We are super close to deciding on a name for this baby. I've gotta say, naming a child with my husband has made for some pretty hilarious dialogue. He recently picked a middle name to go with our top choice for a girl's first name. Since it is relatively masculine-sounding, I told him that the middle name should be a little more feminine. He chose "Flower Princess Rainbow Bunny Kitten".

I'm pretty sure we've got the boy's first name figured out. I'm not even going to tell you the middle name my husband chose to go with it......because I fear we may actually end up using it. Yes, FEAR. I should remind him that we're not celebrities, so we do not have the privelege of naming our kids things like Fifi Trixibelle or Audio Science.

Labels: baby names

I wish Wal-Mart or Target carried cool baby clothes like the fun designs at Nordic Kids

Labels: baby gear, clothes

DH: "________'s wife had a level II ultrasound to make sure the baby doesn't have Down's. How do we know our baby doesn't have Down's?"

Me: "I guess we don't."

DH: "Oh."

Me: "How old is she?"

DH: "Who?"

Me: "________'s wife."

DH: "I dunno."

Me: "I'm not sure, but I thought that a level II ultrasound is usually only ordered when the woman is old....."old" being in her 30's. 'Cause when you're older, there's a higher chance of baby having Down's Syndrome or Trisomy something-er-other."

DH: "She's over 30"

This little conversation made me thankful for the way our pregnancy is going. It made me thankful that I haven't worried myself over stuff like this. I just KNOW like I know that water is wet that this little baby, who is all curled up inside me poking me in the ribs as I type this, is perfectly healthy. That may seem naively confident to some, but I think it's smart. It's smart because fear, worry, and mulling over what-if's never helped anyone's health.

If I would've been thinking, I would've also shared with DH the fact that I have read a little about level II ultrasounds and nuchal translucency tests and found that they are notorious for producing "false positive" results, which just propel the parents-to-be into a state of worry and uncertainty for the rest of the pregnancy. Yeah, that's really good for momma and baby's health.
Don't get me wrong, I know that there are instances when these tests can be helpful. But like I said, I am very pleased that things like that have not been a part of this pregnancy. This blessed pregnancy.

Oh and just for the record, I don't think 30-something is old :)....I was just thinking it might throw one into a different "risk" bracket in the world of obstetrics.

Labels: health

Okay, so my last few posts have been a little on the heavy side. Onto something more lighthearted....

I am in nesting mode. Yesterday, I bought some baby detergent and some tiny clothes-hangers and decided to wash all the baby clothes. Well, most of our baby's clothing is @ my momma's house 900 miles away since we had the shower there...but I've had a big pile o' nice hand-me-downs stacked in the crib that I've been wanting to organize for a while. If this child is a boy, we have a ton of nice boyish 0-9 month onesies and sleepers. If it's a girl..... well..... she'll be wearing lots of blue :) I know I'm showing my first-time-momness here, but I meticulously washed each load (including baby towels and blankets) with the baby detergent and added an extra rinse/spin cycle to make sure all the suds were out. Anything that had even the slightest stain got pre-treated and scrubbed, and if the stain didn't come out, I threw the garment away. (I only had to do that with 3 things) A friend of mine recently told me that after a while, I'll stop caring about that kind of stuff and just rip the tags off the new clothes and put them on the kiddo without washing them first. But I prefer to wash my OWN clothes, used or new, before I wear them, and DH's as well.......so I assume I'll always do the same for our child. As for being neurotic about stains....well, I'm sure that I'll have to get over that pretty fast.

Everything got hung up, including onesies, since we don't have a dresser for that room yet.

I saw a little $40 blue dresser at the junk store down the road yesterday that would look great in the baby's room . It's a bright primary blue (would go nicely with the changing table that my mom is painting red and the clothes hamper she's painting bright yellow) I think I want to get it.

I bought a play-mat thingy with one of our gift cards.


We have accumulated 3 cases of baby wipes and a few packs of disposable dipes, sizes NB-2.


Bag O' Socks


I had my 32 week appointment yesterday and everything went well. Baby is still vertex and has a heart beat of 140. My BP was 121/78. All the things my midwife checks w/ my urine were normal and she said I look really great. My fundal height measured at 33.

I ordered our birth kit today. Who knew it would be so exciting to purchase things like a plastic cord clamp, chux pads, and a sitz bath? :) When I told DH that I was going to order the birth kit, he was like, "What, like ponchos and stuff?"

Labels: baby gear, prenatal appointment

Thanks, Wendy, Sorlil, and Jae for your comments on my last post. I totally agree that it has to be a decision that a family comes to on their own. Yes Wendy, I'd love more info about your delayed vax schedule. Maybe it'll help me sort things out in my head. And I totally wasn't offended by any of the points you made - I'm always open to different points of view.......

