The Pattern

I will take the easy way out and blame my silence on:

No, not dear St. Gerard. 

Baby Oram #2: Coming to a birth center probably nowhere near you, sometime around March 21!

Coming quickly on the heels of losing Louisa, and in fact having a very near-loss experience with this one as well, I have been really low-key about this pregnancy. It's hard to get too excited when I'm preparing myself for more loss, but I've tried not to focus on that or beat myself up for not feeling more excited. Feelings are just fleeting things, after all.

We confirmed our pregnancy suspicions shortly before we left for all our whirlwind summer vacations, culminating in our trip to Ireland last week with our parish's choir. Oh Ireland - you are lovely, cool, and beautiful. I'm ready to move whenever you are, Mr. Oram.

Hotel Dunloe in Killarney...already making plans to go back

We took a horse drawn carriage around the Killarney National Park...yes. 

While there, we decided to look for an Irish name for the new baby. Susannah got her picture taken at St. Susannah's in Rome, so her name is vaguely associated with our Italy trip, so why not go with an Irish theme for this baby? 

We are hyperconscious that once you have two kids, you are setting up a naming pattern. All S names, all Old Testament names, all folksong names - you get the idea. For this reason, several likely candidates have been summarily shot down. But searched as we might across the Emerald Isle, asking every porter, waitress, and stranger their name and its (crazy Gaelic) spelling, we found nothing that struck home or even rung some bells. 

Instead, today, as I was making my bed, I realized I had forgotten - we don't have one named child. We have three. Our children are Francis Marian, Susannah Marshall, and Louisa Frances. Whether there's a pattern or not, I have three named children. This new baby, whether s/he makes it to my arms or not, is Oram baby number four. So I have to think of names that go with Francis, Susannah, and Louisa. 

That takes some of the pressure off, doesn't it? 

Any suggestions - Irish or not! - are welcome!