Glafcke Baby 5 was due at the end of June.
Mid-November we shared the news with our girls.
And they were so very excited.
Gloria couldn't wait to be a big sister.
Gloria couldn't wait to be a big sister.
The Monday before Thanksgiving I started bleeding.
I went to see the doctor.
With the sonogram machine she could see the baby, but no heartbeat.
We cancelled plans to travel to Atlanta for Thanksgiving.
I called Grandma Jo and told her I was miscarrying.
On Thanksgiving we joined the Mescher clan at Grandma Jo's house.
That weekend Matt and I talked.
We decided to name our lost baby Jesse.
At dinner we lit a candle for Jesse.
We prayed as a family.
We told the girls we wouldn't be meeting Jesse on earth.
We were sad.
But we believe Jesse is home with Our Heavenly Father.
Nearly twelve years ago Matt and I found out we were pregnant with our first child.
I bought a baby book and eagerly started to fill in the pages about my pregnancy.
We talked about names.
We made a list of several girl names we liked:
Julia Grace, Norah, Caroline, Lucy, Eowyn, Josephine
But there was only one name for a boy:
Daniel Thomas
As the years went by our family grew.
First Josephine Theresa was born.
Then Coryn Mae.
Third was Mallory Joan.
Fourth came Gloria Grace.
Fifth was Jesse.
Each of our daughters' names honors one of their great grandmothers:
Josephine Mescher
Loretta Mae Glafcke
Joan Wu
Gloria Van Raalte
So what about Tarzan Funkypants?
For my sixth pregnancy we waited until we heard baby's heartbeat to tell the girls.
We opted not to find out baby's gender and once again starting making a list of possible names for our new baby.
Matt still preferred Eowyn.
I proposed Hazel.
I proposed Hazel.
Josephine suggested Maria.
Coryn liked Anastasia.
Mallory wanted Adele.
And Gloria blurted: Tarzan Funkypants!
The Saturday after Thanksgiving this year I started having contractions.
I was 37 weeks.
Grammy BB and Pop Pop TM came over to stay with the girls.
Matt and I drove to the hospital at 10pm.
As eager as I was to meet our baby, I was anxious.
We still hadn't settled on a girl name.
Matt and I made lap after lap around the labor & delivery unit.
The contractions picked up, coming every 5 minutes.
But by 3am both of us were weary and labor wasn't progressing.
We tried to get some sleep.
By 6am the contractions stopped and we were sent home.
Grammy took the girls to her house so Matt and I could catch up on sleep.
Two quiet weeks passed by.
After mass on Dec. 9th I thought my water broke, but I wasn't having any contractions.
I slept at home and Grammy arrived at 6am Sunday morning.
The girls were sound asleep when Matt and I left for the hospital.
We checked into the OB triage room at 7am.
Contractions came every 15 minutes.
Once again, we walked laps around the unit.
Once again, the contractions picked up, coming every 5 minutes.
The on-call OB doc did a test and concluded my water hadn't broken.
At 8:30am he was ready to send us home.
By the grace of God my midwife arrived.
Vicki agreed to keep us at the hospital and was setting up to move us into a delivery room with a tub.
Suddenly active labor started.
Contractions became much more intense and more frequent.
We were whisked into a delivery room at 9:45am.
Between contractions I closed my eyes and was overcome with a sense of peace.
Matt remained at my side, holding my hand.
At 10:25am our baby was born.
Matt announced:
It's a boy!
Daniel Thomas had arrived!
God gave us a son.
At last we could use the name we had chosen nearly 12 years ago.
At last we could use the name we had chosen nearly 12 years ago.
A name to honor Matt's brother Daniel.
And both of our fathers, Thomas Glafcke and Thomas Mescher.
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