29 weeks

Today was my lovely gestational diabetes check. I was so nervous that my blood pressure was actually up. Not insanely high, but about ten points higher than normal. Enough to get a triple check of my blood pressure.

The glucola wasn't as bad as I had been expecting. Yeah, it was sickeningly sweet, but it was still tolerable for the small amount I had to drink.

As far as my boy, he is wonderful! All measurements are dead on, my weight is perfect, his heart rate is good and he is super active.

Today I also picked up all the paperwork to fill out for his future pediatrician. After talking to a mom who shares my parenting beliefs/style and getting the recommendation for this one particular doctor, I think I am comfortable with using him. Incidentally, he used to attend our church and is the PCP for several friends of mine. He isn't technically a pediatrician, but a family doctor and is very supportive of the way I want to raise my baby.

In two more weeks I am seeing the doctor and giving him the birth plan. Now, just to get it finalized...

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet

I've begun to think (because I'm not overanalyzing the entire TTC process enough, I need to begin overanalyzing my unconceived child's life) about what my kids will call me.

I decided when Husband and I were first married that my children would call his parents Nonna and Nonno, Italian for Grandma and Grandpa, respectively. My neices call my mom Grams and, if that's her preference, she's more than welcome to have my kids call her that. Basically what my kids call my mom is totally up to her.

Husband wants to be Daddy. He is in love with the title and can't wait to hear it.

Me? No clue. I have a very specific title for my mom and think it would be adorable for my kids to call me the same thing, but it's a title I came by. I can't tell you where I got it, I can't tell you when it started, but I began calling her it a very, very long time ago and have ever since. Interestingly enough, although not prompted or suggested that I call her it, my mother adores the nickname.

I'm not married to one specific title and I think it will be interesting how I address myself and how, eventually, my child addresses me.

As long as it's not a word I'd be embarrassed to have them call out loudly in the grocery and as long as they don't call me by my first name (a huge pet peeve of mine), I'll just be thankful to be their parent.

The Name Game

I am kind of weird when it comes to baby named. Husband and I both loved two particular baby names for girls, but between the newspaper announcements, friends and all the "Top Ten Baby Name" lists I've seen, both are highly popular names. So, in my opinion, both are down the tubes.

I don't like far out weird baby names that no one can ever spell, pronounce or "get", but I like names that aren't so common that my child will merely become known as Ashley C. in her class.

So today I specifically typed in the phrase, "unique baby names" and came across this website as a result. Some of the suggestions on here I actually like.

Alternative Baby Names

A quandary

I have a situation. A dilemma. A pickle, if you will.

There is someone in my life that I just adore. We have a unique relationship, but it includes, for the most part, a great deal of honesty and candor. She is someone I share the most important details of my life with... and a lot of the mundane ones as well.

Naturally, you'd expect me to tell her, immediately, of our plans to have a child. One glitch: I can't. More to the point, I can't without potentially breaking her heart.

Here's the thing, she went through a major pregnancy loss a year and a half ago. Since then, obviously, she's been very sensitive to baby talk. Completely understandable, of course. So I avoid it. Like. The. Plague.

My big problem in this entire situation is that I want to talk to her about this so badly. I want to share with her my excitement, concerns, general thoughts and tidbits. Almost every day I come close to hitting "send" on a baby-filled email before I delete it and miss our former openness.

Off to the store ventures your fearless heroine

I've been a very naughty girl lately. For someone who claims to want to TTC soon, I haven't been paying one iota of attention to my cycle. In reality, Husband has been paying more attention than I. Sad isn't it?

Last night he made a comment about the fact that evil AF hasn't shown up yet. I kinda dismissed him and then realized "Hey, he's right!"

I may be stretching this a bit, but I am off to buy a test. I'm not really ready to be pregnant just yet. I wanted to wait about two more months before beginning the TTC journey. I know two months isn't that long, but for me, it's long enough to get all my ducks in a row. At present there are still a few outlying ducklings ;-)

The Lies We Tell

The Plan, ever since I was a child, was for me to be a stay-at-home mom. Perhaps not forever, but until the children were in all-day school. I made this very clear to Husband before the fateful "I do's" were said. I was firm in my stance that I wanted to be SAHM. Now that I am older and the majority of my friends are parents, I am even more convinced that being a SAHM is the right choice for me.

That said, I adore my career, most especially now that I work for such a fantastic man. He's always been incredibly generous to his staff and is wonderful to me in many ways other than just financially. I can't say enough about his thoughtfulness and compassion. Since I've begun working for him, I have been encouraged by a few friends and Husband to try to work part-time for him since he is such an outstanding employer.

The problem is, there is no such thing as part-time in this office. Either you are in it totally or not at all.

So I've said numerous times in the office, when the topic has come up, or the question asked, that I don't want children. It's career strategizing at it's most mediocre. If I acknowledge my desire for children, then it will inevitably be brought up about my working plans post child birth. I don't want to express my desire to be a SAHM because, as wonderful as my boss is, there are others in the office who would have much to say. There would also be a lot of jealousy from said colleagues because they are not financially able to do the same, and in a small office, that situation is not ideal.

Yes, it's an outright lie, but until I actually do conceive, I choose to keep my secrets well hidden.