How she got her name...

David was certain we would be having a second boy.

No, we did not find out the sex...we're some of those crazy people that like to drive everyone nuts by not finding out what their having. David just knew it was a boy.

So certain in fact, that he told me I could name the baby whatever I wanted if it was a girl.

I agreed.

I thought for many months, trying out different names in my head. I settled on two possibilities, but wanted to wait until the baby was born to decide, if it was indeed a girl.

As soon as I saw her I knew...Evelyn. I had settled on Evelyn Hope, but David asked if we could switch Hope to Espernza, which means hope in Spanish...I agreed, and the name suits her perfectly.

Evelyn means "Light" which I love, but also David did a search soon after she was born and found that in French it also means "Little Bird." I had taken to calling the baby Little Bird even before she was born. Again, it's the perfect name. I love it when things like that happen. It's like a little present from God.

Evelyn is a miracle baby.

I was about 12 weeks along when I went in for a routine checkup. We found out during the ultrasound that the baby had what a cyst in its abdomen. I was referred to a high risk specialist, had several extra ultra sounds and an MRI. David and I also met with a pediatric surgeon. Everything was unknown as to what the structure might be and what it might be effecting in the baby's body. We made plans for what we might need to do when the baby was born and I tried not to worry too much. I prayed...a lot.

In July I had another ultrasound to check on things and the structure was gone...completely. I cried, it was such an answer to prayer. The specialist wanted me to come back one last time in a month just to check and make sure that things still looked fine. I forgot my appointment and had to re-reschedule for one week later. That was when we saw that the placenta was failing. I believe that all happened for a reason. Maybe the failure wouldn't have been caught as early otherwise.

I was induced that afternoon and three days later Evelyn was born.

She was and is a miracle.