Sienna Elizabeth Hall was born on Saturday, October 16th, 2010 at 8:35 pm. The birth could not have gone any more differently from our last with Hadrian and the day went as follows.
At around noon we met up with our friends Timir and Sue Yee and their son Jian and went for our usual brunch. We brunch together quite often but usually it’s on a Sunday, however this day they wanted to see us on a Saturday in case Debby would have the baby by Sunday. After brunch, we went with them to Central Park in Burnaby and played with the kids there for a little while. Then we returned home and put Hadrian down for his afternoon nap. Nothing out of the ordinary so far! Debby decided to lie down for a bit of a nap as well, as it is quite exhausting being 9 months pregnant! Shortly after though, she started feeling some discomfort in her abdomen, however we initially thought nothing of it since she had previously been feeling lots of discomfort from a few weeks prior. Slowly the pain began to grow and come more and more frequently, until it seemed to coming every few minutes. By now it was nearly 6 pm and our doula told Debby over the phone that we should head in to the hospital now. We were fortunate to have a neighbor that could look after Hadrian until Debby’s mom could arrive at our place to babysit.
So off to the hospital we went, and when we arrived and got Debby checked out, she was already 5 to 6 cm dilated. Things progressed very quickly and by about 7:00 to 7:30 pm she was ready to push. Next thing you know, I’m helping to catch this beautiful little baby girl! It took me a few moments to actually realize it was a girl; we were kind of shocked because all along we both thought that we would end up with another boy. Of course we were very happily surprised that we were wrong! She weighed just a hair under 7 lbs and was 50 cm long. For weight that is about average, but for length she is well above (just like Hadrian was), so perhaps there is hope that our kids will outgrow us!
Things have been great since her birth, we left the hospital after less than 24 hours and things have gone pretty smoothly since then. Of course, that’s not to say we aren’t having sleepless nights and lack of sleep anymore, but overall she is very good. We did have a bit of a scare early on though. The next day after leaving the hospital a community nurse visited us to check up on Debby and the baby. When she weighed Sienna, we found out that she had lost just over 10% of her birth weight. 10% is the threshold where they start to get concerned. We monitored her closely the next few days and luckily she did start regaining weight. Actually, from about the next day onward she’s been gaining tons of weight and now has the chubby cheeks and a little belly!
Hadrian’s taken the new addition very well too. We tried to prepare him as much as we could prior to having the baby so that he would not be totally surprised. We kept telling him that there was a little baby inside mama’s belly and that he was going to have a little brother or sister. So far he’s been great with Sienna. He’s very protective of her and tells people that she is his! He always wants to see and hold and kiss her, which is very sweet, and he hasn’t shown any jealousy towards her at all. The only issue we had is that he’s been a little sick, so keeping him away from her has been a bit of a challenge.
Well that’s it for now, I’ll be sure to update you all some more soon! And be sure to read our P.S. below for some interesting facts about Sienna’s name and other fun stuff!
But for now, on to the good stuff, the part you’ve all been waiting for, the first photos of our little Sienna! Please enjoy!
Danny, Debby, Hadrian & Sienna :) !
P.S. Now on to her name and some other fun facts!
First of all, no she was not named after any Roman Empress or historical figure! Well actually there is no real deep meaning behind Sienna’s name or any special reason why we named her that. Mostly we just liked the sound of the name. However, you know I’m going to give you a little more than that!
Sienna is of Latin origin (so technically it can be considered Roman!) and means “from Siena”, which is the name of a city in Tuscany, Italy renowned for its art. The city has a long history dating back as far as the Etruscans (c. 900-400 BC), who predate the Romans, when it was inhabited by a tribe called the Saina. According to Roman mythology the name was derived from Senius, son or Remus, who is said to have founded the city. Remus, of course, was the twin brother of Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome, and for that reason the city of Siena today is abundant with statues and artwork of the twin brothers suckling from a she-wolf as infants. The town itself progressed over time, but reached its height in the medieval period. Today the city’s most impressive architecture and buildings date from this time.
Sienna’s middle name, Elizabeth, is for my grandmother (father’s mother) who was named Marie Elizabeth Taylor Hall. She commonly went by the name Bettie, derived from her middle name Elizabeth. It’s kind of an interesting fact that both she and her husband Rad used their middle names over their given names, and now both our kids have those name names as their middle names (Hadrian’s middle name is Radway, after my grandfather).
As with Hadrian, we also have a Chinese name for Sienna that has the basic meaning of virtuous and kind-hearted. That also goes well in-hand with her astrological signs, as she is a Libra and also is born in the Year of the Tiger. Libras are all about harmony, fairness and balance, whereas the Tigers are considered brave, valiant and tolerant. Moreover, a female Tiger is said to be intelligent, faithful and virtuous, which ties us back to Sienna’s Chinese name!
Well that’s enough for now, but stay tuned for future blogs when I’ll reveal more fun facts about our newest addition!
No comments:
Post a Comment