Naming the baby

By steve on October 6th, 2005

[this post by Steve]

Now that we know we’ve got a girl, Kate and I are playing the name game with renewed gusto. Like just about every parent, we want our child to have a unique name that’s not too weird. Although “not too weird” is pretty relative, and what we really want is a name that’s easy to spell.

The Seattle PI has an article today about baby names. Here’s the top 10 list; you can rest assured we won’t be choosing any of these (the number in parentheses is the number of Washington state births last year):

1. Jacob (510)/1. Emma (480)

2. Ethan (483)/2. Emily (461)

3. Andrew (450)/3. Olivia (361)

4. Alexander (410)/4. Isabella (354)

5. Joshua (391)/5. Madison (343)

6. Daniel (389)/6. Hannah (342)

7. Ryan (377)/7. Grace (309)

8. Michael (364)/8. Sophia (285)

9. Samuel (338)/9. Abigail (266)

10. Benjamin (336)/10. Elizabeth (263)

Our apologies if your name appears on this list; you’re just too trendy for our tastes.

Filed under: pregnancy | Comment now »

Thoughts on Gender

By kate on October 3rd, 2005

Now that we know we’re having a girl, Steve and I have been giving some more thought to gender. I’ve always said that I want my kids to have all kinds of toys, whether they’re girls or boys. If we were having a boy, I’d give him dolls as well as trucks; frilly dress-up clothes as well as plastic tools. With Zippy, it’ll be the same. Why not give a child the full range of fun to choose from? I don’t doubt that she’ll end up preferring some kinds of toys over others, and that’s fine, even if she ends up wanting to be a princess. I just want her to have the biggest possible choice and not steer her in a direction.

That means Zippy will get some “girly” stuff, even though I’m not crazy about those things. If you know me, I don’t go in for pink and frilly very much (although I do enjoy wearing the “featherbutt” costumes the Aerialistas have). I don’t want her entire wardrobe and toybox to consist of this stuff. I’m kind of afraid that every baby gift we’ll get from now on is going to be pink. The thought makes me shudder.

The last thing I want to be is ungrateful… but if you find yourself eyeing that fluffy pink ballerina outfit, maybe you’d consider throwing in a tool belt as well.

Filed under: parenting, pregnancy | 2 Comments »

I’m mezmerized by this…

By kate on September 30th, 2005

Falling Georgie

It’s especially amusing when he finally stops.

Filed under: Links | 3 Comments »

Starting to make sense…

By kate on September 29th, 2005

After the ultrasound yesterday, someone asked if it made the baby seem more real, and I said no. At the time, it was still very theoretical, the idea of this tiny person inside me.

However, now that it’s had time to sink in, I’m starting to get a more tangible understanding of the whole thing. The radiologist showed me how Zippy was aligned and where in my belly she was (at the time – apparently she moves).

Through the afternoon and evening yesterday, I paid more attention to little cramp-type feelings I sometimes get and realized they’re happening where her feet are. I think I may be feeling movement! I can’t say for sure, but I can now at least imagine Zippy in there, the size she is, and the movements she may be making.

Filed under: pregnancy | 1 Comment »

Girl Power

By kate on September 28th, 2005

It’s a girl! A healthy girl!

Today’s ultrasound had good results, showing one healthy baby that has a 90-95% chance of being female (they don’t like to guarantee this stuff).

The one other interesting thing was that Zippy is smaller than fetuses of 17 weeks usually are. The ultrasound radiologist took that to mean that there was some confusion around the date of conception. I’m sure of the date of my last period, so maybe I ovulated a week late. Or, Zippy could just be small, although the radiologist wouldn’t speculate as to what that might mean, preferring to leave that to our doctor. I didn’t get the sense that it was a problem, though. My due date could be changed to March 12th. We’ll see what the midwife says.

The ultrasound experience could have been better. We got a technician (not the radiologist who just visited briefly at the end) who was brusque and businesslike. She took no time to acquaint us with the procedure or what we were seeing, she just dove in and started taking measurements of the images on the screen. Steve could follow along fine, but I was viewing it at a weird angle and for a long time wasn’t able to make sense of the image. That was frustrating, and even though I was obviously/vocally struggling to understand the perspective, the technician didn’t slow down or give any explanations. Finally, Steve was able to orient me.

We were able to see Zippy all at once, as well as closer up. It was cool. We could see bones, face, hands, feet, etc. We watched her heart beat and her mouth move as she swallowed amniotic fluid (a fun point to imagine she was talking to us instead).

I had imagined her inside a spherical uterus, with all the space that implies, but I’d forgotten about the placenta, which seemed as big as Zippy. She’s actually in pretty tight quarters. I’m surprised I haven’t felt her move yet, being so close to the uterine wall, but I haven’t. We got to watch her move a bit, though. During the course of the ultrasound, she bent and straightened her legs a few times as well as moving her hands, head, and arms.

Many pictures were taken during the ultrasound, but the technician only printed three for us. I assume the rest will go in our file, which will be sent to the midwife. We’ll be sure to get copies of everything at our next appointment. In the meantime, here are a couple glimpses of our daughter (first time I’ve used that word!). You’re looking at the profile (side) of her head and upper torso:

Picture 1 (best) | Picture 2 | Picture 3

Filed under: pregnancy | Comment now »

Impatient

By kate on September 27th, 2005

I slept badly last night, tossing and turning and dreaming about tomorrow’s ultrasound appointment. I think I dreamt both possible outcomes during the course of the night.

Maybe some couples wait to find out the gender because then the momentousness of that news is overshadowed by the excitement/ordeal of birth…