Scare in the family, second ultrasound and the game of baby naming

My husband had to go out of town for work, and while he was 4 hours away he called me one night and I could tell in his voice that something was wrong.

His younger brother was in the Emergency Room having a heart attack.

Heart attacks are scary. Period. But for a man in his early 20's? Wow.

I laid in bed rubbing my belly praying to God that everything would be okay. I prayed for my brother in law, my husband, and the entire family.

I took Colin to school the next morning and went straight to the hospital. I sat there with Mark's brother as long as I could until it was time to pick up Colin from aftercare. I watched the nurses come and go, I heard the statistics of men his age having heart attacks and the survival rates, I saw the many sticky pads plastered across his chest.

Please Lord, do not do this to our family.

I stayed with him as much as I could while Colin was the school the next few days. Mark was so anxious to get home.... after all his job their entire lives has been to protect his little brother and he was stuck in a place where he couldn't come to the rescue. My husband, like most men, is a "fixer". This was something he couldn't fix.

By God's grace my brother in law was released from the hospital and as soon as Mark came home we went  to visit him. The sense of relief when he saw his brother living and walking was so obvious on his face, and I prayed that this was a one and only occurence.

We went a few days later for our second ultrasound. Gabby's heart was beating even stronger and they told me that my estimated due date was October 21st, 2011. I found that such a coincidence. Colin was born two days after my birthday, and now my second child would be due on my little brother's birthday. A very blessed day, indeed.

I felt in the clear. The chances of miscarriage drastically go down after hearing the baby's heartbeat.... and now we were lucky enough to hear it twice!

The "art" of baby naming is a special one. Think of the responsibility! What a task.... giving someone a name that they will carry with them forever. Is it feminine enough, too feminine? Masculine enough, too masculine? Do the initals stand for anything that they could be made fun of later? Gabrielle wasn't always named Gabrielle. In fact, the name we had chosen wasn't even close. Gabrielle wasn't even on our "potential" or  "backup" lists. I'll explain how we came up with her name later. It's a very special story with so much meaning and I can't wait to share it with all of you.

Mark's mom invited us to dinner the night of the ultrasound... a dinner to "celebrate life". A dinner to celebrate our baby growing inside of my womb and the health of my brother in law after battling a heart attack and myocarditis. We surely had much to celebrate.

The dinner was fabulous, but the company, as always with family, was spectacular.

We were so thankful for our blessings this day.

"There's baby... in his/her little house, with their best friend the fetal pole. "