One More Latke

Thanks to everyone who sent comments and good thoughts out to the universe about the tiny baby born last Friday. I have to admit to feeling kind of self-conscious, and maybe selfish, posting about this; I've seen a number of "please send support and prayers to..." messages on blogs I've read, but mostly they're on behalf of other bloggers, not random friends and relations. But it was just about all I could think about that day, and I was grateful to have cyber-company.

It sounds like the baby is hanging in there, and from what I read online, the odds get better every day. She'll probably be at the NICU for at least another month, though. My friend--hmm, she needs a pseudonym, how about Nell--called RW yesterday for advice on choosing a stand-alone freezer; apparently the in-laws want to buy them one. Nell sounded dubious about the need, and RW offered, "well, it's really useful for storing baby food." "Oh, God, baby food!" said Nell, sounding totally freaked. That must be one of the weird things about having a baby come that early: she and her partner just weren't prepared to be parents for another three months or so.

Monday morning I went to an early-morning weekday synagogue service, because another friend called and said Nell would be there and might like to see people. During the service Nell and her partner were called to the Torah, and then the rabbi said the prayer for the birth of a new baby, and all of a sudden they were announcing her name and she seemed that much more real.

I'll be calling her Little Latke here--what we called her at our house before we knew her name--due to lack of permission from the parents; somehow I don't think "Can I write about you all on my blog?" would be up there on their Favorite Voicemail Messages of the Week hit parade.

So: welcome to the world, Little Latke, you tiny scrapper, you. Another miracle for this season.