There are a lot of ideas about what it supposedly means if you have a baby during an eclipse that aren’t actually true. You know what is true, though? If you have a baby during an eclipse, you might end up naming your offspring in honor of the celestial event — which is exactly what happened when these parents from South Carolina named their baby Eclipse after delivering her just hours before the moon passed between the sun and the Earth on Monday.
According to ABC News, Eclipse Alizabeth Eubanks was born at 8:04 a.m. on Aug. 21, 2017 at Greenville Memorial Hospital in Greenville, South Carolina. Greenville fell within the path of totality, which means that shortly after baby Eclipse came into the world, roughly two minutes of darkness descended upon the land, bestowing upon its citizens a sight of wonder that is only rarely witnessed.
The wackiest part of the whole thing is the fact that little Eclipse wasn’t due until Sept. 3. If she had arrived when predicted, her parents, Freedom and Michael, were going to name her Violet; however, Freedom went into labor the night before the Eclipse, and, well… you do the math. (Freedom’s plans to watch the eclipse with the couple’s now-oldest daughter were subsequently scrapped, but to be fair, GOING INTO LABOR IS A REALLY GOOD REASON TO SCRAP PLANS.)
Also, the nickname Eclipse may end up going by is unusual, but also kind of adorable: Said Freedom, "I think it was just meant to be, her name," she added. "We're probably going to call her Clipsey."
Clipsey's parents appear to still be both delighted and surprised by their baby daughter’s impeccable timing. Said Freedom to ABC News, “I felt kind of like it was meant to happen, to have her on this day”; she also told CNN affiliate WHNS, “It kind of still feels like it’s not real. It all hit me at once.” Said Michael to WHNS, “Wow, my child is born on something that happens every so many years. It’s extremely rare.”
Baby Eclipse appears to be in good company, too — as of this writing, 11 babies were born on Eclipse Day at Greenville Memorial Hospital, all of whom were given these absolutely adorable eclipse onesies:
Did anyone else’s ovaries just explode? I mean, I’m not even that into babies, but you guys. These are precious.
Reports are also rolling in from elsewhere of other babies born during this spectacular event. According to NBC Washington’s Jackie Benson, two women delivered eclipse babies at DC’s Medstar Washington Hospital Center: China McMiller gave birth to a baby boy, while Isabelle Willson gave birth to a baby girl. And in Pensacola, Fla.,one baby — Charlotte Roel Easterly — actually came into the world at the moment totality hit, according to USA Today.
If you believe in astrology, then you’ll be pleased to know that all these eclipse babies are, as Bustle’s Brandi Neal put it, “sprinkled with a little extra pixie dust, and … destined for greatness.” Neal points to astrologer Karen McCoy’s interpretation of what it means to be born during an eclipse on Inner Self:
The sign of the solar eclipse shows a "universal" destiny. It is the energy of the collective unconscious that needs to be actively expressed on the Earth at that given point in time for its own balance. The souls that are born into each solar eclipse have been "dusted" with that energy and have promised to spread that energy on the Earth to help with the growth and evolution of the planet.
Whether or not those souls use that energy for good or for ill depends, of course, on how they develop as they grow older; they can become either great leaders, or tyrannical ones. But the love with which these Aug. 21 total solar eclipse babies were greeted bodes well for them. Here’s looking at you, kids!
