It isn’t a holiday game, so naming a baby was a really big deal. So big that we went in with a couple of ideas, but when we met her, we weren’t sure if any really fit her.
I said we needed a day to see who she was after she was born, but that day came and went and we still weren’t sure who this baby was.
For me, I was unprepared for how unlike me she would look, and I felt I was starting from scratch. I felt like she was a total stranger when I was expecting a long-lost relative. I had been stuck on the name Nia but I guess inadvertantly associated certain facial features with that name, and when Baby exhibited none, I was lost.
When the woman from the registry came to visit and gave us the paperwork for the birth certificate, we told her we didn’t have a name, expecting her to give us a hard time, but the first thing she said was, “That’s ok. You don’t have to decide before you leave. You have 10 days.”
So we went home without a name, much to the dismay of family members. It wasn’t a big deal to us- she was Baby, the baby we’d been talking to and wondering about for months. She was just… her. We didn’t need a name to get to know her.
But on the Thursday after she was born, we decided and on Friday had a naming ceremony. Josh’s mom Beth was with us and I wanted my mom to find out at the same time, so I called her and put her on speaker phone. Brother Colin and our friends Zeke (aka Uncle Pork), Matt, Colleen, and Rob came over, Zeke got his mom- Nana Peggy on the phone and Josh wrote a script, including everyone guessing what Baby would be when she grew up (I voted Plucky Girl Reporter- other votes included a Neurologist, a Teacher, and a transhuman- that one came from Josh), wishes for her and then finally the revealing of the name, which was followed by the Ceremonial Facebook Posting.
The whys behind the name:
Full name is Cordelia Maebh McGinley Crowe but we call her Cora.
Cordelia was on the list- it’s Welsh, it’s a name people know but isn’t used too often, and has great uses in entertainment- from Shakespeare to Joss Whedon (our favorite storyteller) to what Anne of Green Gables wished her name was- and Josh and I met doing a production of Anne of Green Gables. It also has the science background being a moon of Uranus.
The nickname is what sealed it for me though. On the drive home from the hospital I was looking at her, trying to think of names, and thought back to one of my favorite words- a word that I thought would be great for a character in a book or if I was really daring, a child- Cormorant. Don’t love the bird, but love the prosody of the word. That lead me to think that Coral is also a great word and tada, Cora was the flash of inspiration I’d been waiting for. Josh and I both love coral (the animal) and I love the color, and throw in Cormorant for me, AND the fact it goes with Cordelia and we were set.
The middle name was hard. I sort of threw in the towel because I didn’t want a middle name that ended in a with Cordelia and I had sort of given in to Isabella. I LOVE the name Isabella but it is overused, and with the popularity of Twilight I knew that all through school, she is going to have several Isabelle’s and Isabella’s in her class. It was like #3 on the most popular girls names this year.
I wanted something that honored my dad and our little Bella- but something that also honored our Irish and celtic ancestry. I stumbled on Maebh (pronounced Maeve) on an Irish name list and first thought it sounded great with Cordelia- and Cora Mae sounds good too- but the meaning is what sealed it for me. Maebh means “One who brings great joy.” This has been a tough year, and a year of many transitions for me. Losing my dad and my best friend (yes, she was 4-legged, but honestly my best friend) was really hard. Being pregnant for both loses meant my emotions were heightened but it also gave me something to look forward to. Without Baby, I’m not sure how I would’ve made it through that grief. I’m still not through it, but having her to look forward to definitely helped. Cora Maebh was definitely someone who brought joy when I was convinced there could be none.
I don’t care that McGinley isn’t a “name”, it’s still her 2nd middle name. It’s just there for show and because I’m not going to let go of it and I still think women taking men’s names is sexist and out of date, but a tradition to which I acquiesced. But not without putting McGinley in her name- at least legally.
She’ll be able to tell a good story about how her parents came up with her name- and how they drove everyone crazy with not deciding. And good stories are great things to have.
Introducing Cora!
1 week ago today, baby Crowe was born on December 6th at 10:09 AM- 8 lb, 1 oz!
The nitty gritty:
My due date, December 2nd came and went without incident. Thursday, December 3rd I met friend/co-worker Nicole at Starbucks with her adorable twin 8 wk-old boys and walked around, enjoying the 70 degree weather.
