Sweet Simeon
A birth story and a bonus name explanation
It’s been a minute, friends.
If I’m being honest, my desire and inspiration to write has been pretty minimal for quite a while. I’m sure a lack of practice adds to the lack of interest and to the fear being vulnerable. I also wrestle with the idea of adding noise and distraction to all of the important news and stories and art already available to us in these spaces — and, of course, there’s a hearty dose of comparison and imposter syndrome sprinkled in there, too.
Nevertheless, here I am, announcing the addition of another babe to our cozy little family: Simeon Arthur.
How about a good, old fashioned birth story, shall we?
In typical baby Rose fashion, Simeon arrived after his due date, but this time only four days past! And, you won’t believe this (or rather I didn’t believe it), his labor started on its own!
I had been having contractions since early July, which was already new to me as I’d never had anything outside of an induction (not even a Braxton Hicks). They were confirmed as actual contractions during a visit to L&D after tripping on the sidewalk picking our eldest up from Vacation Bible School and landing straight on my belly. I was scrapped up and bruised, but overall ok, and after 24 hours of observation, it was confirmed that baby was fine (praise God).
Exactly two weeks later, I was in the same triage room with the same nurse for a potential deceleration of baby’s heart rate seen on the stress test at my regular check up (apparently you need those once you’re geriatric). Once again, it was confirmed baby was fine, but I was definitely tempted to ask them to just go ahead and induce me right then and there because, at almost 39 weeks pregnant, I was over it.
Fast forward another two weeks, and I woke up at 3 am to stronger contractions than I’d been experiencing. They had been noticeable for the last month, but never strong enough to wake me, so I had a feeling these ones might be different. I re-downloaded the contraction counting app I hadn’t thought about since my first pregnancy and Googled the “rules” for spacing, timing, etc. to determine when it was time to head to the hospital. After just under an hour of monitoring and the app telling me three times that it was go time, I decided I should call my mom who lives 40 minutes away, just to be safe. After that I woke up M and he packed his hospital bag while I made sure mine had everything I needed.
Mom arrived and we headed to the hospital. We got there just after 5 am and were taken to the triage wing I’d become familiar with over the last month, this time in a different room. My contractions had started to slow down at the end of our drive in, so I was nervous it was all a false alarm and we’d be sent home. A midwife came in to check on things and see if I was dilated, and to my utter delight, I was 5 centimeters! My other three deliveries began when I was “half a centimeter,” which I always took to be a generous rounding up by healthcare professionals who wanted to give me a sliver of hope at the beginning of labor.
A whole 5 centimeters this time?! Even if I needed to head home, I was ridiculously excited.
Lucky for me, I was able to be admitted despite the slowing down of contractions. However, the progress remained stalled, so at 10am, they started me on a drip of the lowest dose of Pitocin.
At 11:30 I was ready for my epidural, and once it was in, I was feeling great.
My midwife checked me at 12:45 and I was 8 centimeters. Still on the lowest dose of Pitocin, we were making progress! We decided to manually break my water after that check which brought me back to 7 centimeters dilated because the pressure from the bag was gone.
I didn’t note the timing for the next cervical check, but remember there being another where I was at 9 centimeters or just over 9. Shortly after that, my midwife came in and asked if I had the urge to push at all. I told her I didn’t, and she said to let them know as soon as I did.
I didn’t think anything of it then, but looking back I realize I’d never before been asked if I needed to push (usually it was me asking because I felt like I needed to poop). And, like I mentioned, I don’t think I was at 10 centimeters yet. I do know they never checked my cervix past that announcement of 9ish centimeters, and I do remember thinking that was odd, but I wasn’t worried at all.
Not too long after that, my midwife came in and calmly declared it was time to have this baby. So, at 2:33 pm, she had me start pushing. Prior to this birth, I had only pushed on my back, but she had me try on all fours, and then on my side, and then we finished on my back with baby being born at 2:45 pm. (I know that is not a long time compared to many deliveries, but my previous two babes had been out in less than 5 minutes, P skipped the crowning stage and literally had to be caught by the midwife.)
And after less than 12 hrs of labor, our sweet baby boy was in our arms - all 9lbs 10oz of him!
Once he was safely delivered, my midwife let me know that there had been decelerations on baby’s monitor, which is why we needed him out. It turns out, his umbilical cord was wrapped pretty tight around his neck and she let me know that this was one of five times she’s ever had to cut the cord by the perineum (she’s had a long career as a midwife and said normally can wiggle baby out of the wrap). I am so thankful that she was my midwife for this birth a) because she is my actual midwife, so we already had an established relationship, and b) her calm, but direct demeanor was exactly what I needed. I could tell something was different about this delivery, but I was never worried. And for that peace, I am so incredibly grateful.
Almost six months later and we still can’t get over what a gift Simeon is to our family. He’s the spitting image of Matthew (only with brown eyes), curiously strong like Dottie, and just as smiley and sweet as Patrick.
The name Simeon is one I’d put on a list of names I thought were fine, but didn’t see us ever using. I didn’t dislike it, but I also didn’t anticipate ever using it. Then, at the vigil for Candlemas last year, I felt God nudging me to consider it. Still not a huge fan, I made note of the feeling, but tucked it away. After all, we didn’t even know if we were having a boy or girl. Then for Lent, Michael and I decided to commit to praying Night Prayer daily, a practice that was a large part of my faith in college, and as I recited the Canticle of Simeon, I felt that nudge from God again.
“What do you think about the middle name Simeon?” I asked M after we had prayed one evening early in Lent. I proceeded to tell him how the name had been coming in prayer and the significance of it in my own faith journey.
“I love it.” He proceeded to quote Luke’s Gospel about Simeon being a righteous man, which was surprising because, while very faithful, M is not the type to quote Scripture on a dime. (I’m typically the Bible nerd in the family.) “I actually really like it for a first name.” This was another surprising turn in the conversation as, while agreeable to names I have suggested for our kids, he has never had a strong stance about our babies’ names (with the exception of 1 or 2 vetos).
“. . . Ok. I’ll add it to the list.” It was not how I had seen the conversation going. And honestly, I was still not sold on the name. So, like any millennial, I turned to Google right then and there. And the first thing that came up was a beautiful image of Simeon with baby Jesus. And then there was another. And another. And now my personal favorite, by Rembrandt, is framed and ready to hang in the nursery (once it’s finally finished).
His name was finally settled when we chose the middle name to go with it. I was still trying to use Simeon as a middle name (because I am nothing if not stubborn) and suggested Arthur Simeon as an option. After playing around with the top names on our list, we simply flipped it to Simeon Arthur and that was it. We had his name.
The name Arthur means “bear” and my grandpa’s nickname for me growing up was Sar-bear, so it would be an indirect nod to his memory and a way to use a nickname I thought was cute: Bear. One of my qualms with Simeon was that it didn’t really have a nickname (or at least one I liked), but using Arthur as a middle name means we can (and do) call our newest love Little Bear, Baby Bear, and just Bear.