Her Name

Being pregnant is a funny thing. People always want to speed it up, rush it, but you know what? it's 40 weeks, give or take, and a very fragile thing, not to be rushed but taken care of.  The moment we shared the news with our families that I was pregnant the need to rush through every stage was upon us. First it was the fact that the news could not be shared with anyone but immediate family until I was 3 months, requested by me. This was excruciating for the family. Once we passed the 3 month mark we had to wait more to know if it was a boy or a girl. Again, very hard to wait. Then when we found out it was a girl the next questions- What is her name? After all this constant need to know and being asked a million times, I made the executive decision to keep the name a secret the ENTIRE 9 months. No one knew except Pablo and I and that was pretty fun. But of course not telling was dramatic in itself but we endured the constant questions, whining and complaining.
The truth is we had boy names and boy names with some family meaning to them but finding a girl name was more difficult. Of course we had to choose a name that both families could pronounce and was acceptable in both countries. Covadonga or Maruja wasn't going to fly in the United States and imagining my parents pronounce Covadonga would have been hilarious.
Early on I had liked the name Gabriela. I don't know where it came from but I just thought it was pretty. I think partially it stemmed from the name Daniela which I like but had a 5 year old student who tormented me for 2 years and couldn't possibly name my daughter that.
Surprisingly,  I told Pablo and he liked it. From that point on we never thought of any other girl names. We never really committed to the name until pretty close the end because I think we were nervous. We kept saying, is this the name? I never called her Gabriela throughout the pregnancy, always baby, and saying it out loud was kind of weird at first and I wondered if I made the wrong choice. Also, left to the last minute was if she was going to have a middle name. I figured she has a pretty long name already that having a middle name just made it that much longer. Plus I couldn't think of one that would go. I really wanted some sort of family meaning with the name but it wasn't working out and I felt a bit guilty.
One day I thought how about Marie? It would be like the English version of Pablo's mom's name Maria. Pablo said he liked it and I guess in the end I wanted her to have a traditional American name, ie: first and middle. Middle names in Spain don't exist and they don't really understand what they are for. I try to explain that you only say the middle name for official documents and when your mom is really mad at you!
So when she was born we shared a picture and at last her name. I figured if people didn't like it, it would be harder to bitch about it looking at that adorable face!
Then on Thanksgiving 3 weeks after she was born I got the best surprise from my grandma. My dad had set up skype and we got to chat and show off Gabriela. This is when my grandma told me that her mom and her grandma were both named Gabriella. I was so surprised! I had no idea. I felt bad that I had no idea as well. My great grandma had always gone by Ella and I guess my parents just assumed that was her name, my dad had no idea either!
This was such an amazing and touching moment and I am so happy that Gabriela's name has so much meaning now. I think maybe it was a sign that I picked Gabriela. I hope my great grandma and her mother, my great great grandma, feel honored that their name is being passed on.