…the very lovely, very premature, and VERY loud new additions to the family: [name_u]Paz[/name_u] [name_m]Efraim[/name_m] and [name_f]Marah[/name_f] [name_u]Calypso[/name_u]! The twins were born several days ago after more than 13 hours in labor, and are currently stuck in the NICU with various (non-critical b’'H) health complications.
After a lot of discussion, [name_f]Raquel[/name_f] and I had narrowed our list down to two “sibsets”: [name_u]Paz[/name_u] and [name_f]Marah[/name_f] & [name_f]Margo[/name_f] and [name_m]Abram[/name_m]. Looking at them, however, tiny and jaundiced as they were, made our decision clear: [name_u]Paz[/name_u] [name_m]Efraim[/name_m] and [name_f]Marah[/name_f] [name_u]Calypso[/name_u] fit.
The names themselves are meaningful to us in several different ways: [name_u]Paz[/name_u] for its mutual intelligibility in our respective ancestral languages–me Arabic, her Spanish, both Hebrew–and after [name_f]Raquel[/name_f]'s grandfather [name_m]Pablo[/name_m], [name_m]Efraim[/name_m] for its Jewish connection and for its lovely meaning (“fruitful, fertile”) which paid homage to our incredible difficulties becoming pregnant, [name_f]Marah[/name_f] to honor my late mother, and finally [name_u]Calypso[/name_u] as a nod to [name_f]Raquel[/name_f]'s family’s musical heritage.
Anyway, thank you all so much for your help! It’s been a long, long, long journey, and I’m not sure if these babies could have been named without you. Given how premature they are, they’re doing remarkably well; that being said, [name_u]Paz[/name_u] will require relatively significant leg surgery at some point, and both babies have still-immature lungs, so we’d appreciate any thoughts/prayers you can throw our way. <3
- Neda, Raquel, Marah, and Paz
(Bonus: A small, non-identifying pic of the twins:
)
Sending good wishes your way for a speedy recovery.