I have liked the name Megan for years. The name I had picked out for Jaron if he ended up being a girl was Megan Lynn. When I asked the kids what they wanted to name their baby sister, Madison opted for Valerina and Jaron said, “Let’s call her Pearl.” Megan means pearl. I feel like it was meant to be. Towards the end I started second guessing myself and I toyed with the idea of Morgan instead. I was trying to be more contemporary and was afraid Megan would be too old-fashioned. I finally decided to go with my gut and use the name I had chosen first. After seeing her in her perfect, tiny little form in the delivery room, Morgan just didn’t seem to fit in anywhere. Megan was the perfect, delicate name for my perfect, delicate baby. For her middle name I wanted her to have a namesake but was not convinced by any of the names I wanted to choose from. When I first combined my mom’s names, Judy Coleen, and came up with Joleen, I laughed about it and sang the Dolly Parton song in my head and wrote it off. The more I said it in my head, though, the more I liked it. It grew on me quickly and I decided it would grow on everyone else too. The fact that it represents the most important woman in my life…you know, the one who gave birth to me, made the decision irreversible. That is how we came to name our sweet baby girl Megan Joleen.I went to my Tuesday appointment on March 3rd to have my ultrasound and non-stress test. Megan passed them both again so I was off to my doctor appointment with the reports. My blood pressure was high at the doctor’s office, and she sent me to Labor and Delivery and told me I would not go home until I delivered the baby. I wanted to have my baby on March 4th, as it was my Granny Bane’s birthday, but my doctor did not seem to think that was a good enough reason to deliver a baby 3 weeks early. She wanted to keep me in the hospital until March 11, 38 weeks gestation, on strict bed rest with bathroom privileges only. My blood pressure did come down after a few hours in bed so I prepared myself for the hurry up and wait game. The morning of Granny’s birthday I was having contractions every 5-7 minutes, and my water had broken overnight. Those were the reasons that led to two very special people sharing a birthday. Megan Joleen was born on March 4th at 2:10 pm. She weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces, and was 19.5 inches long. She in no way looked big enough to be the cause of all the chaos in my body these past few months! I can never adequately describe the gratitude that I have in my heart for this tiny, healthy, beautiful baby girl that our family has been treasuring. Today is the day she was scheduled to be born. I should have known she would have her own plans. Kevin videoed the nurse taking Megan to the nursery and the kids looking at her for the first time. I absolutely love the video footage of moments I never could have seen otherwise. The first thing Madison said was, “I think I am starting to love her already.” Jaron said, “OK, which way is the ice cream?” Both of them love her above and beyond my expectations and have been fantastic as a big sister and a big brother. So here we go as a family of five. I will keep you posted on our new life as we are now officially outnumbered by our children!
