Introducing Ivory

Well, the cat's out of the bag! Our 20 week ultrasound on Wednesday, March 5th, at 8:15 a.m., revealed that the bladder-kicking thing in my womb is a living, breathing little girl. It was one of the most emotional moments in our lives so far when the ultrasound technician pointed at three distinct white lines between our baby's legs and announced that she most certainly is a she. Over time, we're taught (whether consciously or not) to suppress our reactions to situations in certain ways, but the rush that went through me in that moment was absolutely unanticipated and euphoric. It took several seconds for me to realize that I'd let out a screeching noise, rather loudly, and was starting to cry... and that my dear husband and mother (grandmother-to-be) were sniffling beside me, too. Then there our technician was, a career of 26 years in the field behind her, rubbing tears out of her own eyes and taking a moment to regain composure. She explained how rare it is for parents to hope for a baby girl, saying she'd seen families get up and leave the expectant mother laying helplessly alone in the examination chair at this sort of announcement. She told us that only recently did their office start to allow sex determination prior to 20 weeks (which we opted out of), and how she had tried to take a moral stand against it because of her disbelief that such importance - to the point of it being the deciding factor in whether to keep a child alive - is placed on gender. Apparently, it had warmed her heart to see people so happy that they would be having a daughter. If I knew that woman's name, I would write a raving review and send it to the person who decides what she earns for her work, but all three of us missed it in our excitement.

Since we found out we were expecting last November, we've been playing the name game nonstop. One name would sound cute for a minute, maybe even a day, but then we'd forget all about it and keep searching; except for Ivory, which both of us loved instantly. The way it sounded with our (well, his -- I have yet to legally change mine) last name made it even better, as did its special meaning to me, because both of my maternal great-grandmothers shared the name. Still, we knew it wasn't very traditional, and one person who asked us what names we were considering was very critical and even cruel about the suggestion. It's funny how the positivity of a hundred people can be dampened by one naysayer, but once we saw our beautiful baby moving and squirming in real time, we decided it was time to get real. It started with us talking to her on Thursday morning, and once we used the name, we knew it had to be right. Plus, her namesake single handedly birthed fourteen children, unmedicated - and lived for over 9 decades to tell the tale, just loving and giving selflessly to her innumerable offspring; if she wasn't a strong female role model, I'm not sure who is.

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of our ultrasound pictures. The first is Ivory's profile, and the second is a 3D image of her with her hand covering one eye.