The birth story:
Last week, on Monday, September 28 I had my 39-week appointment with my CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife--just to clarify, many people I talk to think a midwife is someone who delivers home, unmedicated births. Those are actually called lay midwives. A Certified Nurse Midwife is a nurse with a Master's or Doctorate degree who only delivers in hospitals, both medicated and unmedicated births, similar to an OBGYN, but with a few more limitations). I measured small--35 cm instead of 39 cm, and I was only dilated to 1 cm. She ordered an ultrasound for the following day to see what was going on. At the ultrasound the tech picked up that my fluid was getting low--typically fluid levels should be between 8-25 cm. Mine was 7. Under 5 cm, medical providers typically induce the baby immediately, which is what happened with my pregnancy with Jacob (my fluid dropped to a 3). My nurse midwife decided to do another ultrasound on Friday to check the levels, and possibly induce. I was just thankful that I wasn't getting induced that Tuesday (we really wanted an October baby).
On Friday the plan had changed. She had talked to some doctors who said in the last few years it didn't really matter how low the fluid got if the baby looked okay. I had a regular appointment on Friday, and I was dilated to 2 cm and 80% effaced. Even though the midwife wasn't worried, because I was getting nervous about the baby being okay with the fluid levels (it seemed to move a lot less) I scheduled an induction for Monday.
Saturday and Sunday things started picking up as far as labor. Contractions started to become more often, and they continued to be painful (all of my contractions, even though they were few and far between the last four weeks, have been painful). I felt that, for once, my body was going to go into labor without me trying to do things to push it that direction. I also had a feeling that this time my body would go fast and not start and stop for 2-4 days as it had in the past. Sunday night I texted the nurse midwife and cancelled the induction, feeling that my body would go on it's own in the next 24 hours.
After going to bed Sunday night, I awoke at midnight with a strong contraction. I went back to sleep, but a few more continued to wake me up, although I didn't look at the clock again until about 2:30 AM with another contraction. They started coming more regularly, but it was hard to tell exactly how far apart they were, because when they did start they were so painful I kept my eyes closed to breathe through them until they were over. By looking at the time they all ended, though, I could tell they were coming about 5 minutes apart. I don't ever remember them really getting that close before while I was at home. At 3:30 I got up to use the bathroom and decided I was ready to go to the hospital, and woke up Tyson. I called the midwife to let her know we were on our way, and she said she would be in the hospital soon to check me. We left about 10 minutes later.
(For weeks I'd been saying that I was going to have the baby on October 5--that I was going to go into labor Sunday night and have the baby Monday morning. The mind is a powerful thing.)
We got to the hospital about 3:45 AM. It's a little different delivering at a hospital where you know everyone there as a friend. A nurse hooked me up to the monitors while we waited for the midwife to arrive. I was in a lot of pain, and although contractions every 5 minutes isn't close for most people, it was for me. I was sure I would be dilated to at least 5 cm.
Rachel, my CNM, showed up at 4:30 and checked me--only dilated to a 3. I was SO disappointed! I'd never been only a 3 going to the hospital except for my 2 inductions! I remember being in less pain when I'd showed up to the hospital with Miri dilated to a 6 than this baby at a 3. She said she was going to go sleep and check me in a couple of hours, and suggested that I walk around to try to dilate more. I tried walking around, but it was too uncomfortable and I had to stop every couple minutes for a contraction, so that didn't last more than 15 minutes. I went back to the unit and another nurse suggested I get in the jacuzzi to help with the pain. That helped at first, but I was so exhuasted I kept falling asleep between contractions and just wanted to lie down in bed. After an hour of the jacuzzi, I got out and went back to my room to wait for Rachel.
The contractions were even more painful now. Typically I feel contractions either in my abdomen or my hips--this time it was both AND my back, where I'd never felt them before. I've never had so much pain in so many places during labor before. My nurse felt sure that I had dilated quite a bit with how much pain I was in. Rachel came and checked just after shift change, about 6:30. I told her if I wasn't dilated to a 9 I was going to get an epidural. I was barely any different--3.5. She told me I could go home and labor at home, or stay and try and go natural and she could break my water, or I could get an epidural. I went for the epidural.
Crushed and struggling for control during contractions, I waited for the epidural. I started shaking uncontrollably between contractions, so they started an IV and gave me some medication to relax me until the nurse anesthetist showed up.
I got an epidural at 7:40, and Rachel and a nurse midwife in training, my friend Marie, came back to break my water and check me about 8:20. I was dilated to a 5, so that was progress! I was still expecting several more hours, though—the fastest I’ve gone from a 5 to delivery is six hours. They broke my water, but it took them a long time to tell that they had because NO fluid came out when they did. They could feel the baby’s hair though, so finally decided that they had been successful.
Now that I had some pain relief, Tyson decided to go home and get a few things that we had forgotten and get a quick shower. He’d been gone for about 45 minutes when I suddenly felt the baby moving down inside, at 9:28. I crossed my legs and called my mom to tell him to come back right away. I kept feeling the baby come lower and lower. I told my nurse I wanted to be checked as soon as Tyson came back. He arrived at 9:45, and I reached down and could feel the baby’s head. I started crying because I was just so happy and excited and emotional for the baby to finally arrive. My nurse checked, declared I was complete, and called Rachel and Marie back to deliver the baby.
