A New Kind of Love

 On February 2 at 3:04 am, my life changed. I became something I have never experienced in my amazing 32 years of life. I became an Aunt.

It was a long night, day, and then night again, for my sis-in-law Elham. My brother as well, but lets be real here, it was Ely that had it rough. Ely’s water broke in the middle of the night on February 1 and the contractions immediately were only 4 minutes apart. They headed for the hospital straight away. Things were moving so fast and by 2pm she was at 8.5 cm dilated. We were convinced they were having a February 1^st baby. But then everything stopped. She stopped dilating for hours. At 7pm, the doctors said they were giving it an hour then would probably have to preform a caesarian. When I heard the news, I called on my helpers up above (I got a few;) and got them on it. It worked. By midnight she was dilated to the full 10cm and ready to push!

After pushing for over an hour, exhausted and in much pain, the doctors decided a caesarian was needed. After all her efforts just to be told it wasn’t going to work. Ely & Jason were disappointed but at this point they just wanted their baby out safely and as quickly as possible.

After over 24 hours of labour, Jason & Elham’s son was born weighing 6 pounds 6 ounces, healthy and strong. They named him Rowan. I am going to brag a bit as I came up with this name. Jason, Ely & I were out for dinner and they were telling me some of their name choices. It wasn’t easy finding a name that would work in both English and Farsi and not be butchered when used in French either. I thought it would be great if they could incorporate our late father, Robert, first initial, so I played around with that. I blurted out Rowan and they immediately liked it. As soon as we got home, Ely Googled it’s meaning in Farsi. It means ‘strong’. The name stuck! They haven’t decided about middle names as my brother, (deep breathe…) Jason Robert William Bruce Davidson, thinks middle names are a little excessive.

I met little Rowan 28 hours after he was born. Never had I seen a baby so young, or so small. I thought I would be so nervous to hold him but somehow I just knew what to do. The love was instant. My previous experience with newborns is very little and I never felt very comfortable. This was not the case. Within the first few hours I was actually able to soothe him when he cried, helped give him his first bath and earned my ‘Aunty’ title by changing my first dirty diaper. I loved it all!

Jason and Ely brought Rowan home for the first time today. Ely is recovering well and looking forward to sleeping in her own bed (when she gets to sleep that is:).  Rowan seems to like his new home but really, wherever mommy is is just fine for him.

I just said my goodbye’s and it was quite hard to leave. As I know in a month from now, when I am down next, my little nephew will have experienced a lifetime of changes. Changes I am going to miss out on. However, the bond I experienced this weekend, one like no other, won’t be disrupted in a month. This bond is for life.

I’ll see you soon, my little Rowan.