That night, while at my computer I felt a huge rush of oxytocin- just an incredible sense of well-being and tenderness. It was extremely powerful. A couple of hours later, I had a contraction. Before I went to bed I felt two more, but they were mild.
Laboring at home
At 4 am, Dec. 4th I woke up realizing that I had been having contractions and they were getting stronger. I tried to go back to sleep to no avail, and had a powerful urge to get ready for the hospital. While Josh slept, I finished packing the hospital bag and got something to eat. At 7:30 I laid back down and was able to doze for about an hour until Josh got up and I told him that things were starting, but slowly and asked him to put the carseat in the car before he went to work.
Throughout the day, the contractions would get more consistent, and they die back down. I was able to sleep for another 2 hours but when they went from 8 minutes to 20, I got a little discouraged. Josh checked in throughout the day and I told him I was ok and would let him know if anything sped up.
That night, they hit every 4-5 minutes, the milestone I was waiting for, but after 45 minutes of that, they went back to every 8 minutes. It was getting much more uncomfortable however, so I called the midwife at 2 AM, hoping she would tell me to come in. She didn’t. She said stay home and wait.
I was able to doze a little Friday night and Saturday, they went back to every 20 minutes for much of the day- however, it was like a dial was turned up and they were much more intense. I practiced my relaxation techniques and they helped about 75% of the time, but some of the surges were so strong, I couldn’t breathe through them and would vocalize my pain. I tried to eat- I would go from having incredible nausea to feeling famished. It was a very uncomfortable day. I tried laying on the bed, I tried leaning over pillows on the bed, I laid on each side in the recliner and just sat on the couch. When the strong contractions would come, I felt like I was trying to crawl away from the pain and would squirm around, trying to find the position in which they subsided. They didn’t. We listened to music and comedy podcasts and eventually my hypnobirthing cd’s. The intensity of the contractions was increasing, but the time wasn’t. I used the stopwatch feature on my blackberry to keep a record of the timing and it stayed steady at 8-10 minutes between. Around 10 PM Josh, seeing my pain and not being able to help said, “This isn’t how I thought it would be” and I said “Me either.”
Around 11:00 it began to snow with force and I worried about the drive. Josh dozed and I sat in the recliner, practicing my breathing. At 2:00ish I woke him up and asked him to draw me a bath. When I got in the tub, a contraction came just 3 minutes after the first, so I sat in the tub for an hour timing and each one was 3-5 minutes after the first– I had finally met the threshhold.
I got Josh up and told him it was time to go. He packed and cleaned snow off the car and I continued to try and escape the pain by standing, walking, and sitting on the edge of the bed. At 4:30 we got in the car, an hour-long car ride I was dreading (though it had stopped snowing at least). Throughout the day, I found sitting straight up to be the most uncomfortable position, so I got in the car, grabbed the Jesus Handle with my right hand and the back of Josh’s headrest with the left and held on. I’m nervous when Josh drives on a good day, so I’m sure he wasn’t looking forward to the ride either, especially when I started off by making him get out and clean off the side mirrors properly. I asked him repeatedly to go slow- the speed seemed to make the contractions more uncomfortable. When we were on the main road I called the hospital to say we were on our way so they could alert the midwife on call. Pressure on my belly increased the pain significantly so while at home I had been sitting with the drawstring on my sweatpants completely undone and shirt pulled up, having the seat belt touch me was a whole new level. Through it all though, I continued to back seat drive with Josh, telling him which way to go and lanes he should be in. At one point he began to turn. ”Where are you going?!” I yelled as the contraction hit. ”I’m getting on the highway!” he yelled back. ”No you’re not! This is is friggin’ parking lot!!”
We got to Anna Jacques and I realized I wasn’t sure where to go. There was no parking for the Emergency Room entrance so we had to go into the regular parking lot and turn around. Josh pulled up to the entrance to go in and ask where to go. A nurse came out with a wheelchair and I got out and looked at the bags of stuff to decide what I should carry. The nurse and Josh told me not to worry about it and just get inside. I declined the wheelchair as standing and walking felt better than sitting and we made our way through the hospital to the Birth Center. A nurse met me as soon as I walked in and brought me to a large room where I would stay for the next few hours.
