(Noah)
I blink awake for at least the third time, blearily check my phone, and finally give up on staying asleep. I wasn't going to tell Elle no when she crawled into the hospital's visitor bed with me, but there just isn't room for both of us. She's sound asleep, though, and she's the one who most needs and has most earned the rest, so I'll settle for that.
Dinah is making soft snuffling sounds and I get up carefully, trying not to wake Elle, to go sit next to the bassinet. Dinah doesn't look unhappy, but she's definitely awake, and she's getting louder. When laying my hand over her doesn't settle her down, I scoop her up instead, trying to keep her bobblehead neck steady—she's impossibly tiny and terrifyingly floppy—and that seems to soothe her.
The pediatrician laughed and Elle glared at me when I called Dinah tiny—apparently, eight pounds is not, in fact, small for a baby, especially one showing up two weeks early—but it's not like I've held any other newborns. Jen's kids, my cousins, are probably the only babies I've spent more than a few minutes with, and I'm pretty sure I didn't attempt to hold them until they were much bigger and sturdier. I should have taken Adam up on that offer to borrow his newest nephew for a training run, although Adam's sister might not have loved that plan. Instead, here I am, learning as I go. I sit back in the visitor chair and lay Dinah on my lap, head near my knees, and she seems calmer that way than she had in the bassinet. Elle's been asleep two hours and I'm hoping I can let her sleep at least another hour.
Elle's jokes aside, Dinah looks nothing like Lee. I'm also not sure she looks anything like either of us. She just looks like... a very new baby. A beautiful one. A beautiful new baby currently blinking up at me with a suspicious expression that does very much resemble her mother.
Dinah's wispy hair looks darker than either of ours, and the eyes currently staring skeptically at me are an inky blue the nurses say could shift to almost any shade in the next few months. The feature that has me most captivated, however, are her hands. It's hard to believe that the tiny fists she keeps trying to gnaw on are the same ones I've been playing tag with for months. She really does sleep just like Elle, though, just the way I'd seen on the ultrasound, her hands close by her face. I'd crow about that to Elle, but of course she's asleep, which is why I'm sitting here with the no-longer-asleep Dinah.
Dinah, who really needs a name soon. I'd hoped it'd be easy once she got here, that we would see her and the right name would spring to mind, but it hasn't. She's not actually a Dinah, that much we've decided, but that's as far as our progress has gone. I try a few more names, quietly, as we sit here. Alice. Emma. Lucy. Sophie. None seem to impress her, and I tend to agree with her. They're nice names, but they're not her name. I try some of Elle's favorites next—including the crazy ones like Cassandra and Calliope—and those don't work either.
Finally I try addressing her as Shelly, just to see how she reacts, and if I'd ever had reason to doubt this was Elle's kid, her tiny but nonetheless withering scowl would have convinced me. Not that I could doubt that, having watched Elle power through her birth like some kind of fearsome Amazon warrior. I get why new dads feel the urge to buy their partners extravagant gifts, but I'm not sure there's actually anything out there equal to the awe and gratitude I'm feeling. At least right now I can do this tiny thing for Elle, let her sleep and start to recover, while Dinah and I get to know each other.
Dinah's fussing gets louder again. If she's hungry I'm going to have to wake Elle, but maybe I can buy us some more time. I lift Dinah out of my lap and resettle her against my chest, and she seems to like that, but only briefly; once I'm still she starts fussing again. I bounce her lightly, and she's happy again, but only until I stop. So, constant motion it is. Maybe we'll go explore the maternity ward. Elle will flip if she wakes and we're gone, so I manage to scrawl I've got her - back soon one-handed on a paper towel and tuck it next to Elle.
We slip out of the room and I start slowly walking the hallway, Dinah still cradled in one arm. Her fussing settles down and her eyes start to flutter shut, so maybe I really can buy Elle more sleep this way. It's eerily quiet—I see lights on in a few rooms, but the hallway is empty until I get to the nurses' station and a nurse grumpily informs me that I'm not supposed to take the baby out of the room unless she's in the rolling bassinet. Just as I'm wondering if I can go back and retrieve the bassinet without waking Elle, another nurse rescues me. I recognize her from earlier, and she must recognize me too, because she smiles conspiratorially.
