week of April 26!

[Piglet68]

October Mamas Roll Call

momtol&a
chrissy 09/28 (honorary October mom!)
snugglebutter 10/01
mirthfulmum 10/03
TracyK 10/04
mhurst 10/04
kraftykathy 10/04
Jillerina 10/04
water 10/06
Proudly AP 10/08
FutureMama 10/09
allformyboys 10/11
Lucysmama 10/12
bendmom 10/12
momadance 10/13
Mandi 10/14
rhemp 10/14
wannabmommie 10/15
krnflwr 10/16
Piglet68 10/18
MommyMuse 10/19
BeauGeek 10/20
BeansMomma 10/20
CourtneyandLogan 10/21
ScooterMama1 10/21
EmbersMOM 10/21
Stanleymama 10/23
gottaknit 10/24
3boyz4us 10/24
Ctmom70 10/24
aspiring mama 10/25
truebluexf 10/27
Soogie 10/27
ameliabedelia 10/29
flitters 10/30
AnnR33 10/31

Good morning mamas!!

Hope you all had a great weekend. We went to the Kiddie Museaum yesterday and had a real scare when someone took off with our diaper bag, leaving their very-similar-looking bag behind. The guy had gone home before he realized what he'd done, but brought it back. Phew! My wallet and keys and some favorite diapers were in there!

Question of the Week:
Have you thought of any names yet? DH and I have pretty much picked out the names for boy or girl. I haven't told anyone yet, so I'm going to announce it here first amongst you mamas.

girl: Sofia Marie
boy: Sasha Vincent

Marie is my maternal grandmother's name, and an aunt. "M" names run in that side of the family. Vincent is my maternal grandfather's name and my late brother's middle name.

[blessed2bamommie]

to Kristina! I replied to her intro in our group and invited her over.

Well, they moved me back three days a couple weeks ago, so Piglet and I don't share the same day, at least according to the calendar They need to check me actually since I had a faint line hpt at the beginning of January but af came. Yet, I was pg a couple weeks later. That would be a trip if I had to change months midstream!

Hope everybody had great weekend! We hosted my Pastor and his wife, since he had to fly out to his homestate. The airport is up here in Raleigh, and they live 45 minutes away. It was an early flight and then she had to come to the county anyway to drop off her grandson, and we spent Friday evening together. Saturday I vegged because I *knew Sunday would be busy! Sunday was AM service and then we had our Citywide Gathering of Believers, a group of Bible believing, Holy Spirit filled churches which has gathered together and meet quarterly and the city and surrounding areas are invited at the convention center. It was our turn to lead worship. It was great. Its the biggest group I have led for. It was fun b/c the congregation is so on fire for Jesus, it makes my job easy. It was tiring and I made it through without our ENT sound man coming up to give me oxygen, because my little passenger is making it hard to breathe.


We've at least got a first name for both genders. I'm working on the middle for the girl. Dh is mulling over the boy's name, he's not sure he likes the name we'll call him as opposed to the first and he's not sure about the middle. I emailed his aunt to find out his dad's middle. He died in 2000. I want to honor my daddy who would died in 1987 on the 28th with a child whom will be living on this side of life with us. Jordan's middle is daddy's first name, Edward. Our family name is Arrington and I like Aaron, so that's what our next child will be called. dh's father's last name was Hughes and I like that. A girl would be named Mikayla. I'm did have Lynn as the middle; but, not sure about that now. I feel a bit country. (although I come from country stock ) Maybe Ashley. That's acutally my niece's name. OK, I'm shuttin up now! Your turn!

Have a blessed week! I have my first appointment with the mw this week. (this is my third practice ) Maybe like Ann, they can check and see if I'm have another setting of twins in the Arrington family. As long as they are different sex! Then, I'll be done!

Maaaaaaaaaaaan limitin smilies? I couldn't post! What will I do? (eek)

splat I *still can't post!

finally, cept my wag smiley has wigged out.

Thanks, Piglet! It took *forever for my thread to post and your's must've posted before mine! *totally funny! the *same* question!

