A Name (& an explanation & a pronunciation guide)

Eiger Andrews Whitney Howell

Pronounced "EYE-grr".  The rest is pretty self-explanatory, though the "s" on Andrews is not a typo. I'll get to that.

The Eiger

Eiger

Before I can tell the birth story, which is relatively undramatic, I have to tell the story of how Eiger even came to be a desire in his parents' hearts (well, at least one of his parents).  That story is about as dramatic as it gets.  

The Howells were done with 2 kids.  A two-child family is tidy and manageable in our opinion.  So, with two kids, Andy was wanting to be out of the game. Permanently.  I had agreed to this because I love my husband and respect his opinion on how many kids we can handle because he is super involved; a really great dad.  The problem arose when the second child was born...I didn't feel done. At least, I was really sad about ending our child bearing ability.  So, as with all heartaches I experience, I turned to the Lord.  I was fervently praying one night, admittedly in tears, as I asked the Lord to help me feel comfort about our family's decision to be done.  I wanted His Atonement to help my hurting heart.  As I was praying, out of the blue, a voice in my head said, "There is a son."  At first I said back, "yes, I know about Jesus (clearly)."  Then it came again... "There is a son."  I realized what Heavenly Father was telling me and basically said, "Oh crap.  Why are you telling me?!? Why don't you tell Andy!"  Great.  Now what?  Well, it went over about as well as you could imagine. It didn't.  Over the next few tense weeks we somehow decided that we needed to agree to disagree and delay any permanent action until we could agree on some course of action.  Andy was certainly waiting for me to give up and I was waiting for him to give in.  Weeks turned into months.  At one point in there I decided that I needed to think of a baby name. A BOY baby name.  I wasn't sure how it was going to happen, but I was trusting in the Lord and asking Him to guide me and soften my husband's heart as well.  One morning as I was sitting waiting for a yoga class to start I just thought of it: Eiger.  There was some visual help in the Quarry rock climbing gym...but there it was. "Eiger" I went home and coyly told Andy that I had a super cool baby name.  Curiosity got the best of him and he asked what it was.  "Eiger"  After a pause he combined it with another name we'd considered for a boy and then abruptly declared "Too bad we'll never get to use it."  I just laughed.  I

knew I had planted a demon seed in his brain.  That was in February.  Finally...in November of that year, Andy came to me and whole heartedly agreed to number 3.  Mostly because he loves me.  Ok, entirely because he loves me and knew it was what I wanted more than anything in the entire world.  It still took nearly another year and a miscarriage before I got pregnant with this little man.  Totally worth it.

The name Eiger for me is symbolic of faith.  Faith to move mountains, or change hearts, or to make a person ovulate who doesn't normally.  This little baby nugget is a tangible piece of my faith.  I'm so glad to have faith and to have him. I am profoundly glad to know that my Father in heaven hears and answers my prayers and that it isn't just one way communication.  I am relieved that He is willing to speak to me and direct my path. I expect Eiger is too.

Andrews is my paternal grandmother's maiden name. 

Whitney is in honor of Homer Whitney a dear friend and fine man who passed away just shy of his 90th birthday.  And c'mon, our girls have boy names, so of course our boy had to have a girl name. 

The birth was uneventful.  Went in for induction at 4:30 pm. Pitocin at 5:30 pm. Epidural at 6:30 pm. Complete at 8:30 pm. Doctor (finally) arrived at 9:30 pm. Baby was born at 9:52 pm.

Smiles all around. All is well.  

Except...I might want another.