When I got back from the recovery room, I couldn't feel my legs still, which was weird but I was mostly OK with it. Todd was there. Our new daughter had gotten checked out, while Daddy watched. He told me he didn't go far as I had made him promise to make sure she was fine and if she wasn't...that he'd get her to the neonatal unit in Syracuse as fast as possible.
"I wanted to check on you, but I knew if that were the moment that something came up and I missed it, you'd kill me," he said.
And there was our daughter. All dark hair, little stork bite on her forehead, sleepy and beautiful. I'm a little hazy on that afternoon now. They had given me some pain medication, but a small amount as I didn't want a bad reaction like the one I had had to morphine after having my thyroid removed. I told Todd he couldn't leave until our daughter had a name. But I had decided I did want her nickname to be Ellie and I would leave him the final choice of what her formal name would be. The fact that the doctor in the recovery room was Dr. Ellie was a sign to me, though I'm not usually a believer in such things, it seemed right. Todd had been saying she'd tell us her name when we met her. Seemed like kismet.
We had tossed around Allison, Elaina, Elizabeth and Eleanor among others. But she didn't seem like an Allison or an Elaina. He narrowed it to Elizabeth and Eleanor and then did some googling. There had been several members of royalty in the last 500 years or so named Eleanor Butler. That may have sealed the deal for Todd. We felt like she had an old soul. And we wanted her middle name to be Bernice, after Todd's mother, who by all accounts was a wonderful woman.
Eleanor Bernice Butler seemed right. He made it official by sending it out in a text message to those closest to us.
The moment that sticks out that afternoon was having little Ellie snuggle right on my chest, half curled up. Right where my heart is. She was clearly very content there.
"That's what she's used to," Todd observed. And we both kind of napped.
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Glad everything worked out and you are all back home. Can't believe you've had time to write your blog!!! Hope everything is going well for all of you!
ReplyDeleteShe does seem to be a snuggler. Those are the best kind!! Hope she is still sleeping a lot for you....at least long enough for you to heal.
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