[momadance]

Hello! Hope all is well with the mama's!
QOTW: Yes, we have our girls name. Lilian Margaret. Lilian is Dh's great granny and Margaret is my moma and my MW!
We have nothing for a boy! I liked Noah but there seem to be alot of those popping up these days. (or out I should say)

Embers mom: we went through the same decision process about having a homebbith. It's not legal in my state. The 2 MW's I would have LOVED to attend me are out of town for 2 weeks in Oct. and my due date falls right in those dates. It also would have been a HUGE out of pocket expense for us. We have alot of traveling scheduled for the summer, and a homebirth would have left us scrapping for $. I also would have had to forfeit Doula, pre-natalt yoga, massage's etc. We found a hosp. 25 minutes away. It only has 6 delivery rooms and my mw's been there a long time and say the nurses "understand" the needs and non-intervention methods of herself and her clients. THe rooms have big wonderful birthing tubs (we're going water birth) and she discharges after 12 hours. I feel comfortable with all this and the idea of no clean-up It took me a little while to get there, but financial stress=anxiety for me, and I am a cool calm collected mama who can't handle the idea of STRESS!

to my twin: so far no show's lined up for us due to the afore mentioned traveling. We'll be gone 3 weeks in June to mom's beach house on Lake Huron (canada side). 10 days in July (same spot. we have a big aids benefit every july there) and then NY for 4 days for my sis wedding. Yikes!

and I noticed you have a beach house on a great lake also things are getting strange : heehee

[kraftykathy]

QOTW - We have had names picked out for quite awhile already!
Girl - Willow Cerridwen
Boy - Cirdan River
The C's in Cerridwen and Cirdan are hard C's.

I had a fun Saturday. Spent the day at a basketweaving workshop. Wow, it takes quite a bit of work to make those things! It was a lot of fun too. The workshop was put on by the group of ladies that I spin/weave/knit with, so they are a very krafty bunch, lol!

My mom is a pretty krafty sort too so I thought she might think it was cool that I was going to this workshop. When I told her about it she made a crack about babymaking and basketweaving which even though was meant as a joke completely irritated me! (the joke implied that these are great things to do for people who are intellectually challenged!) Grr! I was going to give her the basket for her birthday this week too!

But the day was great. It was nice to see everyone. Most of these women are quite a bit older then me and many of them hadn't heard that I am expecting again. They were so sweet when I told them and they spoiled me plenty! The weather was beautiful so we could work outside. The host of the workshop has a beautiful little farm and her own sheep which are also very spoiled. So cute! One of her ewes even had a set of triplets!

While I was at the workshop my hubby took our kids to a birthday party, so they had lots of fun too and had so much to tell me when I got back. It was a very nice Saturday!

I am so jealous of those of you who have access to a pool! I am soo looking forward to swimmming! We have a great beach on Lake Erie just 20-25 minutes away. But that will have to wait until June when it is finally warm enough. I can't wait!

Kathy

[kraftykathy]

Here's a link to a page about my spinning group. We're called the 'twisted sisters', LOL! Sort of a joke about the twist you put into the wool when it is spun, hee-hee. I'm the one with the purple hat, black sweater, bright coloured skirt and braids.

http://warmandwonderful.com/twisted_sisters.htm

Kathy

[Piglet68]

I've always wondered how you pronounce "Cerridwen". Is it just as it looks (the hard C part I didn't know either)...

[True Blue]

Finally got to hear the heartbeat this morning!! 147-150bpm. It was hard to find, the little bugger was swimming all over the place. But it was fabulous to finally get to hear!!

As for names...Ella Mae for a girl, Jackson ? for a boy. Mae was my great great grandmother's name. Ella is my substitution for Emma (which has always been my favorite name) which has become waaaay too popular for my taste (growing up Amy, at one point there were 3 Amy's in my fourth grade class....sigh). I'm still open to changes, but as of now that is what we have picked out.

[stanleymama]

Well this is my second attempt at posting. I have been having trouble since they have the new setup, which I like, but have been feeling frustrated. Anyone else having problems?

QOTW: We do have our names picked out. Well it is down to two for a boy. For a girl we have: Annaliese Mae. Mae is my grandmother, mil's, and dh grandmothers middle name. For a boy: Either Ethan Craig (Craig is dh's middle name) or Quinn Carrig (Carrig is the Irish form of Craig). I personally am leaning towards Quinn Carrig.

trubluefx: I love your girl name choice. I too always loved Emma, but after having three boys and seeing how popular it became we are letting it go. I think Ella is bearutiful!!!!