"I was about to come by to check on the baby. Put her down in this bassinet, and we can go sit in the family lounge. Are you trying to let Elle sleep?"
I nod. "She desperately needs it, but Dinah was getting loud unless I kept moving."
"I heard you two had a big day yesterday. A wedding and a baby?"
I laugh. "Yeah. I wasn't expecting that second part."
It seems impossible that less than a day has elapsed since I woke up to Elle announcing we were going on a hike, or that twelve hours ago we were hiding out in the hallway and joking about ditching our own wedding reception.
"So, you've named her Dinah?"
"Oh, no, that's just the fake name we were using before she was born. We're still stuck on a real name."
Now it's the nurse's turn to laugh. "I get two kinds of new parents here. The ones who've had a name picked out for months and have already personalized all the baby's stuff, and the ones who can't make up their minds until they absolutely have to for the birth certificate."
"That's where we're headed. But I'm thinking I'll just let Elle name her whatever she wants. You're the nurse who was there when I showed up last night, right?"
"I was. I got to hear a lot about you."
"All about what kind of jerk goes missing during labor?"
The nurse laughs again. "There were a few threats made against your life, but they were very clearly empty. Besides, you should have seen the change in Elle when you finally showed up. She went from panicked to steady in an instant."
I spend a half hour or so talking to the nurse, whose name turns out to be Julia, while Dinah sleeps, and she fills me in on some of the details of the birth that got lost in the blur that last night felt like for me. Eventually Dinah wakes up, and this time no amount of holding and bouncing will satisfy her.
"That sounds like a hungry baby. Does Elle want to nurse her, or should I get you a bottle?" Julia asks.
"She wants to nurse her. I guess I'll have to wake her."
"Call me if Elle wants help. And tell her to send the baby to the nursery once she's done so she can get another bit of sleep. You, too. Have you slept at all?"
"Not really. I'll see if I can talk Elle into it."
It takes some debate, but when Dinah shows no interest in sleep after eating I manage to convince Elle that Dinah needs parents who've slept more than three hours. Which includes me, which isn't going to happen if Elle keeps stealing my bed, so this time I stretch out next to her in her bed until she's asleep, and then sneak away to mine. And then I pass out, hard. Because this has been a long, long day. The longest, and the best day.
The next time I wake up, the sun has risen and Elle is sitting up in her bed, trying to eat a yogurt one-handed while holding Dinah.
"Oh good, you're still alive. I was starting to wonder," Elle smirks at me.
A look at the clock tells me I slept almost five hours.
"God, I'm sorry. You should have woken me earlier."
"Are you kidding me? Julia told me you were walking the hallways last night so I could sleep. Besides, you're not the one Dinah wanted when the nurses sent her back from the nursery. But now she's all yours, so I can actually eat."
Dinah protests when I take her from Elle, but after a long suspicious glare she seems to remember she likes me.
"Do I get any of that breakfast tray?"
"Did you birth a giant baby yesterday and are you now responsible for feeding her?"
"That sounds like a no."
"See, those are the brains I married you for. But there are granola bars in that bag I packed, and you can go to the cafeteria once I'm done eating. I just really want both hands free for five minutes."
"The cafeteria of no cellphone reception? Sounds too risky. But I saw a coffee cart in the lobby, that'll do."
Holding Dinah is starting to feel less strange, and we go look out the window while Elle demolishes her breakfast tray.
"So, I had a name idea." Elle comments between bites.
"Really? A new one?" I brace myself for Elle's latest multisyllabic whim.
"Julia."
I turn back to Elle, surprised. "You want to name her for that nurse?" Apparently Elle's even more grateful than I thought.
