Well we can't call her Patches forever

I definitely think the nickname will stick unfortunately. But hopefully, once she is here and people know her real name, they will realize it is better than being named after a drunk, washed up dodgeball player Irishman. So, without further ado, Patches' real name will be:

Madelyn Michelle

First let's talk about the middle name. Michelle is the name of my best friend for the last 15 years. She was my college roommate all 4 years, except for one semester while she studied abroad in Australia. She has been by my side through many ups and downs. She is a nurse, and lives 3 hours away...but she volunteered to meet me halfway to help me with my fertility meds injections if I needed them. When I found out I was pregnant the first time, she was the first person I spoke to.

Sidebar...S actually knew about my beta that morning, and the fact that I had a positive HPT that I didn't believe. So when I got impatient waiting for my beta results and took a digital test, I told him right away. But he can't get phone calls at work, so it was all via text. Anyway, just thought I'd explain that so people didn't think I was nuts.

Back to Michelle. She was as excited for me as she was when she found out she was pregnant. And when I had the miscarriage, she was the only person I could talk to about it. I even had a hard time expressing my thoughts and feelings to S, but Michelle already understood without me saying a word. And she's been there to answer all of my stupid questions and alleviate my fears throughout this pregnancy. There are so many other things that she has been there for, but it would take a novel to write about them all. All you need to know is that Michelle = Awesome.

We haven't told anyone the name choice but we did tell Michelle a couple of weeks ago. The reason is that we wanted to tell her in person, and she likely won't be there when the baby is born. Part of me was worried that she would think it was weird, but she didn't. She was very excited and said she was truly honored. I am the one who is honored to have such a special friend in my life.

There isn't quite the history behind the name Madelyn as there is Michelle. It's just a name I have liked for a very long time. Ok, if you must know, the first time I really thought about it as a name for my future child was when Steve & Janet had a baby girl named Madeline on 90210. That's right, I'm totally naming my child after someone on 90210. Judge all you want. It's turned into quite the popular name since then, but I don't care.

We did have a dilemma regarding how to spell the name. I have never been one for You-Neek name spellings. I was the girl growing up who was called by my middle name instead of my first, and then not even my real middle name, but a nickname of my middle name...which my parents spelled weird. So I didn't want to do that to my child. But at the same time, I didn't want her to constantly correct people on the spelling of her name. I did tons of research on this, and while Madeline seems to be the default, 50% of people pronounce it LYNN, and 50% pronounce it LINE. Everyone can recognize that Madelyn is pronounced LYNN. I felt better about choosing that spelling when I realized it was actually more popular than the other spelling in the social security names list. I just hope she doesn't hate it for the rest of her life.

P.S. I don't think any people read this blog that I know in real life. However, if you do know me, please please please don't say anything about the name. We really want to keep it quiet until she is born.