I had a really nice weekend. I had a rummage sale with some of dh's family and we sold 97% of our stuff!!! What a blessing that was! Other than that I relaxed, went to a wedding shower yesterday and feel ready to hit the new week

[flitters]

hi mamas!

i hope everyone had a nice weekend!

it sounds like it was busy couple days for many of us with museums and rummage sales and heartbeat hearing!!!

our weekend was nice and mellow.

i think it's very funny that the QOTW in the alternate thread that wannabe started that overlaps with this one from piglet.

we have something of a list of names we like but not really close to narrowing it down. i think we might be last minute namers.

oh!!! and when i'm naked my tummy finally looks slightly more round although the roundness is still quite low, like below my belly button. we've been taking weekly pictures and the changes have definitely begun (albeit slowly)! yay tummy!

[Lucysmama]

QOTW: We have our names pretty much picked out, but I'm not tellin' anyone, even you MDC mamas!
I like a lot of your names....
Amy, I just wanted to let you know that I know 4 baby Ellas!!! All of their mamas had no clue it was rising so fast. One of them said, "We are naming her Ella cause we want a name that isn't very popular," and dh and I laughed cause we already knew 3! I bet when this year's list comes out in January, it will be in the top 25. It is getting super popular. Just thought I would mention it, since you said you want to avoid that. I still think it's a lovely name though!
Kathy - I LOVE the name Willow for a girl. It sounded funny with our last name, otherwise it would have been on my list for Lucy and this baby.

If Lu had been a boy, she would have been Jonah or Kai...funny how your tastes change. Those weren't even on my "considering" list this time 'round!

Can I just say I talking about names!?!

[momadance]

Kathy: My top boy name is/was Willow, but Dh didn't like it. Your little babe is gonna be the best dressed with the fine creations you must make! Nice website. Your hat is super cute!

[MommyMuse]

Am I doing this right?? :)

Hi everyone,
I think I've figured out how to reply to this thread, but just in case this doesn't end up in the April 26th thread...oops!!

My EDD is 10/19. Today is day 1 of week 16, and our next (second) prenatal is next Wednesday...looking forward to it!

Right now my main objectives are to get my hands on a few pregnancy-related items (I think my own undies are starting to feel a LITTLE tight at times, even though I'm not technically "showing"), register for baby gifts (we have NOTHING...not that we plan to get most of the baby gear offered on the market), and do more research on this whole soy/plant estrogen/genital development thing. I'd appreciate it if anyone having information on that last topic would contact me. I read the article in this month's issue, of course, but I had already been researching it for a few months to no avail...very scarce information out there! I'm particularly concerned because of my vegan diet and the fact that I probably consume one or two soy products per day, minimum.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone!
Kristina

[Lucysmama]

Welcome, Kristina! Congrats on your baby-to-be...I take it this is your first?

[blessed2bamommie]

Good you found us, Kristina! I know the soy is :! I just decided to avoid flax and soy when we started ttc. It stank because I relied on soy to replace meat when I would make vege dinners, and I drank soy milk and did wholesoy yogurt. I imagine its harder when your vegan. Now, I just eat anything that isn't nailed down! :LOL Wonder what weight gain will be tomorrow. I don't think I see any difference except my belly. I think that cycling class is burning off the booty again! No complaints there! I'm *so excited about my appt tomorrow!

Hey yall can I ask since its about that time? Who's doing the AFP. I have mixed feeling and if there's a high rate of false positives. I don't want to put myself through it.

[Piglet68]

Kristin, I'm glad you found us here! I've added you to the list. We're not vegan, but we don't eat much meat. While we do eat a lot of tofu, we also eat lots of beans and lentils. Could you maybe boost that as your main protein supply, instead of soy? And I can't believe you aren't showing, lol. I've been out of normal pants for at least two weeks now, and I'm only one day behind you! I do look pregnant. And speaking of underwear, I really need to go get some. I have only 3 pairs of maternity undies and my normal ones are starting to get uncomfortable!

mammawannabe: you know, you're going to have to change your name now, lol! I moved your EDD back 3 days. I think you'll probably still be an October mama (I'd miss you if you left us!). Besides, I don't have alot of faith in estimating baby's gestational age to that small a degree. Within a week or two I might imagine, but three days?

I'm going to do AFP, but if there are any "positives" I'm going to do careful research. My OB understands that I want to avoid amnio at all costs and he is (so far) supportive of that. My feeling is that I'd much rather expect the worst and end up surprised with a healthy baby, than expect a healthy baby and end up with a nasty surprise on Birth Day.

[Lucysmama]

I'm not doing the AFP....
I wouldn't terminate no matter what the results.
And I don't want to unnecessarily put myself through the stress of worrying, worrying about the results being accurate, about what they may suggest, etc...I don't think knowing results from the AFP would give me any peace of mind whatsoever, given the rate of false positives. Either way, you still could end up with a baby who is/isn't "perfect."