"Not really for her. But I like the name, and the more I think about it, the more it works. She'd have her own name, but she'd share an initial with my mom, and yours. And it sounds like July, which is her birthday and kind of like June Junior in a weird way. Plus, I was hoping Julia might be short enough for you without being totally boring. See?"
It does make a strange amount of sense when Elle puts it that way. I look down at the baby in my arms, and try to imagine her as a Julia.
"What do you think? Does Julia sound good to you?"
Maybe-Julia blinks and yawns.
"I already asked her. She was cool with it." Elle informs me.
I'm still rolling the name around in my head. Maybe it's because we've been calling her Dinah so long, but the ending sounds right. Julia Flynn sounds good, too. And, unlike most of Elle's favorite names, she'll have a fighting chance at learning to spell her own name before the second grade and at not having it mangled by everyone else.
I go sit on the edge of Elle's bed, Probably-Julia now dozing in my arms.
"I like it." I finally conclude.
"Julia." If I hadn't been convinced yet, seeing Elle beam as she says it would have done it.
"Yeah," I smile back. "Julia."
"We don't have to do the paperwork yet. We can try the name out today, and then see how we feel."
"Sure. But I'm pretty sure I'm sold."
"See, that wasn't so hard, after all. We just needed to meet her."
"I'm glad Julia was there last night. And even gladder her name isn't awful."
Mike and Brad are the first to show up. I'm not sure Mike even notices me in the room after setting eyes on Elle and Julia, and I take the opportunity to go grab breakfast. When I come back, Mike is holding Julia with a dazed adoring look and Elle is grossing Brad out with birth stories.
I sit down next to Mike, watching him watch Julia.
"She looks exactly like Elle as a baby," he comments, lightly tracing a finger over her cheek.
"You think?"
"Ask your mom when she gets here, you'll see. Has she let you sleep at all?"
"A little. She's not fond of being put down."
"As I said... exactly like Elle as a baby." Mike laughs.
Grown-up Elle doesn't like falling asleep alone either, but that doesn't seem like the wisest response, even with these wedding rings.
Mom and Dad walk in then, and Mom's reaction rivals Mike's. That's no surprise, but it's my dad's damp eyes that catch me off-guard, and I'm even more surprised when he pulls me into a tight hug. We've been getting along, lately. He's backed off on the nagging, and I've gotten better at just ignoring him when he does start opining. Besides, regardless of how he feels about me, it's clear Julia has instantly charmed him.
Mom is sitting on Elle's bed with Julia in one arm and the other around Elle, and they're doing their quiet whispering thing. They both look equally overcome, and I can tell they're talking about Joni. It's not fair, Joni missing this, and I wonder if this is one of the occasions she wrote Elle a letter for. Elle hasn't yet read the letter Mike gave her before the wedding; she's saving it for a calmer time, she says.
Our parents all love Julia's name, but from the looks in their eyes when they hold her, we could have named her Pumpkin and they'd still be thrilled. My dad has her now, with my mom hovering over them, and they're debating with Mike whether Elle or Lee was the worse sleeper as an infant. For the record, I've been told I was the easy baby; it was years later that I started causing my parents to lose sleep. I guess I can hope that Julia's planning the reverse.
Brad finally gets his turn to hold Julia, and he looks surprisingly at ease, bouncing her in one arm and making faces at her. It's a good thing I'm watching him, though, because he's about to post a selfie with her when I grab his phone.
"Slow down. We haven't even told our friends yet."
"I wasn't going to post it. I just wanted to send the picture to one friend."
Brad blushes as he says it. Interesting.
"Anyone in particular?" I ask innocently.
"My friend Nina, she has a baby sister. She let me hang out while she babysat a couple times. You know, so I could practice being an uncle."
So, turns out Brad is more qualified to take care of a baby than I am. Great. Also, given the way he just smiled, he absolutely has a crush on this girl.
"Nina, huh?"
Brad's blush intensifies. Elle will kill me if I don't get more details. Then again, maybe I owe Brad some kind of brotherly confidentiality now. I guess I'll sort out what to do with the details after I've gotten them.
