The story behind the name. Kind of sounds like a VH1 program. It’s a lot simpler than most of you would believe: it started in conversation because one of Ahna’s favorite children’s book authors is named Ezra Jack Keats. Beyond that, it fit our wishes for a name that was unique, simple, and easy to say. It grew on us during conversation over the course of a couple of years to the point that when we found out we were pregnant with him we didn’t give too much thought to a lot of other names. It comes from old-school Hebrew times, so in that sense it really draws on the traditions of both Judaism and Bible that are important to us. Biblically speaking, Ezra is referred to as “the flowers that appear on the earth.” He was a scribe that led 5,000 Jews out of Babylon and into Jerusalem and is thought of amongst the Rabbinical community as someone that “if the law had not already been given to Moses before, Ezra would have been a worthy vehicle.” Ezra is not specifically mentioned in the Quran, but is thought of as a prophet by most Muslim scholars. Besides that, the name starts with a vowel.

His middle name was the middle name of my brother: Jonathan Kyle. It’s pretty much as simple as that. 

Ezra Kyle Bersagel-Briese was born this morning at 3:13 weighing 9 pounds and measuring 21.5 inches long. There will be plenty more to post, including stories and pictures…so check back later for those.

The doctor’s appointment was a busy, three-stage deal that gave us the wonderful opportunity to stay there for 2+ hours. Since yesterday was the due date, it started with an ultrasound to check the size of the baby. We asked not to know the size unless it was medically necessary, so I don’t have much to tell you other than it wasn’t medically necessary to find out the size of the baby. We did get to see it on the monitor, which was pretty cool. The ultrasound did confirm that the baby is head-down and face-down. 

After the ultrasound we had a NST, or Non Stress Test. For those of you who haven’t had one, basically they strap Ahna to a fetal heartrate monitor and make her sit in a lounger for 30 minutes. They are looking for 3 good movements of the baby in that time period, and our baby had 4 good movements. The moving of the baby and the corresponding heartrate was perfect – the nurse said that if she were teaching someone how to read a strip from the monitor, she would use the one that we produced yesterday. 

Following the NST, we had the normal doctor’s visit. It was pretty quick as she went over the results of the ultrasound and the NST with the simple statement: everything looks good. Ahna is dialated and mostly effaced, but the doctor wasn’t going to give us any timeframe for labor. She did end the visit with “it won’t surprise me to get a phone call from you at any time.” Keep your fingers crossed that it will happen soon!

A wonderful gift from Ahna’s class at the end of the year….so fun, it deserved it’s own page. Click the link at the top, or click here. 

Okay, it’s not rhythmic or happening all of the time, but when Ahna described what she has been feeling the last two days, our doctor used the “labor” word for the first time. She has been experiencing more and more contractions and stretching feelings as each of the last few days have come and gone; but nothing substantial as of yet.

The doctor’s visit yesterday was pretty quick but did have a moment or two worth sharing. First was the heartbeat, which has become one of the the highlights of our week. It is the coolest thing to hear and in conjunction with the baby’s movement, it’s all pretty real. Secondly was the measurement, which this week came in the number of 44 (or so). For those of you who haven’t had this experience yet, that number generally falls pretty close to the week of your pregnancy (39 cm = 39 weeks). There is a tolerance where the doctors don’t even have a second thought, but this was a little out of the norm. Dr. Cassel isn’t worried, but at our next appointment on Friday we will have an ultrasound just to check the size of the baby. We also will get wrapped in the fetal monitor for a little while to watch the movement and heartrate. Our next appointment is on our due date (if we go that far), and then we will be at the office twice a week until the baby comes.