Almost immediately the birthing experience was probably different than the traditional hospital birth. I was hooked to a fetal monitor, but only for 20 minutes and it was the only time during the whole stay that I was hooked to it. It was sort of cool though for others to just watch numbers and be able to tell when my contractions were coming and when they were ending. I felt like pointing and saying, “See, it’s real! I’m not making this up!” I was asked the standard set of questions and waited until the midwife arrived. When she did, I got nervous- I was so afraid she’d check me and we’d find out I hadn’t dilated and I still had a long ways to go. When she said, “Well look at who’s been working hard! 7 cm and 90% effaced!” I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I was so grateful that the pain and discomfort was actually doing something and I was in real, active, soon-there-will-be-baby labor.
The next 3 hours are somewhat of a blur. I was very aware during the whole process and time seemed to move very slowly, but the contractions got progressively worse and it was harder and harder to remain in a calm, relaxed state. I spent time in the tub, trying to get the jets to blow on my back, but soon I just got cold and uncomfortable. Josh and I had been practicing massage and light touches that were supposed to help, but during a contraction, I didn’t want anything touching me so we didn’t use much of that. I’m thankful I didn’t have any of the “back labor” I had heard about. My back was sore from laying in weird positions, but that was it. My overall impression of labor was that at least it built fairly slowly (too slowly in my case) so I had time to adjust each time the dial was turned up. In those couple of hours which were the 8-10 cm dilation mark, the few contractions I had that hours before had made me gasp, now seemed positively tolerable. I was reminded of a video game’s learning curve, and it was set at a nice pace- it wasn’t 0-60 with no warning.
Midwife Jessica checked me a total of 3 times- once when she first got there, once to see that I had moved to 8 cm, and once towards the end when I was at 9. When I was at 8 she suggested she break my water to get the process moving a bit quicker and I immediately nodded, as I felt a contraction come on. She had to do it during the contraction, which was uncomfortable, but I didn’t feel anything in terms of the actual instrument that broke the water. I did feel the gush that I had read about, and for about 20 minutes afterwards, whenever I’d rock my hips or move to a new position I felt sort of like I was peeing myself, but that whole sensation was exactly what I was expecting. This artificial rupturing of the membranes was the only “intervention” I had.
Most of the time I dealt with the pain by moaning, and was a bit shocked when I heard myself uttering the guttural moan that our birthing instructor had said would happen, but there were a few times I cried out. I felt like a bad hypnobirther when I did that, but everyone kept encouraging me and telling me I was doing a good job, so that helped. Josh and his mom, Beth were a great support and I feel like they really helped me through the process.
I wish I had been more prepared however as to how to deal with the pain at this point since it was so much worse than before. I had talked with people and read a lot and rewatched “The Business of Being Born” the previous day and had heard that most women going through a natural birth reached an altered state- I did experience that, but the state wasn’t nearly far enough away. I was still intricately aware of everything, I just didn’t want to participate in the conversations that were happening around me. I also continued to try to escape the pain when I should’ve been embracing it. It was so counter-intuitive, I would squirm and hyperventilate when it would get bad when I should’ve been finding the positions that were uncomfortable because those were what my body needed. Midwife Jessica had me kneel on the bed which hurt my knees and was much more painful, but was what needed to happen right then. This was also finally the point where I let the pain wash over me and tried to ride it instead of escaping it and could feel an almost immediate difference. (Though I did call out “Oh Shit!” at one point- again, bad hypnobirhter)
About this time I tried to give up. The pain just kept getting worse and I didn’t know how much more I could handle. If they had offered me drugs at this point I probably would’ve taken them. This is something that I’ve read too- a lot of women hit a wall where it gets to be too much, and then viola, baby. I think it’s because the ramp of pain kept increasing and I had no idea how close I was to the end- if it had been another 2 hours of ramp, it would’ve been too much. In retrospect, however, it really wasn’t too long where the pain was at a level that I really didn’t want to experience it at all.
