Azariah Joseph

As I sit and gaze at this little wonder that is my youngest son I am in such awe.  It has been such an incredible journey to get him here.  His birth day, 10-20-2010, was one of the most beautifully breathtaking days I have known.  We went to the Birth House at around 10:30 and we enjoyed taking a walk under a heavenly blue sky in the warm sunshine surrounded by beautiful fall colors.  My labor picked up and active labor started around 5:45 and shortly thereafter, at 6:29 p.m. Azariah Joseph was born.  We were blessed to have my good friend Lynne with us and our wonderful midwife, Constance was incredible! As was Stacy, the midwife in training, who had journeyed with us for the last couple months of our pregnancy.  The most amazing person on this unbelievable day was my husband.  Kyle was incredible.  We laughed that he was more like a coat rack because during contractions I would literally hang on him.  I am still not sure how I got so lucky...I married the most WONDERFUL man on the face of this earth!  I really did have a great team surrounding me and it really made the experience that much sweeter.  Our labor and delivery was smooth and without complication.  We were able to do a water birth and though the water didn't provide relief like I thought it would (which might have something to do with the intensity of the short time frame of active labor) I am glad we did it.
Finding a name proved to be more challenging than we anticipated it to be.  Azariah is a biblical name that I first came across while doing a study on Daniel in the bible.  Two days before Azariah was born Kyle was on a website looking for naming inspiration.  He left that page open on the computer screen and the next day I saw Azariah on that list. I mentioned the name to Kyle but Kyle didn't think much of the name at the time.  That evening (the day before Azariah was born) we had an appointment with our midwife and on the drive up to Olympia I mentioned the name again.  Kyle said it was kind of growing on him...and we discussed other names but still no idea at this point what we would name our precious babe.  That night as we lay in bed Kyle asked our little guy what he thought his name should be.  He gave him three choices.  The first name, Elijah.  Azariah was completely still.  The second name, Maddox.  Azariah was completely still.  The third name, Azariah.  Our little guy responded with some vigorous  movements.  Hmmm.  Asked him a second time, "You like Azariah? Is that your name?" Again the little one kicked, kicked, kicked.  I thought to myself...I think he likes it!  Kyle and I didn't talk much about it at that point.  I don't remember talking about the name again until about a half an hour or so after he was born when Kyle told me that three times already he had wanted to call him Azariah.  FINALLY! Our baby boy had a name! Azariah Joseph Fletcher!
Many of the pictures you see in the slide show were taken by my good friend, Lynne. We were blessed to have her with us...every step of the way. From the very beginning in trying to get pregnant to the moment Azariah took his very first breath. It means so very much to me that she was with us and able to experience the most precious of moments in this journey.  (Not to mention the fact that she was able to capture some AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL memories with her camera!)
In the days that have followed I have fallen more and more in love with this precious baby boy God has blessed us with and the life that He has given me. There is ever more meaning to Praise God from whom all blessings flow...I will be praising God all my life long for these beautiful gifts.