Submitted by Providence Swedish
The first baby of 2024 born at Providence St. Peter Hospital came into the world at just 48 minutes into the year. Freya Jeanne Meisling weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces and was 19 inches long.
Freya is the daughter of Julianna and Zach Meisling of Olympia. She is the first child of the couple, who has been married for a year and three months. They came to the hospital on New Year’s Eve. What started as a cautionary check up on the baby steadily progressing to being admitted and delivering in a span of 15 hours. Freya was brought into the world by Dr. Anita Chin of Providence Swedish Olympia Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Julianna’s original due date was Jan. 5, but because of the baby’s original positioning, they were told they may need to have a C-section and one was scheduled for Jan. 3. The baby turned a few days ago, and before the couple could get in to see their physician, contractions started, so they came to the hospital Dec. 31.
“We were pretty anxious, but staff has been amazing and were able to relieve any anxiety we had,” said the proud father on New Year’s Day. “The stay has been wonderful. We couldn’t be happier.”
The couple, who are in their 20s, are involved in camp ministry and met in the summer of 2021 in Michigan. They got engaged and married in 2022. In September, Zach took a job at Black Lake Bible Camp and they moved to Washington.
“We both feel called to do this type of work and figured we’d go where we were called and this opportunity came up,” he said.
When the couple started talking about names, Zach told Julianna about the name Freya, and how since high school that name, for no particular reason, had stuck with him. Julianna loved the name, so they decided if they ever had a daughter that would be the name. Freya’s middle name of Jeanne was chosen in remembrance of her great-grandmother, Jeanne Meisling.
They have no family yet in Washington, so the trio are now just looking forward to building their lives together. Julianna and Zach say they hope to have more children down the road, but no specific plans for how many or when.
“Right now, we just feel blessed with this family and the opportunity in front of us,” Zach said. “We’re looking forward to this adventure.”
The family was given a goodie-package put together by the caregivers in the St. Peter Family Birth Center.
The second baby of the year at St. Peter came 6:47 a.m. There were 1,978 babies born at Providence St. Peter Hospital in 2023; 2,132 in 2022; 2,156 in 2021; 2,030 in 2020; 2,201 in 2019; and 2,297 in 2018.
For more information about the Providence St. Peter Family Birth Center, see this VIDEO.