Jessica checked me once more and said I was at 9 cm and the Doppler to listen to the baby which they did every 15 minutes throughout the labor showed she was much further down than before. To get to the last stage, Jessica told me to sit on the toilet and try to pee. I had read about this technique too and at the time wished she had told me the whys behind instead of offering it as a causal suggestion- realizing that even in a state like this I want to know details. It made a huge difference- muscles you don’t even think about relax naturally when you sit on the toilet and I could feel myself opening up. Josh sat with me and though I very much focused on keeping my jaw and hands relaxed in encouragement to the rest of my muscles, I did grab onto him a couple of times. When during a contraction, I felt my body (without consent from me) pushing, I opened my eyes wide and said, “What was that??” The nurse came in to check on me right at that moment and rushed to get Jessica to tell her I was pushing.
When I came out of the bathroom, I sat on a birthing stool- which was just a metal 3-sided frame that they had wrapped in the blue pads for a little bit of comfort- and pushed. It was again amazing how the pain changed again. The contractions didn’t hurt at all anymore, instead I could feel the stretching as she came down the birth canal. I was also surprised at how relaxed I could get between pushes- it was like a brief reprieve of all pain. When I began to crown, I heard the nurse and the midwife comment that they could see a lot of hair on her head, which was encouraging. I pushed about 4-5 times on the stool and then got in the bed to finish, pushing another 4-5 times.
This phase I was also unprepared for. I’m not sure what I expected, but I guess I thought I’d just feel “pain” but instead I kept thinking to the scene in Knocked Up when Katherine Heigl’s character screams out, “I can feel EVERYTHING!” because that’s exactly what this was. I could feel exactly where everything was, including the midwife’s fingers because I said that something was poking me. I couldn’t really feel the baby moving down, though when her head came out I definitely felt a huge sense of relief. I tried to slow down at Jessica’s insistence, and I knew if I went too fast at this point I might tear, but on the next contraction my body took over and I finished pushing my baby out.
Meeting Baby
She went right to my chest and my first, immediate thought when I saw her was, “Who’s this?” I felt almost like I didn’t recognize her- a strange sensation. I then noticed how pink she was, how big she was, and how she was looking around in wonder. I was still intimately aware of everything still going on with my body and hers- including the umbilical cord that was attached to her and still inside of me. I had worried about the “what happens next” phase and was very grateful when I expelled the placenta without any pain- it was like a braxton hicks contraction with the tightening and I felt it exit, but it wasn’t unpleasant. I got to look at it afterwards and it was much larger and there was more stuff than I pictured a placenta. It was really interesting. The pushing on my stomach and getting a couple of stitches (not on my perineum but on my vaginal walls) WERE unpleasant however, and definitely distracted me from the bonding process. When it was done pulsing, Josh cut the cord (he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to do it) and I nursed Baby for the first time. We were able to relax as a family for about 20 minutes before the nurses took her to weigh her and smear her eyes and do the normal newborn stuff.
Happy Daddy
The neonatologist gave her a 9/10 on her Apgar which means she got an A+ on her very first test. I ordered lunch and Josh’s father and brother came to visit on their way back to Maine from Boston. Soon after my mother arrived so the room was full of family meeting the newest, nameless member.
Josh asked me later if I was glad I went through the process without any drugs and I said yes, mostly because I felt energized and besides the pain in my vagina (which I also wasn’t expecting though I don’t know why), fine afterwards and if I had had any drugs, it probably would’ve been very different. Her high Apgar score was also due in part to the drugless delivery. Now that I’ve experienced it, however, I’m not sure I’d do it for #2, but then again, maybe having an idea of what to expect would make it easier. Or is the satisfaction that I’ve “been there, done that” enough? I have plenty of time to decide.
Our Outside Baby!
See more pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/meghan.mcginleycrowe/BrandNewBaby#
Tomorrow is the due date! I’m glad I read that only 20% of babies are actually born on their due date. My checkup this morning included my first cervical check. I’m 1 cm dialated and 50% effaced but Baby is still really high and hasn’t moved down into position, so right now it’s looking like the weekend may be it. I had predicted Saturday the 5th for a while now… let’s see! What’s your guess for the actual day/time?
Big Belly!
The couple of extra days will help- we’re getting ready but there are still things to do. I haven’t chosen a pediatrician yet and there will always be things to do in the house still. And there is still the issue of the name.
