31 Weeks Update

It's been a while. My e-mail got hacked and my husband was holding it hostage from me until he could run virus scans and make sure he got all the junk off of it. I was able to use the internet, but unable to log into anything: email, facebook, blogger, etc. It's so good to be back!

How far along: 31 weeks. I'm down to single digits in my countdown. 9 weeks left. 7 if I go early like my mom did. 11 if I carry to 42 weeks.

Weight gained: Only 8lbs. so far. 3.5 of them in the last 2 weeks! My Dr. said if I continue to gain at this pace then I have a good possibility of coming out under my pre-pregnancy weight after I give birth. Not too shabby.

Food Aversions: Not too much. Though I am now experiencing a loss of appitite. I'm hungry a lot, but nothing sounds good to eat. I find myself staring into our fridge and not being able to find anything that tastes good. I eat a lot of canned peaches and spaghetti o's.

Cravings: Ice cream. Lots and lots of it. I'm talking 2-3 bowls a day on some days. I can't help myself. It's just so creamy and sweet.

Body changes: I'm starting to sweat a lot. I'm hot all the time. I feel bad for Jordan cause he's cold most of the time and has to suffer. Still no stretch marks on my belly, though a few more have popped up on my hips. I'm getting more Braxton Hicks than I did before and my boobs leak more than they did in the past. I'm hoping this is a sign of good breastfeeding in my future. It's getting harder to be comfortable. When I stand for too long my hips ache. When I sit for too long my ribs hurt. And when I lay down it's harder to breathe and painful when I move my hips.

Baby changes: I feel her kick a lot more. The kicks have gotten stronger and, at some points, very painful. My ribs are in a constant state of soreness. I try to reposition her, but it doesn't work most of the time.

How we're preparing: I bought some cheap PJ's today that I plan on taking to the hospital. It's a matching set with a top that buttons all the way down. This will be good for breastfeeding and having skin-to-skin contact with baby in the hospital without having to remove too much clothing. We also start birthing and breastfeeding classes next week.

Baby name: We've been holding on to Madeline. We've been using it for a few weeks now and we haven't gotten tired of it yet. We need to settle on a spelling of it though. We want it pronounced Mad-a-lynn and not Mad-a-line.

What I'm looking forward to: I have my 1st of 2 baby showers this weekend in Indiana. It's with my side of the family. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, especially cause most of my family lives very far away.

Notes to Baby

What's in a Name?

So far this pregnancy has been pretty easy.
Getting pregnant was easy.
Pregnancy itself is fairly easy (minus the first 12 weeks or so).
Decorating the nursery was easy once we got a theme/colors
Baby registry was easy.

There is one thing, however, that has not come easy to us. And that is picking her name. I've known forever that her middle name will be Lucille. It's a family name and she'll be the 5th generation of the 1st born daughter in the family with that middle name. Lucille is my middle name, as well at my mom's, grandma's and great grandma's. Hopefully our daughter will name her 1st born daughter Lucille and the tradition will carry on.

When we found out I was growing a girl, I came up with a running list of names I liked. Names that I had liked before I was pregnant and names that I added as I heard/saw them. The ones is bold are the ones we've narrowed it down to.

Grace Lucille<---I like Grace more as a middle name

Mary Lucille<---Mary was my dad's mom's name. It's an old name and a classic. No one else likes this name which makes me like it a little more. Jordan's family doesn't like it at all. I think because it's a very Catholic name. I'm Catholic and he's not. I think his family might fear I'm trying to push my religious values on him. Which I'm not. I'm not very religious at all. It doesn't have a nickname, but we could call her Mary Lu.

Olivia Lucille<---LOVE this name. However, it's the #2 name in our state right now. I don't want her to be one of 2-4 Olivia's in her class. Because the name is so popular I don't want her to be referred to as "adjective" Olivia. Brown haired Olivia? Tall Olivia? Olivia with the big eyes? We like the name Ollie and Olive for nicknames but HATE Liv and Livvie.

Emilia Lucille<---I just like the sound of it. Other than that it holds no special meaning to me. I would choose this spelling over Amelia because I wouldn't want her to be called Amy for short. Emmy is better.

Hannah Lucille<---It's an older name. Jordan doesn't like the whole "Hannah Montana" thing but I told him that that's not really relevant anymore.

Evelyn Lucille<---Same feeling towards this name as Emelia

Alice Lucille<---Not sure if I like this one as much as I did.

Marian Lucille<---I go from loving this name to not liking it at all. Red flag? If we named her this then we'd call her Mary for short. Also might get his family to like this better than Mary.

Madeleine Lucille<---Starting to grow on me. Jordan and I were going to try out baby names on a week to week basis. This one wasn't even on the list and he called her this and I loved it. Fate? Our friends have a dog named Maddie so that might make us cut this name as the nickname would be Maddie. I'm sure our child will out live the dog though. (Sorry Shley)

I also love LOVE the names Fiona and Emma. Sadly I named my dogs Fiona and Emma when I was SURE that I wasn't going to have children.

I'm so envious of parents that just pick a name. Or the ones that have had a name picked forever. I so want to have that kind of, what, luck? Assurance? A love for a name so much that I KNOW deep in my soul that I want to call my child it for the rest of their life?

With less than 12 weeks left I'm really starting to get worried that we won't have a name before she arrives. Jordan's in no hurry to name her though. He's even suggested we wait to see her before we name her. I'm fine with this, but I'm scared that I'll name her one of the names I like on a whim (Like Evelyn or Alice) and then she'll be stuck with a name that means nothing and I hate.

A name is forever. I feel like it could make or break a child. It could set her up for success or failure. She could have a miserable time in school and get picked on or made fun of because what we choose to call her. This is totally stressing me out. I told Jordan that we need to pick a name and stick to it and that will be that. Until I hear something better and start questioning myself all over again.