Want to hear a great story? One that’ll really make you think? Then read on…

I’ve mentioned my father-in-law in a previous post and my last post about naming practices prompted me to share the story behind the birth of my son. My father-in-law, Bill Wallis, was a really great man. A smart business man, a loving husband, a doting father and grandfather, a loyal son and brother and a true friend. When he passed away at 58 from skin cancer, it was an enormous loss for all that knew him. Even before I was pregnant with my son, I knew he would be named for him.

But “Bill”, as he was known, was actually Charles William and my brothers-in-law had already used both Charles and William. So we decided to go with his initials C.W.W. (See my last post for an explanation of this tradition.) So our little C.W., as we fondly called him before we decided on the actual names, was due to arrive in mid August. A lovely time to be 9 months pregnant in the sweltering humidity of St. Louis.

Throughout the pregnancy there was a lot of talk about how proud Bill would’ve been to have his grandchildren carry on his name. There was also sadness around the fact that he was not with us to experience his first son having his first son.

Although we think of Bill often, there are certain times of the year that he’s in the forefront of our minds: his birthday, his yahrzeit (the anniversary of his death) and his wedding anniversary to name a few.

On July 18^th, I had my 36 week check up and knowing I was going to have a repeat c- section, I asked my doctor what he thought about doing it that day. I was extraordinarily uncomfortable (I’m not very good at being pregnant) and I had already gained half my body weight (no joke). Plus, we knew from previous exams and sonograms that the baby was a healthy weight. I begged. See, July 18^th was my father-in-law’s birthday, and he was going to be named for him. Wouldn’t that be special? Of course my doctor agreed that it would, but he was not about to perform an elective c-section at 36 weeks. So, he left it in God’s hands.

So I went about my day, on July 18^th, thinking about the impending arrival of my son and my father-in-law who would’ve been 65 that day. As the day went on I started feeling sick and having some light contractions. By 10:00 that night I was thinking I’d better get to hospital just in case I was labor. Just in case this baby was going to come on his own on this very special date.

At the hospital, the monitors did show that I was in labor. But being that I was still 4 weeks early, the nurses were saying that my doctor might choose to stop the contractions since I wasn’t in active labor and my water hadn’t broken. And, as the debate went on about what to do with me, my water did break. And the decision was made for us. This baby was going to share Bill’s birthday.

So depending on what you believe, the stars aligned, God granted us this gift, or maybe even Bill himself had something to do with it. My beautiful, healthy son came into this world at 11:11 P.M. on July 18^th. On my father-in-law’s birthday. There you have it. Interpret it any way you like.

My son will forever share this date with the amazing man that he is named for. If that’s not a blessing, I don’t know what is.