They got there just a few minutes later and asked which position I wanted to be in as I pushed (can I just say I LOVE having a midwife as a provider?!). I chose to be on my left side, pulled back on my right knee with my hand, and pushed. The baby came down steadily, and Marie told me if I wanted, I could catch the baby myself. I realize that is not something that everyone would want, but I was thrilled with the idea. I put my hands down in front of me and felt the baby’s head come into my hands, then the shoulders, and I reached under the little baby’s arms and pulled him up to my chest as Tyson told me it was a boy.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Meeting our baby:
I looked down at our beautiful baby and saw all his dark curly hair as we dried him off with warm blankets. Right away I could tell he looked different from our other kids, but still so adorable. I turned to Tyson and exclaimed, “He is so cute!” I also felt right off that the name we had discussed before, Benjamin, just did not fit. It didn’t matter though. Everything felt right as I cuddled with our new baby those first few moments. Our little boy had been born at 9:55 AM. (Tyson later said we should have waited 10 minutes—he could have been born at 10:05 on 10/5).
We had him weighed and I was surprised that he was our first baby to come under 8 lbs, weighing at 7 lbs 4 oz. He’s also the shortest at 20 inches. After being checked we cuddled with him for another hour before Tyson went to get the kids to meet their new baby brother.
I love seeing how our kids react to a new baby. Xi was by far the most excited. He kept saying, “Now I have TWO babies—that one (pointing to Miri) and that one (pointing to his new brother).” He held him first. Miri seemed curious as we helped her hold the baby. Amri kept saying, “He is so cute!” and held him. Jeffrey and Jacob seemed excited but just wanted to watch as everyone else held him.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Naming the child:
A few hours later after things had calmed down and Tyson was helping my mom with the kids, I made a list of a ton of other names from our families and from the scriptures that we previously had not considered. Although Tyson said we could still name him Benjamin if I wanted to, neither of us could actually bring ourselves to call him that. After he got back, I handed him the list and we started talking about the names outloud. When Tyson got to the very last name on the list, Hezekiah, he said, “Zeke.” Something just clicked with that name, and I replied, “Yeah, I like it!”
If anyone had asked before we had this baby if I would ever name a child Hezekiah, I would have said no way. I’m not even sure why I wrote it on the list. But something about it fits him—Hezekiah Hazard—and I love the idea of calling him Zeke. Jacob & Jeffrey, Zeke & Xi—it just fits in with our boys. The more we studied about the name, the more we liked it.
To give a more background on the name Hezekiah, it comes from a king in the Old Testament that refused to submit to the Assyrian’s demands. Every other kingdom, including the kingdom of Israel, had been brutally defeated by the Assyrians (for more details about what Assyrians did after they conquered and why Hezekiah’s stance was so brave, check out the first chapter in the book “Seven Tipping Points that Saved the World”).
Hezekiah means “God is my strength,” or “God has strengthened.” The scriptures describe King Hezekiah as:
He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.
For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses.
And the Lord was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth. . . (2 Kings 18:5-7).
When Tyson and I were in Jerusalem together I remember going through Hezekiah’s Tunnel as a class with flashlights and headlamps, exploring the unique engineering feature that saved the Jews as we trudged through the water. At the end of the tunnel we got a zillion pictures with different people from our crew. I specifically remember Tyson laying just beneath the water with his eyes rolled back into his head as we took different pictures. Funny that I never imagined at that point that Tyson would be the person that I married, or that we would have a son that we would name Hezekiah.
We also like the meanings of Zeke. Zeke, by itself and not connected to Ezekial or Hekekiah, means “shooting star” or “spark” in Aramaic and “God Remembers” in Hebrew. As far as nicknames, Tyson has said that we could also call him Ky or Kiah, but I have a feeling we’ll stick with Zeke.
We struggled with Zeke’s middle name. I initially thought that we would move Benjamin to his middle name, along with Martin, another middle name we had considered. But then it just did not fit for me. All our other boys have several things in common with their names—all have a family name, a Bible name, and a J name, and two middle names. Two of our sons’names have places connected with them. Something was just not going to fit with Zeke’s name. We talked and talked about different options but we couldn’t decide and nothing fit. Tyson said that maybe we should save Benjamin Martin for another baby, but we didn’t have anything else for this baby. In the end we wrote down 3 middle names on the birth certificate form (Benjamin Martin Teton), knowing that we would just change it when we got the initial order form in a couple of weeks from the state (I know not all states are like that, but in Idaho it is super easy to change a child’s name their first year of life).
We’ve been thinking and talking about it the last couple of days. This morning when I woke up at four-thirty to feed little Zeke it was on my mind again. I started thinking about the name John. It’s the most common name for men on my family lines, particularly on the Jones side. I liked the sound of it with Hekekiah—Hezekiah John. About 5:30 I got up and started looking on Tyson’s family to see if the name was there as well. I decided to only look on his Hazard line, and not branch off into the million other options as the tree goes back. I went back and back and back, and finally thought, “If it’s not on the next generation back, that’s it.” I went back one more generation and there it was—John Hazard. The second to the last generation before the line ends. Just then Zeke started crying again and I went to feed him. As I picked him up, he just looked like a John to me. I knew the name fit. Now I just needed a second middle name.
Teton was a name I thought about from time to time if we added a “place” to his name. I’ve loved looking at the Tetons here the last two years and the backpack trip we did there two years ago. And eight years ago, about 24 hours after we decided we were on our first date and started to talk about marriage, we were hiking the Tetons together with Tyson’s brother and cousins. The Tetons was the first date that Tyson officially asked me on after that spontaneous date the day before, and we climbed a small summit together after splitting off from his family members, and had a small picnic lunch Tyson had prepared that included water from a spring on top. I think we continued our discussion of whether or not we should get married from the two nights before. So the Tetons have some special meaning for us, or at least me :) Plus his first kayaking trip was on the Teton River, so that is fitting too.
I tried finding the meaning of the Tetons, and it appears that they were named after a branch of the Lakota tribe:
The Tetons, who spoke Lakota, took their name from the term Titonwan, ‘Dwellers of the Prairie’.
So that’s it. Hezekiah John Teton Hazard. We love him to pieces.
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