Tuesday, February 26, 2008

What's in a Name?

Would a Catherine by any other name still sound as sweet?

We've had a slight change in plans regarding Amelia's name. She's still going to be Amelia--we're totally sure of that--but her middle name is now going to be Catherine. I always thought I would go along with the old family tradition (explained below) while I was growing up, but then for some reason recently I thought "my daughter should have her own name...not my name." But since I still think the tradition is pretty cool and now I'm officially having a daughter, I've decided to get over it and just go with it.

me - Catherine Ann
my mom - Mary Catherine
her mom - Catherine Frances
her mom - (Florence Mary, but she had a super cool nickname of "Money")
her mom - Catherine Ann

So there's a tradition of using Catherine for alternating first name/middle name that goes back quite a ways. Who am I to bust up a nice tradition? (I don't know what happened with Money's name, but like I said...her name turned out to be super cool so who cares?)

Therefore, our daughter-on-the-way will be called Amelia Catherine to honor this tradition. No offense to the memory of one of my other late great-grandmas, Juliette. I still love her name too!
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Why yes, my family is Catholic...why do you ask?
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To answer Jess' question, yes I do hope to have a VBAC instead of a C-section this time. My midwives inform me that I'm a prime candidate for one since the reason for the C-section last time wasn't lack of progression or any difficulty on my part, but was fetal distress instead. Jackson had swallowed meconium, had the umbilical cord around his neck and was having severe heart decels with each contraction...we had to go to surgery.

While I hope and plan to have a VBAC, I am open to a repeat C-section for Amelia since I now know that it wasn't so bad after all (Jackson did great and I was fully recovered in three weeks instead of the prescribed six weeks). I have no preconceived ideas about how her birth should go, other than ending in a healthy baby and a healthy mom. If that involves surgery, so be it!

(No, not too nosey!) :)

10 comments:

TinkingBell said...

Lovely name - beautiful girl!!!!

Just tagged you for the 7 weird things about you meme - have fun!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing about your birth plans! I'm a birth junkie - had to become a doula because I needed a fix without having more of my own, haha.

Cool story about Amelia's "new" middle name! Family names are awesome.

LaVerna said...

How wonderful!A girl!I was so hoping to get to knit something pink.Amelia is a gorgeous name.SO happy for you guys.

christina said...

so in following the tradition-- amelia will have to name her daughter catherine, right?

thursday said...

Well I like the name Amelia, and I think Catherine is a lovely name, too. Lucky you, already having a name this early on! We'd settled on a girl's name already too, but unfortunately have NO CLUE what to name a boy. And yep, ours is a boy.

Melissa Perreault said...

That is a lovely name Catherine. If your daughter is blessed to be at all like her mom then she will be a lovely woman indeed.

Lisa Anne said...

Oh! A baby girl, I just knew I had to buy all that pink yarn at Purl for a reason. Amelia is totally excited that you are naming your new baby Amelia, her only advice to Baby Amelia is, don't let anyone call her "Amelia Bedelia". She thinks those books have given all future Amelia's a bad rap. Your Amelia is really beautiful, just look at that profile.

Becca said...

I really like Amelia Juliette, but Amelia Catherine is a downright gorgeous name. Lyrical and lovely...like your daughter already is! Hope to see you Friday at the Bell! :D Becca

Heide said...

Oh heck, maybe you could throw tradition for a loop and use all three names. They're all lovely and the family tradition is really cool.

Unknown said...

Yay! So exciting!!!
Amelia is beautiful - congratulations on finding out!!
I taped the MS show on Monday and kept rewinding to try and find you.
What a great trip to NYC!