It's a girl!

River Jordan Allison

October 29, 2016 @ 1:40 AM

9 lbs., 20.5" long

Her name came about because we have this "thing" where our kids all have Old Testament names that (sort of) rhyme with our last name (Allison). And if it doesn't rhyme, we gave them at least one middle name that does.

So we had

Benjamin

Lily Ann

Abraham

Miriam

Eden Quinn

Jonathan

Gideon

Salem

Ada Gwen

Zebulun

Eve Ellen

...

and we were STUCK. Ethan had mentioned "Jordan" for a couple of children now, but I just wasn't crazy about that name...UNTIL we were at a Mexican restaurant for a lunch date, and he said, "What about Jordan River Allison?"

And I said, "That is stupid, and I'm not doing that."

He said, "Then what about River Jordan?"

I laughed and said, "You would never name your daughter 'River'."

Ethan challenged me: "I would, but I know YOU wouldn't."

And we didn't say any more about names.

Until she was born, and the nurse asked her name; and Ethan looked at me and said, "Yes, what is her name?"

And I said, "River Jordan Allison."

And we both kind of amazed ourselves that her name came about because we were both calling each other's bluff.

But now I can't imagine her being anything other than River (well, or "Raisin," which is what my brain wants to call her but that really is stupid...).

Of course, if you ask the 3-yr. old (Zebby), her name is "Shiver."

She was technically a late-term preemie, being born at 36 weeks and some days. This was hard to believe, since she was almost the size of most of our others at birth and looked like a full-term newborn. 

But she proved it by having to lie under the oxygen hood for her first day of life

and being discharged with strict orders to see our pediatrician the next day, where they sent us home with a horrific contraption called a bilibed.

Every day for the entire first week after we came home from the hospital, we had to go back to the hospital to have her bilirubin checked with a nasty heel prick; and then we trekked to the pediatrician's office an hour later, to have the results given to us with instructions on how to proceed further.

It was a long first week with little sleep.

 But...hurray!!!....all of that is over now. Now we can concentrate on other things, like making sure we are nursing nonstop and being held nonstop.

This child does not like to be alone.

Which, in this family, is probably a good thing, after all.

We're very much in love with her and cannot stop kissing those cheeks. She belongs here.