What’s In A Name?

I just ordered this:

And this:

And I had them both monogrammed with the same letter.

Which means that we picked Baby’s name! Actually there’s a frontrunner and a backup name, but they both have the same first initial. We’re pretty sold on the frontrunner, but we wanted another option, just in case she came out looking nothing like our favorite name. Or in case, like, Jessica Simpson randomly names her baby the same thing.

Here’s the part where I’m an asshole and say that I’m not going to tell you the name until the baby is born. It’s more fun to leave something for a surprise, right?

Right? Sorry. Don’t kill me.

I love talking about names. I could talk about them all day long. I always thought picking a name would be the most fun ever. Until I had to do it. Everything was either too popular or way too bizarre, with very little middle ground. I didn’t think we were ever going to find a name we truly loved. Until we did. It was definitely an intuitive a-ha moment. To me, the feeling was similar to finding the perfect wedding dress.

So tell me. How did you pick your child’s name? And did you spill the beans before its birth? Or, if you don’t have a little one, what’s your favorite name and why?

20 Weeks: Halfway!

I had my anatomy scan yesterday. They measured Baby’s bones and organs and a bunch of other good stuff. They confirmed that she is still a she. And, most importantly, they told us that she looks healthy!

Baby was squirming around the whole time and she looked at the camera so much that the tech called her a little poser.  It was incredible to see her miniature feet, her tiny bones and her sweet profile. I kept telling Tim that she looks pretty based on her profile shot and he laughed at me. But whatevs, Tim, she looks pretty!

The thing that cracks me up is that they printed us out a between-the-legs shot—I guess so we have tangible proof that she is a girl. Our daughter is going to loooove seeing that one in fifteen years!

How I’m feeling: Exhausted. But that’s mostly because we moved into a new house on Wednesday, and moving sucks, pregnant or not. My insomnia has actually improved since the move. Score! My newest symptom is back pain. I’m looking into some stretches I can do to ease this. Other than that, I’m feeling pretty good physically.

Mentally? I’m not going to lie, the events with my doctor last week really took a toll on my mental state. I was shaken for the rest of last week (and still kind of am). But after seeing my little girl yesterday, I’m starting to feel better. I talked to a midwife from my soon-to-be new practice on the phone yesterday evening (she was great), and someone from that office should be calling me to set up an appointment in the next few days.

Overall, I’m feeling extremely grateful to be 20 weeks pregnant and to be growing a healthy little lady!

How I look: Here’s a 20 week pic, taken in our new house.

I can't believe I'm halfway there!

 

 

All Is Well & A Surprise!

First and foremost, Baby and I are fine. Thanks to everyone who commented, emailed or messaged me. I really needed and appreciated all of your support. There’s plenty of amniotic fluid floating around in the ole womb and none is leaking. Huzzah! Thank you God. I have not called a new doctor yet because by the time we got done with the appointment it was after 4. I will call tomorrow, though. I think I’m going to try out a midwifery/OB office that my friend recently used and liked. And if that’s no good, I’ll look into my other friend’s doctor out in the ‘burbs.

The doctor I saw today was actually awesome. Way better than my doctor. Not awesome enough to make me stay at that practice, but it was nice to go out on a positive note. She was so friendly and spent tons of time with us. And, much to our surprise, she gave us an ultrasound to confirm that my fluid levels were where they should be.

Which means…

She also gave us her best guess on the baby’s gender. We’ll hopefully get it confirmed at Monday’s ultrasound, but she told us with 90% certainty that…

IT’S A GIRL!

A little girl. A daughter.

My daughter.

Wow.

Scared and Switching Doctors

I had a horrible encounter with my doctor’s office today. I had been feeling iffy about my doctor from the get-go, but this incident has me convinced that I need to switch.

Without getting too graphic—since I know my brothers read this blog—I was worried yesterday that there was a chance I might be leaking amniotic fluid. This is not a good thing, especially early on in a pregnancy. My symptoms had cleared up by this morning, but I decided to call my doctor’s office anyway, just for peace of mind. I wanted to know what I should be looking for, should I ever experience those symptoms again.

I called this morning, left a message with the OB coordinator (you can’t even leave a message for a nurse or doctor in this place), and waited until 3:30 when she finally called me back. I described to her what was going on and explained that it seemed to have cleared up. Initially, she said that I was fine and that if I were actually leaking amniotic fluid, I would know it. Then, after I pumped her for a little more information, she changed on a dime and said that I needed to go to the hospital immediately. She said, and I quote, “If you don’t go, your baby may die.” I was confused. Hadn’t she just said I was fine two seconds ago? I asked her for clarification and she said, huffily, “Hold on, let me talk to the doctor.”

Wait, shouldn’t she have talked to the doctor in the first place before saying my baby might die?

So she got back on the phone and said that since my symptoms have stopped, I didn’t need to go to the hospital, but I should be seen in the office the next day. Then she said that if the symptoms returned before my appointment, I needed to go to the hospital immediately because this was a very serious situation.

Then she transferred me to the scheduling agent. The scheduling chick was like, “Hmmmm…there’s no time for anyone to see you tomorrow. Are you sure you don’t just want to go to the hospital right now?” At this point, I was totally freaked out, so of course I said, “Yes! I will go to the hospital.”

Then she put me on hold again. When she returned she said, “Actually, you can’t go to the hospital because this isn’t an emergency.”

Huh? Are these people playing mind games with me? One minute they’re telling me that this is a very serious situation, possibly resulting in the death of my baby. And now it’s no big deal?

So I of course told her that they were scaring me with all of this back and forth. She said she’d have the OB coordinator call me back and hung up post-haste.

At this point I was in tears. The OB coordinator called back and told me that the doctor could see me at 2:30 tomorrow.  So I said, “Just to clarify here, I don’t need to go to the hospital?” She said no and hung up without another word.

Okaaaaaaay. So…WTF? I wasn’t worried at all until I called the doctor for peace of mind. Forget about the fact that I never got to talk to a doctor, but I got the exact opposite of peace of mind. I think baby and I are ok. If my symptoms return, I’ll go to the hospital tonight, otherwise I’ll keep my 2:30 appointment. But now I am really scared and sad and upset.

I could use some virtual hugs. And maybe some positive thoughts and prayers thrown in the mix. I’ll keep you guys updated.