Matthew had a new nurse last night, and when we called in to check on them, she said (twice!), "I have A." (Matthew is twin A because he was born first, and James is twin B, because he's a boy. Just kidding.) It was a little disconcerting to have him referred to by letter rather than by name! It was too impersonal for our precious little baby, center of our universe, light of our life, etc., etc.
And while I think that they use the A and B for the formal medical orders, Matthew's name is in two places on his isolette, on a big card on his vital signs monitor, and (unless yesterday was different from other days), written on the top of his chart. So, it's not like it's a secret!
On the other hand, social psychologists have investigated a phenomenon called implicit egotism, which suggests that we unconsciously tend to prefer things that are connected to the self, including even relatively arbitrary things like letters in our names. (There are some cute studies showing that this can even affect life decisions, so people named George are proportionally more likely to live in Georgia, and so on.) So, maybe Nurse A was simply bonding with Matthew by calling him something that was more similar to her own name. :) [I'm teasing -- Nurse A was actually very nice and very conscientious!]
However, now Mattie can connect to great pop culture traditions:
"I am not a letter -- I am a free baby!"
"Who am I? 24601..."
I Got A Name
And when we were talking with one of the nurses I met while I was on bedrest, I think I did refer to him as "The Baby Formerly Known as A." (As I may have mentioned before, Matthew was very difficult to get on the fetal monitors, so he had a reputation already by the time he was born!)
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