Things that we have completed though:
I can’t help but be nervous, but I feel like it’s at least justified. I am more excited to meet her though- I just want to know she’s ok and healthy and all of that. I want to get a sense of her personality. I’m very much trying not to think about the tragedies that I know about of things that have happened soon after birth. Josh admitted to me last week that he too was nervous and worried. “What if when she’s 13 she doesn’t want to go to the aquarium with me anymore?” he fretted. What a great positive outlook.
I’m feeling ok overall. Sitting in normal chairs and walking around for too long definitely gets painful and there are just a lot of strange sensations going on. I went on maternity leave last week which has left me with mixed feelings- though being able to take a bath or nap in the afternoon has been really nice! I’ve been trying to stay active in short bursts- I drove out to western MA 2 weekends ago for a convention and did ok with the 18 hour day and 4 hours in the car, I helped cook Thanksgiving dinner, I went to a friend’s for games after Thanksgiving, went to Lowell’s Festival of Wreathes and winter festivities this Saturday with my mom and brother, went to Monday Night Board Game Night last night and stopped into work today for a couple of hours. Trying to keep routines now before everything changes!
On my list for the hospital is my laptop so when the time actually comes, I can keep updates and journal my experiences!
So I’ve called 12/5 at 1:30 pm as the actual time- get into the pool now!
Pictures from my baby shower in Maine, hosted by Peggy aka Nana Peggy (Zeke’s mom and surrogate grandmother) and thrown by my mom (aka Grommy). Josh’s mom Beth (Nana) and family were in attendance as well as some family friends. One of my friends from gradeschool even came!
Lots of pictures are loaded at picasa:
http://picasaweb.google.com/meghan.mcginleycrowe/
I tried out the glider from the Crowes, wearing my bow hat. Josh... helped?
Neices Lillly and Taylor helped open gifts as Pahdurphy held down the balloon fort
Peggy made a quilt using pieces of my childhood dresses
After the gifts, I was pooped and enjoyed a beer- an O'Douls
5ish weeks left! I feel like I’m getting bigger every day. It took so long to show, that I think it’s all catching up on me now. My back is killing me and I have heartburn that won’t go away, but even still, I can’t complain too much. Though Baby discovered yesterday how to hit me in the bladder, so ask me again in a week how that’s going.
As B-Day gets closer and closer, I’m ever thoughtful about space and stuff and preparation. And I’m totally open about the fact that we need help- with stuff, with advice, with anything and everything!
My mom came down a couple of weeks ago and helped me begin to tackle the baby room. It still has a long way to go, but at least doesn’t quite look like one of those rooms you see on “Hoarders Anonymous” anymore. While she was here, we went to Target and she bought me a carseat, so we can at least now take Baby home from the hospital! And they can’t keep her if we haven’t decided on a name right away- I know that much!
Last weekend we went and got a crib from step-sister Rachel and Keith. I also got to play with two of the coolest little girls on the planet, Shannon and Erin. Erin just turned 4 and didn’t seem upset to see her baby stuff go at all- she’s much too big for it now anyway
Still need a stroller and diapers and carrier covers and other odds and ends, but I feel like we’re getting there slowly but surely!
Here’s all of the info in one place:
Due: December 2nd.
Hospital: Anna Jaques 25 Highland Ave, Newburyport, MA
Nursery Theme: Jungle/ Where the Wild Things Are
Registered: Target and Amazon.com. Search for Meghan McGinley.
Less than 8 weeks to go! It’s all moving a bit too quickly. I joked the other day that I was going to ask for a Doctor’s note to tell Baby she had to stay in longer because I wasn’t ready, but then I think about holding her and snuggling and it all seems to be right on pace.
Still playing the name game and I feel like we still need a few more choices to add to the list! We’re still working on some non-ethnic names- I’d like to have one or two on the list that is more science based, but I’m drawing a blank. I know I had lots of ideas before I got pregnant, but in my addled brain, they are just not coming. Instead, we’re toying with some “normal” names:
Alys- pronounced Alice but Welsh spelling
Cordelia- a Welsh name and name of a few of our favorite characters, though that’s combo blessing and hinderance.
