Tenth.

It wasn't long before I learned the unfortunate lesson about early stage pregnancy, morning sickness. At first I was sure that I had a little bug, then after a week of it, I was sure that I was going to die. I had never witnessed this before since my mother was never pregnant and none of the three of us could explain it. When we went to the doctor in the village he just laughed and congratulated me, and he told us to expect a new family member next spring. I remember exactly how I felt in that moment, a mix of panic and fear and elation and love washing over me in waves, and then I threw up.

Pregnancy was a roller-coaster that I couldn't get off of. One day I would be nauseous and weak, unable to leave the bedroom, the next I was glowing and running around the cottage, re-arranging furniture to fit a small crib that Thomas had built in the bedroom. I loved having my family all there under one roof, but there were times when I wished that I had someone to talk to who had been through this before, but I didn't want to upset my mother. When the pains began late one April night I was completely unprepared. I had no idea how much it would hurt, and the baby was facing the ceiling so I felt as though my back was breaking with each contraction.

It was all worth it when I looked down at my mother and she held up my perfect, pink, beautiful girl up for the first time. We all took turns holding her; I let my mother have her as long as she wanted because she had been dreaming of this day for most of my life. I wanted her and my daughter to have a special bond that I had never had with a grandmother.

After we passed her around and I fed her the first time she drifted off to sleep and we all rested along with her.

When we woke to her sweet little gurgles and sighs, Thomas asked me what I wished to name her. I had thought about it a lot and since I already bore my mother's name I thought that it would be appropriate for my sweet girl to also take her name. Rather than calling her Ellanore we settled on Madison Ellanorrah, my mother's maiden name and my name minus the hyphen. When we told my mother the baby's name she was touched, she hugged the baby close to her, thanked us, but then asked us what kind of a name Madison is for a girl. She said we shall call her Maddie; so the matter was settled, my mother's name would live on through another generation, and Madison would be referred to as Maddie from that day forward.