I’m still alive! I’m here and well! I have a minute because I’m here attached to a breast pump, which seems to be my fate in life for the next while… at least until the babies come home (and then, hopefully, I’ll just be attached to them forever). Moo. There are so many overwhelming details of the last few days that I can’t possibly summarize them except to say, “Wow.” It is utterly (udderly?) amazing to be thinking of my three babies with actual names and faces now. They are actual little people, not just tiny little parasites anymore!
What’s that you say? Did I mention… names?
Well, the girls have names. Officially even. Our beautiful boy has part of a name, but we’re not disclosing it quite yet. This won’t make sense to some of you and others of you are saying, “well, of course not!” So let me explain. Jewish boys are given their names officially at their bris (circumcision), which generally speaking is 8 days after birth, or as soon as medically possible after that if medical reasons preclude a bris at 8 days. For families giving their children very different English and Hebrew names, sometimes they still immediately name their boys with an English name, but halachically (that is, according to Jewish law), a child’s “official” name is the one bestowed upon him at his bris. Does that make any sense? In our case, we’re not giving a completely different English name, so we’re not telling. Yet.
Girls are a different story. Girls can be named in the synagogue as early as the next time the Torah is read in the morning services. Torah is read on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Even better, the girls don’t have to be present to be given their names… nor does the mother. The father simply announces the name in a special bracha (blessing/prayer) before a portion of the Torah is read. So the girls could have been named as early as Thursday, and they would have been except that I had a miserable, horrible, awful night Wednesday night/Thursday morning and ended up calling my husband in hysterical tears at 6am on Thursday and he came to the hospital to be with me and to speak with a nurse manager instead. That’s part of the longer delivery and post-partum story which I’ll put together in the next few days, but is relevant here only as explanation for why the girls didn’t get named on Thursday, even though we did pick their names (FINALLY! Seriously, we were entirely nameless until the night before the surgery). So they didn’t receive their names until Saturday, which was, conveniently, also Yom Kippur. The holiest day on the Jewish calendar. An auspicious day, to say the least, to receive your name.
So yes, our girls have names. Have I teased you long enough?
Our beautiful Baby C, our tiny one, currently weighing in at two and a half pounds, is Avigayil (Abigail) Nechama. We’ll call her Abby. Avigayil, or Abigail, means My Father’s Joy and Nechama means Comfort. She may have caused all the trouble that led us to having to deliver quickly, but she is her father’s joy and comfort … trust me… you should see him with her. They are amazing together. I know some of you are wondering how to pronounce Nechama, and it’s hard to spell phonetically, but I’ll tell you that the “ch” is pronounced like the “ch” in “Loch Ness Monster”, not like the “ch” in “charm”. It’s a Hebrew name.
And our gorgeous baby B, our biggest baby right now at three and a half pounds, is Eliana Miriam. We’ll call her Ellie. Eliana means My God has Answered. As you know, we prayed for a child. I, specifically, prayed for a singleton. God answered “No” to my request for a singleton… in triplicate. He was right. I was wrong. They are so worth it. Every last miserable second of this pregnancy was worth these precious angels. My God did, indeed, answer every one of my prayers with these beautiful, perfect babies. We chose the middle name “Miriam” less for the meaning and more because she is a strong and beautiful Biblical character, just as we know that our Ellie is strong and beautiful. Look what she’s already accomplished, after all.
And our beautiful boy will receive his name when he is ready, but for now I’ll call him Smiley, because he smiles all the time, and because he brings smiles to our faces every day.
I cannot begin to tell each of you how much your kind words and thoughts have meant to me. Shelby and Desiree came to visit me before I delivered when I was in the hospital and came bearing gifts on behalf of the DC infertility blogging crew, which was absolutely amazing of them. I am overwhelmed with the love and support which has come from each and every one of you, local and far, anonymous and named. I’ve written back to some of you, but not others, which has been mostly a function of time and energy (and availability of email addresses), not a function of how much your words have affected me. I love each and every one of you. I cried and cried when I saw Jessica’s slide show (my husband downloaded it for me so I could see it in the hospital and I called her bawling) and I saw that many of you cried right along with me. I’m still crying just thinking of it.
There is a lot more to tell and many more pictures to post, but I’m done pumping (MOO!) and I’m exhausted (go figure), so those things will have to wait for another free moment (don’t worry… I pump a LOT). I love you guys. Thank you. Really. For everything.
ChezPerky 