Ten, Nine, Eight...

We're in the single digits in the countdown to Clio's due date! We've pretty much settled on her name, and I've talked to enough people about it that it doesn't seem like a secret anymore, so even though we aren't 100% I decided to blog about it.

At first we felt like keeping the name to ourselves until the last minute, or not deciding until the last minute, because for some reason we thought we could prevent what happened with the name "Lucy" from happening again. But, we realized that because we'll see Clio right away after her birth and everyone will be asking us her name, we really can't hold off until we get custody to reveal it. In other words, if this adoption falls through, the name falls through with it and there's no way to protect it, unless the birth parents change their minds before the birth, which is unlikely I think.

So, here it is: Evelyn "Evie" Beatrix

Evelyn is J's grandma's name, as I blogged about in August, and she went by "Evie," too. It is pronounced with a soft "e" like the beginning of "Evelyn," not a hard "e" like the name "Eve." We debated back and forth about whether to spell her name "Evie" or "Evy" but decided we like "Evie" better.

Evelyn peaked in popularity this century in 1915, when it was #10 on the SSA list. It began declining in popularity in the 1930's but since 2002 has been in the top 100 and is currently #55. Historically, it has been a boy's name in the Hebrew and French traditions, but is a girl's name in the Celtic and English traditions and means "light" (Celtic meaning) "life" (English meaning) "desired" or "pleasant" (German meanings).

("Lucy" also meant "light")

I've blogged about this before, but "Beatrix" means "bringer of joy."

We've also made a decision about feeding, which I also blogged about in August. We've decided to go with option #1 and feed her formula and donated breast milk from a bottle, using nursing for bonding. After giving it way too much thought and discussing it ad nauseum with friends, we decided that since I can't take the medicine, the hassle of using the Lact-Aid/SNS is just not worth the tiny amount of milk I might produce, especially once I researched using donated breast milk and found some wonderful local women who are offering us (free) frozen and fresh breast milk. It probably won't be enough to feed her breast milk exclusively, unless we would fork over shipping costs to receive donations from outside our local area, but it will be wonderful to know that she is getting the special fats and antibodies, etc., that breast milk provides.

Hopefully, the next post will be about us heading to the hospital? I am getting antsy, just like a 38-almost-39-week-pregnant woman who just wants to have the baby already.