Nimue- ok, not normal, but Josh likes the Arthurian legend part. I liked it until I looked up that it was pronounced NEE-moo-eh. All I can think when I say that is to follow it with “In the jungle, the quiet jungle, the lion sleeps tonight…”. However, the character Nimune is also known as Viviane.
Still processing! And we’re open to suggestions!
More tragedy in my life has prevented me from writing sooner, but I think I can finally talk about it without bursting into tears.
Bella was the best snuggler
We lost our first little girl- the one with fur and four legs- on August 12th. Bella the pug was 2 1/2 years and had more personality and love and spunk than most people I know. She was so much more than a dog- she really was part of the family and my heart is still broken over her passing. It was completely utterly unexpected- she suddenly just wasn’t right, I went to the vet right away because I thought her shoulder was out of the socket, and she never came home. Making that decision was heart wrenching and I still feel a ton of guilt even though I know logically it was the right one. Our house is completely different without her- our daily activities are duller and being home just isn’t as much fun. I long for her more than I can describe and it’s been really tough going for both Josh and I.
But we’re really trying to focus on the good. We’re not healed and not sure if we ever will be, but learning how to cope at least.
Cape May Lighthouse
This past weekend was my father’s family memorial service in Cape May, New Jersey. Josh and I drove down with my mother and brother on Friday night, arriving in New Jersey at 5 am Saturday morning and spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday surrounded by family. We stayed with my Aunt Sylvia who is a hoot to be around and each day saw my grandmother- Grandmom Betty who is now 91. She is absolutely amazing- cynical, hilarious, energetic- I was constantly proud of the genes in my family. My father had 4 sisters (all married) and there are 12 of us grandchildren (9 married) and 17, going on 19 great-grandchildren. Of the whole bunch my grandfather and my father are the only ones who have passed. Both of my grandmother’s sisters are still around too.
Two fun anecdotes- Grandmom Betty was originally unsure if she would be able to make it up because she didn’t want to travel from Florida by herself. I asked her if she flew alone and without missing a beat she said, “Well, they did let some other people on the plane with me. They didn’t make me fly it.” One of the little guys around (my cousin Mary Ann’s son Aodhan) told Grandmom Betty he knew she was old because she had wrinkles and spots. My comment was “I think that’s the only way any of us know she is old.”
Faith, Hope, and Grandmom Betty
Another great part of the weekend was getting to spend time with the newest family edition- Hope. Cousin Faith gave birth to this magnificent little girl just over 3 months ago and Josh and I decided we wanted to put in our order for a baby like her. She was so easy going and accepting of all of the different people. Great facial expressions- a real joy to spend time with. What I liked most though was it got Josh even more excited and he’s declared several times since that he’s ready and can’t wait for our little girl to be here too.
There were two main events of the weekend- the first of course was my father’s actual memorial. We (10 of the 12 cousins; all 4 of his sisters; my grandmother; my mom; brother Colin; Josh; my Aunt Sylvie- my mom’s sister; my 3 cousins on my mom’s side who spent almost 30 years with their Uncle John; Kay; Dad’s cousin Mary Beth; and a few of my dad’s best friends) gathered at Cape May Point’s bird observatory and shared a few memories. The wind was strong and didn’t let us forget about the nature which was the reason the spot was chosen. My Aunt Judy lead everyone, dad’s cousin Mary Beth and my Aunt Sylvie read poems, Grandmom Betty thanked us all, my mom thanked my dad for giving her Colin and myself and also her love of pyrotechnics and Josh almost blew the whole thing by saying, “This is all bullshit” but recovered when he continued with ” I say that because we all know if John was here, he’d be muttering it in the back, and now we don’t have him here to say the inappropriate things or make an ass of himself.” I think we all decided Josh had self-selected to take that role on to fill the void.
Mary Ann, Melanie, and Aunt Sylvie at the Baby Shower
Baby shower onlookers- Josh, Grandmom Betty, and Aunt Judy
The second event was that my aunts and cousins, lead by my Aunt Sylvie, threw me a NJ baby shower! I was completely, utterly overwhelmed. The amount of adorable pink outfits really started solidifying that this parasite thing is actually real and she’ll be here before we know it. I got some really nifty things, some gift cards to target, and a ton of great advice. It was amazing and I’m so thankful! We talked about how the day turned out to be celebrating not only my father’s life and the ending of it, but the beginning of another. I don’t see these people often enough!
