I really enjoyed my break from blogging. We didn’t go anywhere, but I just enjoyed the time at home. David worked on a house project and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. My energy level has improved quite a bit over the past week and it has been nice to actually feel like I can put in a semi-normal day more than once a week!
My morning sickness seems to finally be tapering off. I seem to only have about one morning a week every once in a while now where I feel really, really low. I’m eating normally and FINALLY have gotten rid of that horrible aftertaste in my mouth. There were several weeks when I was literally brushing my teeth 8-10 times a day, trying to get rid of that horrible taste! It didn’t matter what I ate or what I did – it was constantly there and contributed to the queasy stomach. It has tapered off and the past few weeks I’ve been able to deal with it by chewing gum. I’ve chewed more gum in the past three or four weeks than I’ve chewed in the past ten years.
Monday the 10th we heard the baby’s heartbeat for the first time! The nurse told us it could take a few minutes so not to worry if she didn’t find it right away. She found it within ten seconds! It was nice and strong (148). Hearing the heartbeat was encouraging for David and me in that we finally had some “proof” beyond just me being sick all the time! It’s not that I doubted I was pregnant, but as David said – it was something beyond my body and it just made it seem all that more real.
The week of May 7 we have our Level 2 ultrasound. This was earlier than I was hoping for so I was VERY excited when the doctor set it up for that date. We are praying that baby cooperates that day so we can find out boy or girl!
I am pretty sure I’ve been feeling the baby move. I actually thought I felt it for the first time on Palm Sunday, the day before we heard the heartbeat. I was sitting in the evening service and felt a “wave” low in my abdomen that was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. I wasn’t totally sure though because everything you read says not to expect it with the first one until 18-20 weeks and I was almost 15 weeks at that point. The doctor asked me if I had felt the baby move and I told him what had happened. He said it probably was the baby. I then had the same feeling the day after my appointment while I was eating lunch. I didn’t feel anything for several days and now the past few days I’ve been feeling lots of little bubbly feelings in the same general area where the nurse found the heartbeat. So I am guessing Peanut is making his/her presence known! David has “baby movement envy”. He wishes he could experience what I’m experiencing. I told him I’ll remind him of that when he’s sleeping peacefully in a few months and I can’t sleep because the baby won’t be still!
We have working names now for both a boy and a girl. We like both of them, but still have plenty of time to change our minds. It is also hard for me to think about names in the abstract sense. Once we know if it is a boy or girl, I think it will be easier for me to wrap my mind around the name selection process. We’ve been praying that God will lead us to the right name as well. I think names are so important.
So, on that note… How about a name suggestion thread? Here are the “guidelines” David and I are operating under. (And I sincerely hope I don’t offend anyone by what I write here. These are just our preferences!)
- No trendy or made-up names
- No trendy alternate spellings
- Nothing excessively popular (This is a hard one because many of my favorite names in the past are now really popular so I won’t consider them any longer – names like Emma, Grace, etc. I like having a “different” name and not being one of ten “Xs” in my circle of friends.)
- Classic and timeless names are best
- Old-fashioned is good, outdated is not
So there you have it. Based on what you know about me and David from this blog (and for some of you in real life), what name suggestions do you have? In the interest of not letting anyone in on what our preferences are, I’m not going to comment on any of the suggestions. But I’m thinking maybe of a thank you gift from our CafePress store to the person who suggests the eventual name.
Oh, this could be fun! But what is your surname? And do you want middle names?
how fun!! My children have, with the exception of one first name, family names. I love the name Alta, which was my great grandmother’s name. That is my daughter’s name. If I were to have another daughter her name will be Dora, after my grandmother.
I too wanted something a little bit timeless/classic but different enough that there wouldn’t be a roomful of folks turning their heads when she was called (our fourth child, first girl specifically). We settled on Annabelle. I thought it had some old-fashioned charm, but didn’t sound outdated and was just different enough to be unusual without being wacky.
To be honest, she has three names because we couldn’t settle on just one…but of the three, Annabelle sounds the most like what you might be looking for. Our daughters full name is Daci Annabelle Rianna which means gracious, beautiful, virtuous southerner. (Daci means southerner, anna:gracious, belle:beautiful, rianna:virtuous ). Truthfully, Daci was kinda decided on at the last minute (with-in weeks before her birth) and that is what we call her. It is very different and I like that. I don’t like having to spell/pronounce it everytime we introduce her…but, that seems to be our lot in life. It rhymes with Lacy or Tracy, but she’s been called Dacky (yes, like tacky) and/or Daisy pretty frequently. Ah well…
While you’re deciding, check out this fun website:
http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html
It’s a graphic illustration of the popularity & prevalence of female and male names in the US from the late 19th century through the present. Taken from Social Security records, it shows you the rise (and fall) of a name or its variants. So, my name — not common for the 1950s when I was born — hit a big peak in the 1980s.
