Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Meet Eleanor Thessalia! Her name & mini birth story

Our sweet little girl arrived yesterday! Her name Eleanor means shining light and we love the way it matches Luke’s name, which also means light. Now we have two little lights to love!

We also like the connection between shining light and the Christmas season of Eleanor’s birth. This is the time when we celebrate God’s gift of light to the world in Christ, and so we like that her name captures a piece of that most momentous birth too.

Her middle name Thessalia is in honor of Erik’s mother and great-grandmother. We are delighted to be able to link her to these two very talented and caring women, and we also like that their name reminds us of the two New Testament letters to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 5:23-24).

While her name matches her brother’s closely, her arrival couldn’t have been more the opposite. Luke was over two pounds heavier and it took almost three hours of pushing before he was born, which happened 5 hours after I reached 10 cm! In hopes of avoiding that, Eleanor was induced (with pitocin) on her due date. She arrived only fifteen minutes after I’d been pronounced 8 cm, coming out during just one dramatic contraction which included my water breaking! Needless to say we are all feeling much more chipper following her delivery and are most thankful that both babies arrived perfectly healthy.

We had some wonderful friends from church watch Luke for us last night, and now Erik is home with him for a bit before they both come back to the hospital to take me and Eleanor home. We can’t wait for Luke to meet his sister then!!

4 comments :

  1. Welcome, sweet Eleanor Thessalia!! I'm so thankful that the delivery went SO smoothly (you've got two incredible L&D stories now, but for totally opposite reasons!), and so excited for your growing family. We love you guys, and can't wait to meet Eleanor!

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  2. Awesome! Thanks for sharing the details, too! Sounds like a very wise use of pitocin, I'd say! Love you!

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  3. Woo-hoo! Congratulations! We're so excited. Let us know if you need anything.

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  4. I'm so glad the delivery went so well! She is beautiful, and I love her name! Congratulations!

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