We’ve heard recently that some folks may not realize the correct pronunciation of M’s name. No worries, it’s hard to get it right when you haven’t heard us say it! The correct way to say her name is “MY-ruh.”

In fact, we intentionally avoided the spelling “Mira” to minimize the confusion, since we thought folks might say it “MIE-ruh” instead. But no worries…she’ll always have to spell her first and last names, so might as well get used to it now!

Z: “Move over boo-boo.”

R: “I’m boo-boo?”

Z: “You boo-boo!”

R: “No, I don’t boo-boo!”

Z: “OK.”

As I’ve blogged before, picking out the perfect name for your child is no easy task. At least, not for us. With R and Z, the last stage of the process was fairly straightforward: we went into the delivery room with a specific name picked out for each of the girls.

This time was different. Mind you, we didn’t “run out” of girls names this time. Just the opposite: for each child, we’ve started from scratch, ignoring the “leftover” names and poring through the thousands of names in multiple books and sites. But this time we decided to narrow the choices down then let “her” decide which name seemed to fit her best after she was born. So we went into Monday’s event with three options instead of one: Lyla, Lexi (short for Alexandra), and Bethany.

Unfortunately, come Monday night, none of those were “her” name! It’s hard to explain, but none of them seemed to fit her. Which made it impossible (or at least complicated and embarrassing) to send out the announcement! Therefore, early Tuesday morning dad sat at a Dunkin Donuts looking back through the other names that were once contenders. A few popped out (again)–one in particular–and I made a new list.

Visiting for the first time Tuesday morning, I handed the list to Rebecca. She was immediately drawn to M–the same name that had jumped out at me just an hour before as I munched my chocolate glazed! Eureka!
That’s the story, here’s the meaning:

• M means, “myrrh” (Greek), “Look!” (in Spanish), or “wonderful, peace, prosperous” (Slavic/Hindi).

• Michelle means “who resembles God” (Hebrew/French). We knew this was going to be the middle name (though we briefly considered Naomi, too)–it is the name of her aunt whom we love dearly.

I can only hope M likes her name (and appreciates–or at least understands–the work and thought that went into it) as much as we do!

After a long week of wondering when she’d finally make her debut, M finally decided to arrive with a bang yesterday. Around 5:15 pm, as I was on my way home from work, I finally got the highly-anticipated “911″ page. Calling Rebecca, I learned that she had woken up from a nap at 2:45 with two decent contractions. However, nothing else had happened until 4:45 when she was getting the girls up from their nap. I knew from her voice that they had kicked in hard at that point.

Rebecca immediately called our friends the Moore’s (who had helped us during the false alarm on Saturday). Tim and the boys got to the house 30 seconds ahead of me (around 5:30)…and thank goodness. Rebecca had hit transition (the hardest, scariest phase preceding delivery) almost immediately. We all left at the same time, the girls to the Moore’s, us to the hospital. Calling the doctor on the way, he concurred and told us he was on his way.

Rushing to the hospital (wanna know how fast a minivan can really go? oh, and I apologize to anyone who got “in my way” as I drove, coached, and applied acupressure simultaneously), the ER staff admitted her faster than I could say “she’s in labor” and we ran up to the delivery room. Although, at 5:30 Rebecca stated with no uncertainty “I’m getting an epidural,” the nurses assured her that option was off the table. Fortunately, she was doing great with her breathing and the pressure points took the edge off.

The doctor finally arrived (the nurses thought they would have to call in a sub) in the nick of time, changed into his scrubs painfully slowly, broke Rebecca’s water and 30 seconds later…M was born. From phone call to delivery: 1 hour, 21 minutes! I didn’t even have time to get out the camcorder or camera, so she’s the first one without any media of her entrance into the world.

Here are the stats:

• Time: Monday, September 17, 2007
• Hospital: Fair Oaks
• Weight: 7 lbs, 11 oz.
• Length: 19 3/4″

Open the September photo gallery to see more photos!