Overall, the weekend was great. Relaxing, adventurous (I swam in the ocean and Colin and I had a great time with the huge swells and waves and dodging and diving to avoid them crashing on us and Josh and I had a great time walking on the beach at night following ghost crabs), and truly a great memorial period.
I miss my dad. I wish he could be around for all of the changes that are happening! I miss Bella. I’m incredibly disappointed I won’t get to experience her stealing baby toys and the interaction between my two baby girls. But Baby is coming (her feet and elbows and head don’t let me forget it!) and the biggest changes are still on the horizon.
Thanks to cousin Beth for the photos- I linked to her whole album on my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/meghan.mcginley
Some updates!
I bought my first maternity clothes last weekend and am loving them. I finally have a bit of a baby bump and though don’t have a big round belly, am starting to look pregnant, which I love. I finally got the comment, “You look pregnant” so that was a nice affirmation.
I had my monthly check up this week and it went well. My blood pressure is lower than ever (109/70) and I’ve gained 5 pounds since the beginning. After my next visit in September I’m going to start going every other week as I’ll be in my 3rd trimester… it’s going too fast!
I’ve felt movement for a couple of weeks and for about 2 weeks know I’ve felt definite kicks and jabs and I love it every time. Sometimes it just feels like hiccoughs deep in my belly, but there have been times I felt for sure if I was looking, I would’ve seen my belly jump. Josh isn’t liking it though- each time I call him over to try and feel, she stops. He said the baby is already giving him a complex and teases that I’m hogging her all to myself. I try to reassure him that we still have 17 weeks for him to try and feel it. I found out at my last ultrasound that my placenta is on top, so that’s why it took longer for me to feel anything. Good to know.
Almost 24 weeks in and so far, this has been great. I feel good, I love the waves of content that wash over me a couple of times every day, and I love watching everything grow (except my bra size- that has been super annoying). Twisting and bending is getting a little more difficult, but for the most part, I feel better than I have in years. So no matter what happens in the last segment, I can at least say that the first 2/3rds of the pregnancy were wonderful, save a couple of weeks of not feeling well in the beginning. But I’m even thankful for that, because without it I wouldn’t have figured it out until much later.
I go on vacation this week and though this is usually a very drink-heavy gathering of friends, I’m very much looking forward to it and thankful I feel so good and am still completely mobile. I can’t wait to see how the rest of this plays out!
Just to keep track- going with Welsh now. Love the celtic but also most are easier to pronounce. Our favorites:
Carys: To Love
Ceinwen: Fine and fair
Myfanwy (knowing that everyone would probably disown us if we named her this, but still, we like it): The beloved one
Nia (again, still love it)
Sian: Jane- but could also be feminine, Welsh form of John for my dad
A few weeks ago we found out “it” is a she! And I had another ultrasound last week and the tech confirmed it.
Shot between the legs... it's a girl!
Side note- the ultrasounds were amazing. I had to go back twice to get all of the organs measured. It was amazing the detail they can go into- every chamber of the heart was measured, every area of the brain… they checked her bladder and kidneys and the tech said that everything looked perfect- such a relief to hear!
We were surprised and elated at the news! I felt boy all along, but we both secretly hoped for a girl. My mom said she thought I was a boy too, so Little Parasite is in good company!
Now begins the name game!
I still want unique- that’s a main goal. And something meaningful. Irish or Welsh or something meaningful from our lives. I want 3 or 4 we love and then I want to meet her and decide who she is.
Right now I really like the name Niamh- pronounced “NEEve” or “NEE-iv”. I found the Welsh variant though and it’s “Nia” which I really like. 2 syllables, easy to spell… Maybe as a nickname?
I’ve always liked Rhiannon. Being drawn to Welsh names in general right now.
I also really like Muirgheal- pronounced “mor-iel”. I love Mora as a nickname.
The list needs to keep growing! My plan is to use this blog to keep track of names I like.
18 1/2 weeks to go!
