Vernon, My Boy

When my wife got pregnant the first time, we decided that we would name the baby Mary Clare if she were a girl, in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of St. Clare of Assisi. If it were a boy, we would name him Vernon Gabriel. Vernon was my personal choice and Gabriel was taken from Archangel Gabriel. So, after nine months of waiting, our firstborn was delivered and it was Mary Clare.

Since my wife gave birth by caesarian section, we had to wait for at least two years before she could get preggy again to give her body ample time to fully recuperate. So when Clare reached two years old, we worked on our second baby. And God blessed us with another child. I thought I would be able to use already the reserved name Vernon Gabriel but the xx chromosomes still lorded it over.

My wife and I agreed that all our baby girls would have Mary as their first name. So for our second child, it was another Mary. The second name Camille was given by, would you believe, Clare. So, my Vernon would still have to wait some more years.

However, when Camille was born, my wife did not want to have another child anymore because of the trauma she suffered from when she learned through an ultrasound that the baby she was carrying had cleft palate and bilateral cleft lip.

I understood her anxiety so I cooperated with her by avoiding another pregnancy using a combination of contraceptive methods. We would have wanted to use only the natural method as prescribed by the Catholic Church but since she had an irregular menstruation cycle, we could not determine when she was fertile or not. To make sure that she was safe, we would schedule our intimate moments five days after her menstruation but not beyond 10 days. That, in effect was our natural method.

However, on days that I was ready for the great battle and she was not sure if the ground was fertile or not, we had to resort to withdrawal (forgive us, Father, for we have sinned). So, until Camille reached seven, my wife and I were successful in our birth control plan. But there was one time that I got so carried away in our skyrocketing adventure that I intended not to withdraw from the battle thinking it was her safe period. But she missed her period. Yet I was not nervous at first because we were already accustomed to her missing her period for almost two months and it would always turn out that she was not pregnant.

But after more than two months and she still had no regular visitor, that was the time I decided to buy a pregnancy test kit for her. On the day that she tested her urine, I was in a computer shop and when I got her text message informing me that it was positive, I went home hurriedly. As I rushed toward home, I was praying to God that it be a boy this time. But it was not yet time (and never would be) for me to have a baby boy because another girl was born in the family by the name of Mary Charmaine. This time, my wife took the privilege of giving her that name.

And my Vernon Gabriel? He was never meant to be the baby boy that I longed for. I will just reserve the name for one of my future grandchildren if my own children will give me the privilege to suggest a name for their would-be baby boy. For now, Vernon will just be the baby brother that my three daughters never had and the son that I and my wife never had, too.

But then, I'm more than happy with and grateful  for my three girls. The Lord has entrusted them to us and we are thankful for being given the opportunity to be parents to these wonderful kids.