I Know It’s You…

What’s in a name…

I had always said that I wanted my first baby girl’s name to be Isabella.

E and I had picked out names for the next 6 children, really. We (thought we) knew the names and order for the kids because we wanted a big family. Due to a lot of complications with the fibroids and endometriosis and GOD knows what else, it looked like we might not have AS big of a family as we would have liked – with my advanced maternal age and the great lengths that we’d have to go to in order to get pregnant. When we found out we were pregnant this time it was nothing short of a complete miracle – but we knew we had a lot of way to go. When we found out it was a girl, we defaulted to the name Isabella when we’d refer to her in passing.

But one day we went for an ultrasound and general check up on how the fetus was doing and there was just a plethora of things the perinatologist was warning us against and prescribing meds for:

Placental Previa.
Gestational Diabetes which if not managed correctly could set off my family’s heirloom flaw in my system.
Thrombophila – for which I have to take blood thinners twice a day.
Anemia – which has me on some serious iron supplements
Clots in the Placenta from before they caught the Thrombophilia, threatening her oxygen supply and nutrition
4 Fibroids growing in there with her and cramping her style.

Despite all of that… this little 12 week old fetus just dances and twirls and poses for paparazzi when we do our ultrasound and even smiles – regardless that my womb was basically a warzone for her. Coming out of the hospital that day I was clear and sure. That could only be one person in there. Athena. We had picked the name for our 2nd daughter as an homage to one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever met who’s also named after a Goddess. But the warrior spirit was CRYSTAL CLEAR to me. I cried as I shared how I felt with my husband and he agreed.

That was our little Theeny in there. We can’t wait to meet her and know her power!

“Out sprang Athena – wearing the robes and the helmet, her gray eyes flashing. Thunder roared and the gods stood in awe!”
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