Best wishes for a safe and healthy pregnancy.
All of our children have family names. The most unusual is Hattie, our daughter, named after my grandmother and great-grandmother. However, after re-reading the Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis, I have come to love the name Ransom for a boy. The meaning is obvious!
I have been trying to have a baby and If we eventually do have a girl we may name her Hope or Faith. Reflecting the substance of the journey
For a boy, well I haven’t really thought about that. lol. I should hmmmmmmmm.
When I was pregnant with my son I used the Bible for names. I wanted strong names. For some reason I never did pick out a girls name, just always felt it was a boy. So my favorite story was about Joshua and that was what I named him. The Bible is full of wonderful names. Some a bit outdated but a lot that are good.
Well, I love the name Jo Anne…..but then I also love Thomas if it’s a boy. My Czech grandmother’s name was Rose. I always thought that if I had a girl I would name her Rose.
Well, I don’t know about you, but I happen to think Ruth is a beautiful name. It isn’t trendy (at least, last time I checked), but it WAS popular around 1910, I think. 🙂 My little Ruth really fits her name.
I happen to have several “popular” names among my crew, but it was TOTALLY unintentional. When I named my first child Joshua (more than two decades ago), I thought it was an uncommon name because I had only known ONE Joshua in school in all my years. BUT…it was in the top ten that year for PA. Oh well. It still suits him. And I still love it.
As the owner of a “common” name (3 Susans, a Suzanne, and a Suzette in my first grade class — in New Orleans — but not NEARLY so many in New York) — it never bothered me one bit. I think that was because I knew I was incredibly special to my parents. (NOT trying to convince you, just sharing. :)) Some names which didn’t appear very common AT the time I used them (a Daniel) became more popular later. You never know.
It’s fun to choose. Enjoy. Wish I could do it again…
Susan
Joy would be a special name to use. I knew a blended family who chose this for their baby girl. They were so full of “joy” in having a baby together. I also like it because of what it stands for – Jesus, Others, You. I wish I would have suggested this for my grandchild. However, I do love the name they gave her – Hannah Elizabeth.
A girl’s name that you might like is…Avalea (said Ay-va-lee). No, I didn’t make it up. No it’s not trendy. No it’s not common. And all the rest. 🙂 A Southern friend named her daughter this in honour of either her or her husband’s grandmother…so it is also an old-fashioned name. 🙂 And a very pretty one, in my opinion! I couldn’t tell you the meaning any more, but you could probably find it. I’ll have to do some thinking on a boy!
Glad to hear you are feeling so good!
LOL@’baby movement envy’….some things are only for moms!
I have no name suggestions. All my girls’ names were not trendy when I named them, but all of their names have become somewhat trendy! I have Hannah, Bethany, Emma and Maggie (Margaret). I’ve always loved the name Elisabeth, it’s timeless and has lots of nicknames to use.
I have no boys! But we would have named one Ben or Charles (Chas or Charlie).
There, I said I had no suggestions and then went on to make a bunch. =)
I felt my first baby at about three and a half months and my second even earlier (seems like it was about 12 weeks with #2). Isn’t it facinating?
Glad you’re feeling better, the middle months really are the best, you feel good enough to actually savor having someone else inside of you and you don’t have to worry about getting them out yet. 😀
Baby names- my daughter’s name is Charity. Not common, but no one (who is an English speaker at least) has to have it spelled out or repeated. I like the idea of virtues as girls’ names, as long as it isn’t too much, e.g. Honor or Chastity (who wants to think about s*xual purity everytime you hear a girl’s name??).
My son’s name is Joseph – no nicknames- but that name is quite popular (#9). His middle name is Malachi, which means messenger of God, although I don’t think that would be the easiest to introduce to non-Christians. Update: it has also just resently shown up on the popularity list as #180 in 2004! Maybe it won’t be a problem after all…
You might also look for names in favorite books (that haven’t recently been made into movies…) for timeless names.
Have fun!
Our kids are all named with family names. Our daughters are Cleo (not Cloe…prounounced Klee-O…very old fashioned name), Marcy, and our son is Reece.
We also thought of the names Lillian and calling her Lil’ for short, and we liked Trevor for a boy too.
