Hi. My name is Leah(*) Doust and I was born at 4.03pm on Friday 9 November 2007 in the Birth Centre at the Royal Hospital for Women in Randwick. I am a big little girl – at 4.29kg I am not quite as big as my brothers Shane and Matthew were, but Mummy reckons I was still pretty big. Biggest brother Joshua gave me a big welcome when I got home.
Here are some of the photos taken of me during my first 24 hours.
This is me waving hello to my Daddy.
Looking content after a feed.
In my car capsule just after having arrived home for the first time.
(*) That’s Lee-ah rather than Lay-ah!
It is an Ashkenazi tradition to name children after a deceased relative to remember /her qualities. My great-great grandmother was called Leah.
In Judaism, Leah was a Matriarch, one of the four women and two wives of Jacob who brought forth the 12 tribes of the People of Israel. Name dictionaries often say that Leah means `weary'. The Hebrew really refers to Leah's eyes, for she wearied of being married because her younger sister was so vital and beautiful. According to some sources however, Leah was named in the language Chaldees rather than Hebrew, and the Assyrian use of that name means `mistress' of the manor or `ruler'. She was a princess or queen - precisely the role she played in the life of the Jewish people.
Here is a movie (about 1.8Mb) which includes some of Leah's first attempts to `talk'.