baby naming & conversion

I spoke to the rabbi this week. He is the one that actually referred us to the adoption attorney with whom we are working. I had originally thought we would do the baby naming in the synagogue for Baby S toward the end of December. The rabbi explained that he can't do the baby naming until after she is converted to Judaism. Because the conversion involves being immersed completely in water briefly, he leaves it up to the pediatrician as far as when that is safe for the baby. He said it is usually a few months, although he did see one pediatrician approve it as early as when the baby was two weeks old, but said that is very rare and that most likely it will be when she is 3-4 months old.

So it looks like we will do the conversion and baby naming sometime in April. Passover begins April 18, so it will either have to be before or after that. I also learned that our niece who is away in college wants to be there, and the semester ends on April 28, so there is a chance we may wait until early May, also depending on when the rabbi is available. I also still need to check with any family from out of town that may want to be here for it, and find out what dates are most convenient for them. Also because the adoption takes between 90-120 days to be finalized in the courts, the timing seems almost perfect. As of right now, our plan is to do the conversion and baby naming around the same time as when the adoption is finalized. Whomever would like to be there for the baby naming ceremony itself is more than welcome, and then that same weekend we are planning to have a celebration party that is threefold: celebrating the finalization, the naming and the conversion. I'm expecting that to be an emotional weekend.