The Girl Who Had No Name for a Week

This is the long-awaited post! I wrapped up the newsletter with weeks to go thinking that I had days or hours until we met the hidden piece in our family puzzle.

I was so wrong.

After false labor and weeks of waddling, the real deal ensued at 41 weeks. Again, I expected mere hours of contractions as she flew out in record time; again, I was so wrong. It was 10+ hours, half of it being too excruciatingly miserable to want to recount. I pulled my very first all-nighter, choking back panic and pain to push myself beyond every shred of self-preservation, bringing her into the world with Nathaniel and our midwives in our bedroom just in time for sunrise.

It was the home birth that we had hoped for. Longer than expected, harder than I remembered, and absolutely more painful and mentally challenging, but the end result was a perfect little girl!

For those who want to know... she was 7 pounds and 11 ounces and 20 inches!

It took us over a week to find the right name, and it ended up being one that was not on any of our lists. We found ourselves at the point where we tossed what we had narrowed down to and started calling out random names. Nathaniel misheard one of my name suggestions while driving to the park with the kids. We still find it odd to say that we have KIDS.

“I like Livi.” he nodded approvingly. “Well, that wasn’t what I suggested. I said Libby—with B’s.”

Then Nathaniel went down memory lane, recounting how he had the nicest prom date, an exchange student from Hungary named Livia. As it turned out, Livia-the-prom-date was my Instagram friend. I had no idea that Nathaniel was the connection or who she actually was!

The day Livia was named!

It took a few days for my feet to warm up enough to commit. With Clancy, we literally didn’t have any other options. He came out, and we knew he was Clancy. It was easy to commit with such a unique name and his completed paperwork being our ticket out of the birthing center. We had no pressure other than the pressure to get her name right. After all, she is stuck with it for life, as are we.

There are so many cute girl names. We wanted something sweet and endearing, mature yet playful, but also solid and strong. One name that can be so many things is hard to find. But that was it. And it went so beautifully with the middle name that was set: Marie, after my late Grama.

I am happy to introduce Livia Marie Potter to you, devoted Big Rock readers!