Gabriel Ash Scholar Adair was born on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 at 9:25 pm in Los Angeles, Calif. He weighed 8 lbs 0 ounces at birth and was 19 inches long.
The labor and delivery was just under 24 hours, starting Monday night. Gabriel arrived with a full head of hair, Shosho’s lips and Ben’s feet.
Upon his arrival, Shosho immediately started nursing and caring for our newborn son. In the minutes after Gabriel’s birth, she held our son on her chest and sang his name to him over and over.
Ben, who as late as last weekend was wondering if he could get through his whole life without changing a single diaper, was as shocked as any new father to find that he actually enjoys cleaning his son’s bum.
The names come from a number of sources, each of importance to Ben and Shosho.
“Gabriel” is a Hebrew name that means “God is my strength.” It is also long for Riel, as in Louis Riel, a Métis hero of the Canadian prairies where Shosho grew up.
“Ash” is the name of a tall tree found around the world and it’s our hope our son will grow tall, strong and also cover most of the globe over his life. “Ash” also is a reminder of permanence and impermanence in and of this world.
“Scholar” is Shosho’s last name.
“Adair” is Ben’s and Gabriel’s last name.
We are calling him “Gabriel.”
We arrived home from the hospital the Thursday after his birth and Gabriel did wonderfully on his first night. Not surprisingly, Laika got two quick licks right on his head before we could intervene.
videos are here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/benadair
pix are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shosho13/