I’ve heard a high heart beat may mean a girl and a lower one a boy. I’ve read that is a myth, but it ended up being true for us and for others we know. Our baby girl’s heart beat was initially 156 and has been in the 140s throughout the pregnancy. Just a little bit of trivia…whether it’s a true indicator,who knows? but still fun to guess. My sister in law was told by her doctor to drink 8oz of orange juice an hour before her ultrasound to get the baby moving. I read this can back fire and get the baby moving too much to measure and see the sex,but I decided to try it and drank 4oz before I went in. It worked! She was very still at the beginning of the ultrasound but started to move towards the end. That’s when she moved her legs and we were able to sneak a peak!
I really like the name Claire for a girl. I use to babysit two sisters named Claire and Sarah when I was a teenager. We can’t use Claire because it doesn’t sound good with our last name. I like the name Sarah too, but if I remember right you already have a Sarah in your family. One of the boy names we like and still may use someday is Thomas. I also like the name Seth. (My husband doesn’t like that one:)
Sallie,
The name for our daughter came to me one day during my Bible study time, years before she was born: Anna (after the NT prophetess) Elizabeth (John the Baptist’s mother–also a family name on both my mom and dad’s sides). Our son’s name came to us while my husband was reading Buechner’s book, Brendan. He’s named after the Irish saint, Brendan, the Navigator, and has my mother-in-law’s maiden name for his middle name. (Unfortunately, his first name gets misspelled at times.) I kept journals for our kids while we were awaiting their adoptions, and I wrote about the decision to name our child Brendan (if he was a boy) on the very day he was born! We weren’t matched up with him until more than two months later, so it was quite a miracle from the Lord!
I’ll have to comment several times as I love thinking about names! For a girl I love Catherine,Caitlin, Elizabeth, Marianne, Faith, Miriam, Verity…………in fact I had no problem on finding a girls name when I was pregnant…and then I had a boy! I like Thomas, Alexander, Benjamin, Asher, Joel……hmmm, need to think a bit more about this.I have no idea which names are poular in the USA,I think the ‘name’ tables vary from the UK to the USA. I do quite like Anthony as well (dads middle name), and Jonathan. Time for dinner……
Sallie, I will look forward to seeing what you and David name your little peanut!
I like the names Amelia, Eleanor, Jubilee, Tessa and Charissa for a girl. Elias is my current favorite boy name, it is an older or alternate version of Elijah. (Hmm, Elias David)
I personally love looking through name books and favor choosing a name for its meaning.
It is wonderful to read about this joy the Lord is bringing into your life. Maybe Joy would be a nice middle name for a girl.
His Blessings to you and yours!
You’ve gotten many suggestions for a girl so I will give one for a boy : Phillip.
Since I most likely won’t be having any more children, I’ll share my favorites with you! Of course, my two most favorite boy names we used for our boys, Caleb and Benjamin. Here are some others:
Boys: Wyatt, Jamison, Nathan, Garrett
Girls: Evangeline (Evie, pronounced Eh-vie, for short), Meredith, Adelle, Rachel, Julia
I think Vivian is a classic, old fashioned name for a girl. I always liked the name Julia, but I couldn’t use it if I had a daughter because my husband used to date a Julie! (Too close, haha!) A friend of mine in kindergarten was named Marianna, and I always thought it was classic without being just plain Marianne. I happen to like it anyways. And I’ve always liked old fashioned (but not outdated), farm-ery boys names like Aaron, Silas, etc. My grandfather’s name was Wade (which is old fashioned, not overused), and I always liked that, but it sounds funny with my last name now.
Have fun!
We named our son John Knox, after the reformer. John is also a family name. We call him by his middle name–Knox. Its very manly, a surname, not made up, and not popular at this time. 😉 We like it and it really suits him. We also like Sam.
Also under consideration was Clarissa/Clarisa. I met a lady recently who named her little girl Piper. I thought that was cute, but does have potential for being really popular.
We have boys named Levi and Malakai — old fashioned, not trendy, strong, biblical….
And two girls: Hope and Shalom…..our Hope and Peace…
(And 2 other boys who have now-trendy names ~sigh~: Caleb and Joshua)
And if we ever have more:
Girls: Adaya which is Biblical (or Addie, for short—my great Aunt’s name), Eliana (or Ellie, for short), or Noah (which is a female Bible name also—I like it!)
Boys: We’ve used 4 boy names so far…but I was partial to Asher (which is now becoming popular), and my favorite: Shem —short, strong, Biblical, and NOT popular. Hmmm….maybe there is a reason for that! ~weak smile~
I like Susannah Ruth and Adam Charles
I love the namme Ezra.
And for a girl, Dorothy.
The best advice for naming a child that I’ve ever heard is to open your back door and YELL it a few times. My youngest son is Evan, which just drifts off into the atmosphere when yelled. He missed a few meals. My other two children have stronger consonant sounds. MUCH easier to get their attention!