......even though it probably didn't seem that way from my reaction to that anonymous commenter. LOL! :) It's not that I wasn't open to what they were saying, it was just the dumb tone of the comment that made momma-bear's hormonal claws come out. I'm actually thankful for the comment because it made me realize how strongly I feel about soaking in as much credible information as possible before DH and I make any decisions about vaccinations....and it was sort of fun to pretend that the commenter was every person I might come across in real life who looks at people that embrace non-mainstream parenting choices as irresponsible freak shows. Not that I have a huge abundance of people like that in my life...but it was cool to have a sort of "virtual punching bag", if you will.

I'm not going to let myself get overwhelmed with the choices. Afterall, this is just the beginning of a myriad of tough decisions that DH and I will have to make as parents. I might as well get used to it and go with the flow. I know that God will tell us what to do.....I'd better get accustomed to handing my child over to the Lord and trusting in His divine provision and protection, lest I be one of those nervous-wreck mommies who worry themselves sick over their children's safety. That would be no way to live.

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind"
-2 Tim 1:7

DH and I just read about how "sound mind" is sophronismos in Greek, which literally means "safe mind"....denoting safe thinking and clear understanding; the ability to make right decisions.

I'm just going to believe that the spirit of "sophronismos" reigns in our lives as parents......as opposed to the spirit of fear and doubt. Amen!

Labels: controversial topics, health, spirituality

I am totally confused about vaccinations. I've been reading a bunch of articles and forums and it's so difficult to tell whether or not a source is reputable or just full of crap. My gut tells me to pass on ALL immunizations. But then I started thinking if we decide to selectively immunize and/or delay immunizations, I want to be as informed as possible. Well, of course I want to be informed either way. A friend of mine has not given her 6 month old son any shots at all and has recently decided to go ahead and do the DPT shot...or DTaP, whatever you want to call it. She said that her son's pediatrician is okay with her skipping all the other vaccinations, but he feels strongly that she should at least give her son the DPT shot.

And then, here I am reading articles that give accounts of babies going into convulsions and having bad fevers and possible brain damage after getting the DPT shot. Sheesh. From what I can tell, these cases are extremely rare....... but it still doesn't sit right with me. The question is WHICH poses more risk: the vaccination shots and their possible adverse reactions, OR the chance of our child acquiring one of these diseases??

Here's a thought that keeps coming to my mind in all of this: The Amish have almost no incidence of Autism. They also do not vaccinate their children. I doubt that's a coincidence.

Labels: health

I know, I'm thoroughly boring. No pics in a while and sparce posts. Bleh. Not much going on here. Just perusing baby name sites on a continuous basis, hoping that something will grab my attention. I've eaten delicious Mexican food twice this week. Yum. Today, the baby keeps moving a heel or something across the inside of my big bump. It's such a weird feeling. He or she pokes its little foot (?) out and runs it horizontally across the top of my belly. I'm so excited to meet this little person. I think about the moment DH will lay eyes on him or her for the first time and it makes me so happy. I'm loving the fact that everything is a surprise....the gender...the name....it's a fun kind of anticipation.

Labels: baby names, being sappy

We had our first Bradley class on Thursday. Overall, I enjoyed it. The instructor is super nice and seems very knowledgable. Because we live so far apart, and she is giving us private classes, our meeting point is the public library near where my husband works. In a way, I think we will really benefit from being the only students in the class. We have her undivided attention, can ask all the questions we want at any time, and we get to take the videos home instead of having to sit and watch them in class. On the other hand, I think it is going to lack one of the things I was looking forward to most about childbirth class.

I had imagined sitting on the floor in class w/ DH, learning and practicing the relaxation techniques....but from the impression I got from the first class, we won't be doing that. The meeting room at the library that our instructor has reserved is very small, with just enough room for a table and chairs. I think it's going to be up to DH and I to do the relaxation practice on our own at home....which is fine....we'd have to do it anyway, since there is a different relaxation technique homework assignment in the handbook each week.

But I know DH....and I know I will have to force him to do these exercises with me. It would've been nice to at least get a jumpstart on the exercises in a classroom setting, where he has no choice but to be compliant. In DH's defense, I can understand why he probably doesn't want to mess with the exercises....they do seem kind of corny...it's tough to take it seriously because the technique is so NOT US. And what I mean by that is, we are just not very touchy-feely type people....and what I REALLY mean by that is, DH is not a very touchy-feely type person. LOL :) His least favorite thing in the universe, trumped only by getting his eyes poked out with a hot iron spear, is giving me any type of back rub or massage. Aside from getting a good-bye hug and kiss in the morning, I am lucky if I get any physical contact at all.

I've pretty much gotten used to it by now.....it's just his personality and I can't force him to be different. Besides, I've come to learn that he is wonderful at showing his affection in other ways and that's perfectly fine..... but I'm wondering how it will play out in the whole birth process, when I'm going to NEED him to stroke my hair or apply pressure to my back....when rubbing my arms and hands or patting my forehead with a cool washcloth is the only thing that might keep me comfortable and focused through a contraction. I'm afraid that we won't be prepared to work together like that.....and it makes me a little nervous.

