Its an unprecedented time in history; the World if not our Country is enduring tough economic times, a new President is getting his feet wet in the White House, up in space satellites are crashing together, but quietly in the confines of the St. Joseph Medical Center Women's Center, a new life begins in the form of little Bellatrix "Bella" Alessandra; another first as a baby girl is born into our families.
Bellatrix comes from Latin roots meaning female warrior, one of the more prominent navigational stars (#13) defining the left shoulder in the constellation Orion. (So far, she has lived up to this by coming into he world kicking and screaming in objection to being brought out of her home for the last 39-1/2 weeks to the cold air and bright lights). We didn't choose Bellatrix to honor any warriors or pagan gods, but rather after the navigational star Gamma Orionis (more commonly known as Bellatrix) which is one of the easier stars to locate in the Winter sky (SHA 279, Dec N06), the 13th Navigational star in the nautical almanac. Laura and I wanted a unique name, something with significance (me particularly from celestial navigation), but Laura made a mandatory requirement that it have three syllables to be in conformance with my last name. (We had a lot of fun tying to meet this particular criteria: wasabi, banana, Uranus........) Alessandra was a compromise of sorts, as Laura liked the name Alice but this didn't have a nice flow to it when you put all three names together.
Bella was born at 10:23 AM, weighing 8 lbs 2.7 oz., and measuring 19-7/8 inches long. Not small by any means, but a surprising size given Laura's small frame. She was quickly cleaned up and dressed in the nursery and turned over to me until Laura came out of recovery. Bella was ready to get to work as soon as she came into the room; her head was hunting and mouth and tongue moving around ready to latch on to anything that got within reach (my fingers included). Laura was only about 10 minutes behind, so as soon as the nurses transferred Laura to the bed, I put Bella on her chest and let her get to work. It was amazing to see how quickly Bella found her place and dug into her first meal. All I had to do was sit back and let them bond.
Bella was soon visited by her Grandmother Carolyn, Aunt Ashley, Uncle John, and Cousin Jack. Jack was born only 3-1/2 weeks before Bella, so we are sure they will grow up being very close. John took quite a few pictures, and even a short video to put away in the archives (or perhaps on Ashley's blog).
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