A few weeks ago I was basically at my wit’s end… I was 9+ months pregnant, huge, and willing to try just about anything (including labor-inducing exercises) to get this baby out. Well, as luck would have it, she was born a healthy 8 pounds 11 ounces on the evening of October 25th. Since I gave birth to her at a hospital basically at the lower tip of Manhattan, I found myself (and baby) evacuated late on Saturday evening with the parting sentiment, “we hear Hurricane Sandy is about to hit the city… so, if you feel well enough after your C-section to head home, that’s good… if not, we’ll air lift you to northern Westchester.” In obvious news, I took option A and headed home about 40 blocks north to my family, bed, bassinet, and stocked refrigerator. It was a matter of hours before our power was out (along with most people south of midtown) for nearly a week, and we were couch-hopping with a 3 year old and a newborn… the kind of stuff that awesome-20-years-from-now-but-not-today stories are made of. With the help of a good husband, some great friends (thanks, Valerie & Orly!), and my helpful more-mature-than-he-looks 3.5 year old, we weathered the storm- literally.
And, after about 10 days remaining nameless… we named our little daughter Rivkah Gruber-Hermon, which means “unity” in Hebrew. We had a couple hiccups along the way- a short bout with “Sarah” as a first name (this ended up being her middle name), a brief encounter with the English version of Rivkah (which is “Rebecca”), and even a few moments of total confusion which resulted in us affectionately calling her “Falafel” in a facetious way. My mother exclaimed “that just sounds too ethnic!” when she heard the name choice, my father in law said “I like Sarah,” and a bunch of confused congregants at our synagogue still think her name is Sarah based on her baby naming ceremony (whoopsies).
Truthfully, our friends and family have been less than thrilled with the name choice, but that’s OK… we love it, the meaning, and most importantly the happy little girl behind the name 🙂
What a beautiful baby and a beautiful name!
I love her name and the meaning! It’s beautiful! And what a sweet, adorable baby! I’m sure as she grows up she’ll want to hear all about her birth story and it will be that much more special because of everything you guys went through. xx
Shannon
Beautiful! So happy you are safe! Wishing you well from the College Lifestyles team!
Congrats! She’s beautiful! I’m so happy you are all safe and sound 🙂 I also have a son and a daughter. Such a blessing!
Wow, what a lot you’ve been through! Congratulations on coming out the other side with a smile and a beautiful daughter! I love her name and I’m glad you stuck with it! We had a lot of resistance, especially from the older generation with our daughter’s name as well. My MIL said, “Oh that poor girl” when we told her our name choice. I love that we have never met anyone with her name though I know they are out there 🙂 8 years later, my daughter wishes she had been named Sarah or Emily- LOL
oh Congratulations – she is beautiful!
We were without power for 8 days in NJ. My 2 kids are college age and I can’t imagine giving birth and coping with a newborn in this chaos.
Congratulations Bryce!!! hope you and the baby are doing well.
pretty baby
Congrats to you and your new family. Your beautiful daughter was born on a very popular day!!! My boss birthday, my husbands birthday and my friends’ son’s birthday.
Enjoy every moment, because time goes by so fast.
My babies are 19, 14 and 12 now 🙁