What's in a name?? Mine

My birth given name. Where did it come from? How come they choose it? Growing up, I wanted a common name, a name that was popular. I had a different name. Maybe I should ask my mom to type this out. Maybe it would be better to come from her. Though I’m guaranteed to be bawling if I let her do that, so I guess I’ll stick to me posting.
I am child number five, out of six. The middle child, of middle children. Lovely huh? Explain anything you were wondering about?? This pregnancy was very hard for my mom. I was very big and got hard to carry.

I started typing this up over a month ago. That is where I got. 2 little paragraphs. I decided I would ask my mom to tell me where my name came from, even if I would bawl my eyes out. After all, she was the one who named me and really “knew” where it came from. I have heard the story all my life, but it was her words and I knew it would mean more to me. My mom wrote me a letter. This is what it said.

How you got your name
When I was five months pregnant my doctor realized that something was wrong with the growth of my placenta. I had to take a 24 hour urine test to the hospital once a week until my 8th month. At that time, I started having blood tests. The test always indicated the same. I was borderline placenta previa and was able to carry “the baby” one more week. My due date was May 31st. On May 16th I went to my Dr’s office for an amniocentesis before being admitted to the hospital for an induced delivery. My doctor was so well educated in amniotic fluid that he recognized (through the color of the fluid) that I was not as far along as originally indicated and the baby’s lungs were not developed enough for a delivery. The fluid was tested. My due date was reset to June 14th.
The blood test continued, however. Then I went week after week not delivering “the baby”. My tests were always on Thursday. I had blood drawn on June 30th. Sunday July 3rd, I went into natural labor. My doctor was “off the island”, (we lived in Hawaii then) so his “on-call” substitute checked me into the hospital and followed my progress. When I went into the delivery room the doctor broke my water.
PROBLEM #1 Immediately the liquid ran a thick mossy green. The doctor called for a pediatrician because he knew there would be complications.
PROBLEM #2 the doctor asked me when I had my last test. He started asking me a lot of questions. But I was losing consciousness and was unable to answer all of them. It was at this time, that I “went to the light.”
PROBLEM #3 I could not deliver you because your shoulder measured 12” across! So you had to be taken by forceps.
PROBLEM #4 Once you were delivered, they could not get you to breathe! The Ped had to run and scrub so he could work on you while my doctor worked on bringing me around again. It was so helter skelter in that operating room, that’s it’s no wonder your squeamish, fasting father almost passed out.
PROBLEM #5. The Ped suctioned and hit you on the back until he got you to breather. Then there was the concern of your weight. You had to be tested for diabetes.
PROBLEM #6 Nothing more was said until the day (3 days later) we prepared to take you home. The pediatrician came into the room and explained that because my placenta was not functioning correctly, I was not expelling your waste through the tissue. Instead, your waste was staying in the amniotic fluid and you were re-ingesting it. There is no oxygen in waste; therefore, no oxygen had gotten to your brain. It was never definitely determined how long this had existed. We could only determine that on Thursday the fluid was normal. (most likely the condition developed during delivery.) However, it would not have taken very long for you to go without oxygen, so it’s always been somewhat of a mystery!?!?

Therefore, it was suspected that you would be retarded. The Pediatrician told us, “There is an 80% chance that your baby will be retarded. But it will take a year of observation to determine if that is correct.”
We were obviously devastated. We tried to think of name that would be appropriate, but nothing fit but “Hope”. First we hoped, you would live, and then we hoped you would be alright, and finally I hoped I would never have to go through that again!! It was a very scary time.
On the way home from the hospital we stopped at the Gonsalves. Dad asked Gerald to come to the house pray with him. Him and Linda followed us to the house. We went to our bedroom where it would be quiet. Just as dad started, the phone rang. I went to the kitchen to take the call and never heard a word of the prayer. When I returned to the bedroom, however, everyone was crying. I knew it was a special moment and I never asked.
PROBLEM #7 You could not nurse. The Ped told me I had to force you to eat every 2 hours. Because you lacked the instinct for sucking and your brain could not register that you were hungry, you would STARVE to death if I did no force you to nurse. For 3 days, I nursed you every 2 hours around the clock. On the 4th day it was obvious your condition was greatly improved and I reverted back to feeding you on demand (which was about every 4 to 6 hours.) At six weeks you rolled over in your crib, four months you crawled; and “the rest is history.”
When we went for your two week check-up, I never mentioned the retardation because I knew your condition had been reversed. The pediatrician likewise, never mentioned it. We continued taking you to that doctor to that doctor for another 12 months and the condition was never mentioned.
Loves, Mom 