"She's just, you know, my friend. From school. Hey, if you guys wanted a babysitter sometime, she babysits all the time, not just for her sister."
I pretend to think about it. "I don't know that we could leave Julia with someone we've never met."
"I could come by with her! She wants to meet the baby. That way you could, like, interview her."
Convince Brad to introduce us to his crush? Check. That should win me points with Elle.
"Maybe if you babysat with Nina. So we wouldn't be leaving Julia alone with a totally new person."
Brad's eyes light up. "Yeah, I could do that!"
Provide Brad with an excuse to spend time alone with his crush without having to actually ask her out? Check. That one, I'm not so sure Elle will like, but I won't tell her it was my idea.
"How about this—give me and Elle a day to announce the news, and tomorrow you can send Nina that picture."
Speaking of uncles who need all the romantic assistance they can get, Lee is the last to join the party, and he shows up with his hands full.
"I got everything you asked for. One box of donut holes, an everything bagel with lox and cream cheese, an egg sandwich, a cheese pizza, and two extra-large coffees. Sorry, that was the best they could do when I told them you specifically requested the biggest cups of coffee in the entire world." Lee announces, trying to find room for all the bags and handing me one of the coffees.
"A pizza? Really?" I ask Elle.
"I was... really hungry this morning before you woke up. I sent Lee a few suggestions."
"She means she sent me a series of all-caps demands with about a hundred exclamation marks," Lee comments as Elle hugs him tightly. "I believe the pizza request was repeated three times. Now, hand over my niece. Does she look like me? I bet she looks like me. Wait, does she have a name yet? Can I name her, if you're still stumped?"
Brad hands me Julia, and I bring her over to Lee.
"This is Julia, and you're not holding her until you sit down."
I've seen Lee attempt to carry a football, and it wasn't pretty, not to mention that he appears to have chugged his own extra-large coffee on the way over here.
Lee stares at me, then at Elle, before letting himself drop into the chair by her bed.
"Really?"
"Really what?" I ask, putting Julia in his lap.
Lee's no longer listening to me, he's just staring at Julia. She has that effect on people.
"You guys had a baby," he finally says.
"Were you not clear that's what was going to happen?" Elle laughs, but I don't think Lee is listening to her, either.
"I can't believe you had a baby. And I can't believe you named her for me."
"Julia. We named her Julia."
"I know. I love it. Thank you."
Elle and I stare at each other in confusion. Maybe we shouldn't be trusting Lee to hold her.
"Lee, we didn't name her after you."
"But you named her Julia." Lee repeats, slowly.
"Yes." I repeat equally slowly, wondering what the hell is up with him.
"That's just, like, Lee with extra sounds. I mean, it's right there in the middle of her name. Julia. Ju-lee-a."
Now it's my turn to need to sit down, and I perch on the edge of Elle's bed. She looks as bewildered as I feel.
"Holy shit. He's right." Elle finally tells me.
"Is that not why you named her Julia?" Lee looks confused.
"The resemblance literally did not occur to me until now," Elle admits.
"And if it had..." I can't help adding. "Elle, seriously, how did we not notice?"
"Because they're totally different names! Lee, don't be offended, but it never crossed my mind. My nurse yesterday was named Julia. And, I figured a J name would be nice—for our moms. But mostly we just liked how it sounded."
"Right. You liked it, because it sounded so familiar. Because it's got Lee in it. See, I knew I'd convince you."
"We haven't filled out the paperwork," I remind Elle, ignoring Lee. "It's not too late to change our minds."
"Yes, it is. She's Julia." Elle gives me a long look.
And yeah, Elle's right. She's Julia, and I'm not about to change her name just to spite Lee, no matter what delusions he's operating under about how she came to be named that. And I guess if we were going to name her after Lee, this would be one of the less terrible ways to do it.
"I mean, if you think it's too subtle, you could add Lee as a middle name, too. Julia Lee Flynn really rolls off the tongue."
"Quit while you're ahead, Lee."