Esther was born January 9, 2008. I could not believe how pretty she was when the doctor placed her on my stomach. I love all of her hair and her chubby round cheeks. She is so calm too. With how much she wiggled in the womb, I felt certain that I would be having a rambunctious boy. I was surprised when we spread those little legs open and I had a girl laying on me. I was even more surprised that first night in the hospital when she just laid there so peacefully. The night nurse said that she would leave all of the other babies, but that she would take this one. Esther didn't seem to mind being checked or changed and she only grunted when she was hungry. Esther also squeaks like a little mouse. When she is awake or asleep, Esther makes a lot of little squeaky noises.Esther has now been with us for 11 days. She cries when she is hungry if I am not right there, and she cries when she is lonely. But she is still just as calm as can be. Esther is happy to have her brothers and sisters hold her and talk to her. She seems to come to life when you sing to her. But mostly, Esther is sleepy. She sleeps a lot right now. We suspect that she will wake up around 6 weeks like Ruth did. But she is another little Joy.
We have had a lot of Drama about her name. I did not want to call her Esther and John insisted in his most insistent way that she was meant to be called Esther. I thought she was too pretty for such an ugly name, even though the bible Esther must have been beautiful. I did not come to terms with the name until John apologized for forcing me to name my daughter a name that I disliked. (Although John would like everyone who reads this to know that he did not mean to force me into the name). Another thing that went wrong with the name is that we did not have enough time to talk about it together. We were only in the hospital for 24 hours after she was born and John was only there with me for about 3 hours and so were the other kids who took all of my attention. The birth certificate lady was also very forceful and pushy with the timing. If we have more children we are going to have to find out the gender and choose a name ahead of time. Apparently the law has changed and you have to mail in the birth certificate information 24 hours after a baby is born. Now, I still might change her middle name or her first name to Estherann. I am waiting to hear back from the Kansas birth registrar. But after John apologized I found that I didn't mind the name so much, and I felt tired from all of the drama over the name. I almost always give in when things go on long enough. At least she will always be the only Esther where ever she goes. I had said that I did not want to name this child a common name. I did at least get my wish that way.
