Lina Joan

On Sunday, July 13, 2008 we welcomed Lina Joan into the world. She weighed 4.25 kg (9.3lbs), and was 54cm (21 1/4") long. I am happy to say I had another natural delivery in Turkey, and labored at home before going to the hospital. I wouldn't say the second one was easier, but I did have more focus and patience, and less stress because I stayed home as long as I could. By the time we got to the hospital (5 minutes away), I delivered Lina Joan within an hour of checking in. Happy daddy Devrim was able to attend the birth again, and I had the angelic assistance of Damaris at the end while I was in transition and tolerating hospital protocol. So now there are two TWO babies we can call our own -- Evren Toprak is 21 months and transitioning into being a big brother really well... he is fascinated by Lina Joan.

Lina's name comes from two places. The first is from a dream I had when I was 3 months pregnant and the baby told me her name, Ina. Inspired by the name and the significance of being spoken to in the dream, I wrote a story called Ina is Born. After working on the story, I felt I couldn't name the baby Ina because I had created a character that took on a life of its own. After some thought, Lina became our name of choice because of its simplicity, and relation to the dream. Lina, according to several sources, comes from Spanish, Italian, and Arabic, where in Arabic it means tender and light. Joan was my mother's first name, and I feel so proud that I can name my daughter after her. I appreciate my family being open to the use of her name -- it is very special to me and I wouldn't have named her that if I felt anyone would be uncomfortable by it. It is just one of many ways to pass on family history, especially because as a baby girl, she has roots in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

Thanks to everyone for the nice email -- hopefully I'll be able to reply to everyone soon!