Not Cut Out For This Job
Jul. 2nd, 2011 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Okay - once again, it is clear that I was never meant to be a mother. This whole taking care of a tiny baby thing? It may be cute for a day or two, but ultimately, it's kind of a pain in the butt. Waking up at 4am to feed it, cleaning its backside and washing up after bodily functions that it's not capable of cleaning itself up after, dealing with crying for no recognizable reason, not being able to go out because something else's life depends on you being there every few hours.... not so glamorous or fun. I'm okay with the fact that I'm going to have to do it for a few weeks, but years? So not for me.
On the other hand, the world is a little more open to people bringing their tiny humans out than to people bringing their tiny kittens out and about. And, for all that it's a challenge to my sleep and my social life, the kitten is truly adorable.
She's doing remarkably well, too. She has gone from 'reluctantly sipping from the dropper' to 'chowing down on the bottle like she has never been fed before and will never be fed again,' complete with wiggling ears and tiny kitten purrs as she suckles. Instead of fighting to get enough calories into her, I have to pace her to avoid overfeeding. And she's more alert and aware of her surroundings, she's starting to figure out how to move a little, and she hasn't had any more seizures since the first night. I still have no way of knowing just how severe her brain problems will be; that's the problem with developmental delays - the delays aren't evident until the critter starts to develop - but I'm starting to cautiously believe that she's at least going to survive for us to find out the answer to that question.
Wait, what? You want to see what she looks like?
Curled up in my arms the first night....

Taking her first bottle, and not quite sure what to do with it yet...

And now that you've met her... since it looks like she's going to stick around for at least a little while, she really does need a name. I have a tradition of naming my cats after second-string figures from Arthurian legend; the main problem with that is that Arthurian legends have a dearth of female characters, and the few that they have are almost all named Elaine, which is still too much in common use for me to like.
Nimue is right out, since I had a cat named Nimue already (admittedly, only for about 48 hours; she beat the ever-loving crap out of Percy and went back to the blood donor ward, but I still don't want to re-use it), and Guinevere is out because no way I'm naming a baby of mine after that wembling priss.
So, suggestions? Current front-runners are Lynette (questionable, since
umbran had a high school friend with the same name) and Igraine, but I'd love to have more options to choose from. Who's your favorite Arthurian heroine?
On the other hand, the world is a little more open to people bringing their tiny humans out than to people bringing their tiny kittens out and about. And, for all that it's a challenge to my sleep and my social life, the kitten is truly adorable.
She's doing remarkably well, too. She has gone from 'reluctantly sipping from the dropper' to 'chowing down on the bottle like she has never been fed before and will never be fed again,' complete with wiggling ears and tiny kitten purrs as she suckles. Instead of fighting to get enough calories into her, I have to pace her to avoid overfeeding. And she's more alert and aware of her surroundings, she's starting to figure out how to move a little, and she hasn't had any more seizures since the first night. I still have no way of knowing just how severe her brain problems will be; that's the problem with developmental delays - the delays aren't evident until the critter starts to develop - but I'm starting to cautiously believe that she's at least going to survive for us to find out the answer to that question.
Wait, what? You want to see what she looks like?
Curled up in my arms the first night....

Taking her first bottle, and not quite sure what to do with it yet...

And now that you've met her... since it looks like she's going to stick around for at least a little while, she really does need a name. I have a tradition of naming my cats after second-string figures from Arthurian legend; the main problem with that is that Arthurian legends have a dearth of female characters, and the few that they have are almost all named Elaine, which is still too much in common use for me to like.
Nimue is right out, since I had a cat named Nimue already (admittedly, only for about 48 hours; she beat the ever-loving crap out of Percy and went back to the blood donor ward, but I still don't want to re-use it), and Guinevere is out because no way I'm naming a baby of mine after that wembling priss.
So, suggestions? Current front-runners are Lynette (questionable, since
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Date: 2011-07-02 04:24 pm (UTC)Some ideas on this page (right hand column)
Ceridwen ??
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Date: 2011-07-02 04:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-02 04:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-02 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-02 05:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-02 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-02 04:38 pm (UTC)http://www.timelessmyths.com/arthurian/women.html#Anna
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Date: 2011-07-02 04:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-02 05:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-02 05:10 pm (UTC)Dindane, Percival's sister, travels part of the Grail Quest with him and Galahad
Lyonesse, a variant of Lynette (or sometimes her sister)
Ragnell, the Loathly Lady
and there's more where those came from
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Date: 2011-07-03 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-02 05:26 pm (UTC)I'm afraid I don't have any name suggestions; I'll leave that to others with wider knowledge of the Arthurian legends. Whatever you pick, I hope she has many, many years to put her own stamp on its meaning.
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Date: 2011-07-02 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-02 06:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-02 06:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-02 06:56 pm (UTC)Enid from Tennyson's Idylls of the King (also Ettarre, Bellicent, Lynette, and Lyonors)
Madame Mim (the sorceress who fight's Merlin in T.S. Eliot's Sword in the Stone / Once and Future King and the Disney film based thereon).
Zoot from Monty Python & The Holy Grail (also Midget, Crepper, Dingo, and Doctors Piglet and Winston)
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Date: 2011-07-02 07:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-02 09:21 pm (UTC)Correction - it was spelled "Lionors" (http://www.amazon.com/Lionors-Barbara-Ferry-Johnson/dp/0380004089/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309642250&sr=1-1), and I fell in love with the story.
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Date: 2011-07-02 08:03 pm (UTC)Isolde or Morgan would get my vote.
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Date: 2011-07-02 11:14 pm (UTC)Also, why do Persians always look slightly put out?
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Date: 2011-07-03 02:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-03 07:03 am (UTC)Morgaine is fun...
Then there was that girl who got to be the May Maiden... was it Myfanwy? It means "my little lovely one."
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Date: 2011-07-03 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-03 06:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-05 01:30 pm (UTC)