weeks even though we were told that it could happen "any day now..." But sure enough, Shinobu smiled and said that she thinks she is starting to feel some contractions. It had been over 3 years now since the last time so she wasn't quite sure. So we waited and monitored her situation and sure enough, at 130 or she became confident that these were in fact contractions and that tonight would be the night. We started to get excited, packed up our things and made one last check, and then headed out the door at 2 am. The clinic, which was different from the one Joa was born in, was about 15 minutes away but we ended up getting there at 2:20 because on the way there Shinobu said she was hungry so we stopped off at Family Mart and Shinobu had 2 onigiri before we reached the hospital. Sure glad we didn't wait any longer because little did we suspect, but 1 hour later, at 3:18 AM, Nina was born! She weighed in at 3.2 kg (7 lbs) and 48 cm (just under 19 inches). We were told beforehand that labor is shorter for the second one but didn't think it would be THIS much shorter! Wow! But we sure are thankful to the Lord that we made it to the hospital in time. The midwife was great and we couldn't have asked for a smoother experience (well, at least that is what I thought...maybe not Shinobu ;))
Following our experience with Joa, we thought that this time, we would come up with a name for our daughter before she was born. In Joa's case, we thought we would have several candidates ready and once we saw him, would be inspired by a name based on his appearance. Some of you may be able to relate, but as far as our experience went, none of the names we had prepared for him immediately hit us once we saw him. So this time we thought we would simply select a name beforehand. It seemed like everyday we were talking about possible names but until the day she was born, none really resonated with us. Then at 3:30 am or so, we looked at each other and said that it really is time for us to decide a name for her. Then out of nowhere, Nina popped into my little brain and I spoke it out and Shinobu seemed to like it, even though it was not one of the names we had talked about beforehand. I told Shinobu I would go home and check what the meaning was before we finalize her name.
After checking online using various websites, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Nina in Hebrew, had a similar meaning to Joa- 'God was gracious and God has shown favor. ' In Native American her name means 'mighty' and in Spanish, 'little girl'. Other meanings included 'flowery, blossom, and friendly.' http://www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/Nina
Understanding the meaning of her name quickly sold us on naming her Nina. So we next shared the good news with our moms and relatives. By the way, like Joa, we wanted a short name that would be easy to pronounce in both Japanese and English, especially since our last names are so long. Anyways, what made her name seem even more perfect to us was when Shinobu's mom assumed that we had chosen Nina because she was born on the 27th, which in Japanese is 'ni' which means 2, and 'na', which is 7. We honestly hadn't thought of this but did think it very appropriate and a blessing that she was in fact born on the exact day that her name indicates in Japanese. We have yet to choose a middle name but have one in mind and it will likely be one kanji character like the rest of us have.
No comments:
Post a Comment