The name of my new nephew. The W sounds like a V.

I must have a gentle word with my brother and sister-in-law and tell them that Little Werner is going to grow up and experience *his entire life* having to tell people that his name is pronounced VAIR-nair, not WERE-ner.

There might have been a Werner in Evelyn’s family back in Germany. But we are not in Germany. I have to call them before they fill out the birth certificate. At least change the spelling to Verner!

When my mother called last night to tell me the baby’s name (even she wasn’t thrilled about it), she pronounced his second name as “George”, not “Georg” (the latter with two syllables). Proud father Grant E-ed me to inform me of the proper full name. Now I have to ask him how the newborn’s third name is pronounced. In German, words that begin with a V are pronounced with an F sound. So is Werner’s third name pronounced “Fisher”? What kind of name is my nephew going to have to grow up with?

So the Guelph Hospital won’t even let me see the tyke. Only grandparents can get in. What is this? They won’t even let me see the baby through a window? It’s not like the baby is in intensive care or quarantined. What if Grant or Evelyn wants to take the baby out of the maternity ward and into their room? Or can’t new parents even do that? I have the answer. As I edit this entry the following morning, the hospital told me that while anyone can see the babies between 2 and 8 p.m., only parents and grandparents are allowed into the Special Care Unit. My mother last night said that the baby was not in any special care facility. And when I called the hospital they confirmed that I definitely could not go into the SCU, nor could the parents bring the baby out. Werner is in there because he was born early and had not gained any weight during his last week in utero. My mother also said that he is hooked up to some contraption with tubes. So what’s up? I hope to go to Guelph with Mark on Sunday. Pray that Werner is going to be all right!