Eilish - A Birth Story - Part 3 - Recovery

I guess I should explain where Eilish's name came from. Owen has loved the name Eilish since I met him. All those years ago he watched a documentary about conjoined twins in Ireland and one of them was named Eilish - pronounced Eye-lish, like eyelash. Since I've had baby fever pretty much since I met him I've known about - but not really liked - the name. During my pregnancy we spent a lot of time on the Baby Names of Ireland website which I've mentioned in many a post. When it came to the name Eilish, Frank McCourt pronounced it another way:
Ay-lish. I still wasn't over the moon for the name but definitely preferred the Ay to the Eye. Kennedy was a front-runner all along for obvious reasons but as my due date drew closer I started having reservations about it. Wouldn't people call her Ken? Kenny?

When she was delivered and Owen brought her over to me I asked her "is your name Kennedy?" and she cried. Then I asked, "is your name Eilish?" and I swear to god she cooed. Looking back it may have been all the meds but we named her Eilish Kennedy, pronounced
Ay-lish and have accepted the fact that she will have to spell and explain her unique name to everyone she meets. Then again, she'll be the only Eilish now won't she? Eilish is also derived from the name Elizabeth which is my middle name so it all came together in the end.

So back to the delivery....

The first person I saw as they wheeled me out of the OR with Eilish in my arms was Dr. Pervy who commented, "so, I guess you could do my job eh?". I have no idea what I said to him but he's lucky that Owen was so caught up in the baby or he would have flattened him. All those days in labour, all those sleepless nights for nothing. Had he done his job properly I could have scheduled my c-section and not gone through 3 days of hell. Dr. Pervy is an asshole.

Now, the second person I saw as they wheeled me out of the OR was Judes and...well, let's just say I've never heard her cry like that before. It was a great moment.

The rest of Eilish's birthday is a bit of a blur. I know I was in recovery for awhile before moving to what would be my room for most of my stay at Mt. Sinai. My roommate was a woman who spoke little English and had twin girls weighing 4.5 pounds each - so Eilish was the size of both of them! There were a lot of people from Social Services coming in and out of our room to talk to her so I guess she was having a rough time of it. Yet another reason I am blessed.

That first night was tough because I couldn't get out of bed so every time the baby cried I had to yell to Owen in the daddy's lounge or buzz for a nurse. Eilish and I didn't do much more than sleep that first night and her doctor - Dr. Starr came to visit and confirm what I already knew - that Eilish was perfect. We were in the hospital 3 nights with Judes & Donnie K. with me during the day and Owen with me at night and many visitors in between.

So there you have it finally, how Eilish came into the world. I want to thank everyone who came to visit us, both in the hospital and at home and for bringing her the beautiful presents. We're still adjusting to life at home but everyday is getting better and I'll try to keep posting when I can because you're all probably dying to know why I have cabbage in my bra.