Labels: childbirth classes

Had another appointment w/ my midwife today. Everything went really well. My hemoglobin is rising, which is good since it was a little low last time. Baby's still vertex. Position is "L.O.T.", to be exact. Baby's heart beat was 140. My BP was 110/80-something (much better than it has been during my last 2 appts). I mentioned my horrid acid reflux problem and my midwife's apprentice told me that taking digestive enzymes might help.....which makes sense, because the bottle of enzymes I ended up buying has the bromelaine from pineapple that you mentioned, Wendy! Although, I'm certainly not opposed to scarfing some fresh pineapple as well. Yum!

Thanks for the input on the name dilemma. And thanks for putting up with my paranoid secre+ c0de $pelling. LOL! I just don't want relatives and friends to be able to Google our potential baby name combos and find my blog....not that anyone would think to do that, but one never knows. I already goofed and posted a bunch of our potential names without the garbled spelling a while ago. I went back and fixed it, but I think the original post will still be detectable on Google's engine for a while. Oh well. Like I said, why would anyone we know Google our child's full name in quotations? Please don't answer that. It'll make me even more paranoid.

I've convinced myself that it would not be too weird to use Ta1lu1@h for our child....I mean, unless we were to copy a moniker like "Moxie Crimefighter" or "Pilot Inspektor", I don't think it's too outlandish for a child to incidentally share a name with a celebrity's kiddo. After all, the name Tal1ul@h isn't unheard of. It is a classic throw-back to the turn of the century. Dem1 & Bruc* aren't the only ones who have thought to use it in the last 15 years. While it may not be a super popular name, I know for certain that there are little girls and older women alike in this world who share it.

I know - I've Googled it. :)

Labels: baby names, prenatal appointment

DH and I are pretty stumped on name ideas. Want to know something irritating? I recently found out that the 2 girl names we both agree on belong to 2 of D*mi Mo0re and Br+ce W1lli5's children. What are the flippin' chances???? I've known for a little while that they had a girl named Ta1lu1@h, but it was WAY AFTER I chose it as my favorite name....and I didn't think it was that big of a deal....in fact, I had kind of forgotten about it. UNTIL I found out that Sc0u+ ALSO belongs to one of their children. What the crap!!??? Something else that is Twilight Zone-ish is that one of those names is the nick-name of the main character in the book I just read.....and I had chosen the name WAY before I read the book and knew the names of any characters. Apparently, that book is what inspired those rotten celebrities to use the name.

So now, I'm not sure how weird it would be to use one of those names for our own child. Do you think very many people associate those names directly with that particular celebrity couple? I was thinking maybe since I had no clue what their kids' names were until now, that most other people might not know either.

As for boy names, we're stuck.

Labels: belly pics

It's really late (or early, depending on how you look at it) and DH and I are still up, piddling around on our computers. I had about 4 oz of coffee this evening, so I'm guessing that's why I haven't crashed just yet.....that, and a longer than usual afternoon nap.

I have some major acid reflux going on and I'm reluctant to lie down, for fear it will get worse. My whole chest and throat burns. It has only happened a handful of times since graduating from those early weeks of nausea and indigestion. Which reminds me, I love that Pepto commercial with the break dancers and the catchy tune "Nausea, heartburn, indigestion....upset stomach, diarrhea!" There's another one out with a similar jingle, but it features various tall-tales and mythical creatures destroying a city. I like that one too, but not quite as much.

Gosh, my esophagus sure is burning. Yowch.

Labels: pregnancy whining

DH and I were supposed to start our Bradley childbirth classes this evening, but the snowy weather caused it to be cancelled. DH stayed home from work because of the road conditions and all the local schools have been closed for the last couple days. I like the snow and think it's so pretty....but then I don't have to drive very often, so I'm spoiled.

I was disappointed that the class was cancelled, but I had a lengthy conversation with our instructor on the phone this afternoon and got to know a little bit more about her. She seems so knowlegdeable and easy to talk to. She told me to feel free to call her with questions any time, even if it's 3:00 AM. I feel so blessed that both our midwife and our childbirth class instructor have made themselves so available. It feels really good to know that DH and I have that kind of support and wisdom backing us up. The instructor had tons of wonderful things to say about our midwife. (who happened to deliver 2 of her children) The whole conversation made me feel even more confident about the path we have chosen.

Maybe I should just chock it up to an overabundance of hormones, but I am even more in love with my husband than I ever have been before. The Bradley instructor and I were talking about how husbands used to wait out in the hospital waiting room while their wives gave birth back in the "olden days". There was a point in time when it was absolutely unheard of for a husband to be present in the delivery room. That completely boggles my mind. I can't imagine DH not being by my side. I think I've said this before, but he IS my comfort zone. He had a raw unshakable faith when it came to conceiving this child. While I was gearing up for months of charting my basal body temp and using ovulation predictors, I distinctly remember him saying that he knew we would get pregnant the first month. And we did. I find comfort knowing that he has the same strong faith and confidence when it comes to the birth of our baby and it will be a rock for me when I'm in the throes of labor.