Introducing Job

Our sweet baby boy was born Wednesday night (via emergency c-section) at Tacoma General Hospital and we transferred to Seattle Children's Hospital this morning. He has had a steady stream of assessments that have confirmed his diagnosis of hypoplastic left heart syndrome (meaning that the left ventricle of his heart is essentially non-existent and he needs open heart surgery to reconfigure his heart). He does not have additional defects (as is common with HLHS kids) and has been determined eligible for surgery, which has been scheduled for Monday morning. I have been posting to a blog and Facebook group, both of which you are welcome to visit/subscribe to should you desire to follow along on this long journey with us.

Job Simon Manuel Parkinson
9:26pm, April 6th 2016
7lbs, 19 inches

We chose the name "Job" because we want our son to mirror the faith in God's sovereignty that the Biblical Job displayed throughout his suffering (and because of the Washington state history tie in to Job Carr - I spent my pre-motherhood days researching and writing about PNW and Tacoma history, so such names have been particularly attractive to me). "Simon" was Ezra's choice for a middle name, but we don't know how he thought of it! "Manuel" is the name of Seth's mother's father. (Ezra and Isaac's names were also chosen after OT Biblical figures and Washington state historical figures, with middle names of their grandfathers). We (and certainly the boys) will likely continue to call him "Frightful" at least part of the time ("Frightful" is the name of a falcon in one of Ezra's favorite books and he almost immediately chose it as his brother's name when we told him about the pregnancy).

Our first day at SCH has been absolutely wonderful, particularly because Ezra and Isaac got to meet their baby brother. AND even hold him! We weren't expecting them to be able to do either (because of NICU standards to protect against the flu season), so this was just about the sweetest moment I could have even hoped for.

We have had so many blessings bestowed upon us already, and your encouragement and prayers have been one of these blessings. Thank you!