Name Woes

We've happily had a name picked out for over two months now and have been diligently keeping it a secret. Yesterday I was reading some birth stories online and I came across an interesting story. The birth wasn't all that out of the ordinary, but the name was...the same name that we've picked out. Now, that doesn't seem weird for people that have names picked out like Emma, Jacob, Ava, etc., but our name is VERY unique (I thought) and they're using the same middle name also. The name is spelled slightly differently, but it is such a weird coincidence. I happen to know this person from an online community and she had kept the name secret until after the birth also so it's definitely not a case of either of us "stealing" a name from the other. However, it's going to look like we're name stealers to people that "know" both of us since she had her baby first. It's a good thing no one in our real life has this name and we're unlikely to meet, but I'm still a little disappointed. I was so excited about our name choice and now I feel like a thief. I wish we would have told everyone what we were naming her so there was proof that we aren't just copy cats.

My next appointment is Thursday afternoon. Hopefully I will get the all clear for our trip to Dallas on Friday or we'll be out a lot of money and fun. I haven't been feeling any contractions or anything so we should be good to go. If I'm still feeling good at the end of the month, then we might even be able to travel for Thanksgiving. Jon is on call the day after Thanksgiving, but he has that Saturday and Sunday off. We'll see. I'm getting huge so travel might become too uncomfortable.

I'm trying to figure out whether or not to take the "Parenting a Newborn" class that is offered through the hospital. We're definitely doing the all day Saturday seminar on "Childbirth Preparation/Lamaze Techniques", but I don't know if I then want to spend the next afternoon at another class. Here's what's covered in the parenting class: normal newborn appearances, physical, social, and mental abilities, basic baby care, safety, choosing baby's health care provider, and general information regarding infant feeding methods. Some of that sounds like common sense so I don't know. Keep in mind that I'm a youngest child married to an only child so I'm not the most confident mom-to-be. I'm planning to take a breastfeeding class and join La Leche League so I don't need the info on feeding methods. I think we can pick out a doctor just fine. Jon is a pro at the safety stuff and I'm planning to take the Infant CPR class that's offered. I guess I just fear that I'll miss out on some tiny nugget of knowledge that could come in handy. I plan to watch "The Happiest Baby on the Block", have read most of "What to Expect the First Year", I'm partway through reading "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding", I'm a member of a very large online community of moms where I can go to for advice, and of course, I have my sisters, moms, and friends. With all of that support and education, everything will go perfectly smoothly, right? Okay, so I thought you could use a laugh with that one. :) Well, the class is free so it's just a matter of whether I think it will be worth my time or not. I feel like I'm preparing for war.

I really don't like Trista from The Bachelorette. I liked watching that show and cheered her on when I found out that her and Ryan had infertility problems, but now I find her annoying. If you want to know why, then check out the latest US Weekly. Basically, she wants to feel hot again after having her baby this past summer. She weighs 116 and won't feel good about how she looks until she's down to 106. She wears baggy clothes to cover up her ugly body. I suppose I could feel pity for her obviously low self esteem, but it's irritating. I'm up almost 30 pounds and I still have 8 weeks of pregnancy to go. When this is all said and done, I'm going to have a lot of work to do without a physical trainer or dietitian. Poor Trista.

Jon will be done with his general surgery rotation after tomorrow. Woohoo! We survived. It really hasn't been too bad in the last couple of weeks, but I'll be glad when things are back to normal. He'll enjoy working on oral surgery patients again.