When Mike and I were thinking of baby names I made a big list of names I liked and showed it to Mike. The name we both really liked was Joel, which means messenger. However, we could never settle on it. Then one Sunday our pastor talked about Elijah and Elisha. That afternoon we talked about the sermon and both agreed that we liked the name Elisha. After we prayed about it, we knew that is what we should name our son. We knew it was kind of a risk. It’s not a common name and people often think it is a girl’s name before they see Elisha. (You can’t mistake him for a girl once you see him. He is a big, handsome dude)
We looked up the meaning for “Elisha” after we decided on the name and found that the meaning is “God will save me” and “Protected”. The verse that goes with it is Psalm 62:7, “On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.” It was settled, the little boy growing inside me was Elisha and we called him that every time we talked to him.
My pregnancy was normal and baby Elisha was healthy; however, I always had a sense to pray for Elisha. I remember praying the meaning of his name over him all the time. I wasn’t scared for Elisha, but I just had a strong sense to pray for him because something might be wrong.
September 18th finally arrived. It was my due date and I was still pregnant. I was convinced that morning that I would be pregnant forever. I went on a really long walk, played outside with Tristen, and had dinner plans with Mike. It was a beautiful fall day and I didn’t expect the arrival of sweet Elisha, but at 3:30 while I was at the park with Tristen I was having steady contractions. One of my friends told me she thought I was in labor, but I didn’t believe her. Just 30 minutes later on my walk home from the park I was starting to change my mind. I called Mike and told him not to be late coming home from work. By the time I was off the phone with him I was having contractions every 7-8 minutes. He rushed home and we left for the hospital. (Good thing my parents live close and could take Tristen…thanks mom and dad!)
When I got to the hospital I was already 6+ cm dilated. Good thing we left when we did!! They gave me the option of walking around or breaking my water for me. I chose to walk around, which didn’t last long. I am not a very patient person most of the time. So, the midwife, who also delivered Tristen, broke my water. When they broke my water they found out Elisha had had his first or more bowel movements in the womb. The midwife informed me that they would call a NICU team to standby so they could clear Elisha’s mouth and lungs in case he had ingested any of the stool. Only 45 minutes passed before I was ready to push. I only pushed for 6 minutes and our baby was out.
It was such a different experience from Tristen’s birth. Tristen came out kicking and screaming. Elisha didn’t cry and they didn’t stimulate him to breathe because they didn’t want him to ingest any more stool. He was gray in color and didn’t move. I looked away and prayed. I had peace and I didn’t want the sight of Elisha to steal that from me. Soon I heard faint crying and before I knew it I had a little brown-haired squirmy baby in my arms. He was really stinky because he had been in a giant poop bath, but he was beautiful. They weighed him and he was a perfect 6lbs 5oz. We watched his first bath, first footprints, and I fed him for the first time. It was so amazing and it all happened so fast! We thanked God for our precious boy, especially since we heard from the nurse that she had never seen such thick stool from a baby before. She told us we were “lucky” he didn’t ingest any of it.
Introducing him to Tristen and adjusting to our new lives was really wonderful and difficult, but we remained so grateful for the health of our little boy. We had heard before that it is really dangerous for babies to have their first bowel movements in the womb. However, it didn’t hit me how blessed we were and how the Lord protected Elisha until I was at his two week doctor appointment. Our pediatrician told us that she used to work in the NICU often and out of all the babies she saw in there, the ones that had swallowed stool in the womb were the sickest and died the most often. She told us it was a blessing from God that Elisha was healthy.
Elisha:
“God will save me” and “Protected”
Psalm 62:7, “On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.”
Thank you Lord for our precious son!