I also don't see having a birth defect as a "nasty surprise," I see it as a part of my child to love and accept.

[AnnR33]

Hey Mamas! I finally made it back in, for some reason it won't keep me logged in?? Oh well!
Made it to 13 wks and so ready for this m/s to be done. It's better but not gone by any means and I'm still so tired. But it's been cold and rainy here so maybe that's part of the dreary tired feeling... Anyone else having lots of muscle pains and pulls on the sides? Mine are killing me but I'm already popped out pretty good sooo...guess that's why.
QOTW:
My DH and I have a heck of a time agreeing on names...My first wasn't named for 2 days because we couldn't decide LOL We're not doing much better this time. After the first 2 I know what my DH doesn't like which is most of what I like!
I really like Ella myself but it's getting more common here....who knows!
Have a good week!
Ann

[mirthfulmum]

QOTW: We have a boy's name picked out, Harrison Eliot Smith (Smith isn't our last name) but have yet to settle on a girl's name. DH and I have been "discussing" girl names since we were pregnant with Alias. Fortunately he's a boy and we could come to an agreement on his name fairly easily. But I don't know if we'll be able to ever truly agree on a girl's name. Dh prefers more traditional names (wierd considering Alias I know) and I like names that are unusual. We were actually discussing for the hundredth time my preference for a girl's name (aw heck, I'll just come out and say it, Honalee) and Dh said in an exasperated tone "Name her what ever you want. If it's that important to you name our daughter Honalee go ahead. But I'm telling you right now I don't like the name and I never have". Well I don't want to win like that. I hate to think that for the rest of his life DH would be silently complaining about his child's name. But then again this could be a moot point as we could be having another boy. Oh, by the way, Dh's top girl name pick is Astrid. I really like the name but I like Honalee more!

MommyMuse. As to your soy question. I am lacto-ovo vegetarian but get most of my protein from soy products. When I was preganant with my son I was feeling pretty paranoid about they whole soy/plant estrogen/genital development thing too. But what I discovered was that if I cut back on my soy intake, especially the veggie meats, I began to crave meat during my preganacy. For me, eating meat was not an option. Did research on the subject and decided that from the little that's out there the correlation between soy/plant estrogen and genital development (esp. in boys) was inconclusive at best. So I figured that my body was telling me to up my protein with its meat cravings and I just ate what I thought my body was asking for, which ended up being a lot of tofu and veggie meats. My son was born with a completely normal penis and two healthy testicals. So in my case, the whole soy/plant estrogen/genital development thing didn't effect us. When I think about all the estrogen and estrogen mimicking chemicals out there in the environment (plastics, non-organic dairy etc.) I worry a lot more about trying to decrease my exposure to those estrogen sources than from soy.

[Soogie]

Phew...I'm glad to be back. I've been offline for almost 5 weeks because we were moving. We are finally settling in and my fingers are back on the keyboard at last!

My weekend was spent unpacking boxes. Not very exciting. But I did spend Sunday morning, sitting on my deck with a cup of hot tea, watching a blue heron on our dock fishing for his morning meal. It was very peaceful...I love living on the water.

I had my second appointment with my midwife last week and got to hear the bean's heartbeat, briefly, as he/she was playing hide-and-go seek. I've been feeling the tickly wiggle for about 3 weeks now, but last night I got a little thump. love it.

As for my choices in baby's names, if it's a girl, she will be Moira Elizabeth, and if it's a boy, Duncan Thomas. The girls name is definite but the boy's is still in the "discussion" phase.

Piglet: Can you update the due date list for me? My ultrasound puts my edd at 10/27. But since both my babes were late, I'm still betting on a November arrival. Thanks.

Susan

[Piglet68]

Originally Posted by Lucysmama

I'm not doing the AFP....
I also don't see having a birth defect as a "nasty surprise," I see it as a part of my child to love and accept.

Of course, Lucysmama, you are right. Very poor choice of words on my part. I'm sorry if that offended anybody. I was referring more to the fact that the false positive testing was nasty...but that wasn't clear, I can see now! I would love my baby no matter what!!

I would not terminate either, no matter what. But I'm the sort of person who likes to feel prepared. If a test came back positive for DS, for example, I would start researching like crazy. When I research things, I feel so much more confident (like all the research and learning I did here at MDC during my first PG made me very confident going into motherhood for the first time). So I think, rather than making me crazy with worry, it would help me alot to have something to work with.