Naming you baby can be a hard one. Some people wait until the baby it born, some plan by finding out the sex of the baby and others plan for either. Our tasks were made a little interesting. I come from a Maltese / Irish background (yes I know a little confusing) and my husband in Australia through and through. My whole family have two middle names and a third added at confirmation (Catholic Ceremony).
My husband was lucky to have one. If you think agreeing on one name is hard try a boys name and girls name times three. I had my mother trying to put in her input with very ethnic names which were never going to work as our surname is very, well Australian. Suggestions like Constantino and Angelo were not going to work, much to my mums’ disappointment.
We did both agree on one thing, a child should never be named after someone who had died. Having a deceased person name in the middle as an honour is fine, but the person we were having is going to be there own person and should be named as such. Now I know some people do this and I don't disagree with this choice. I feel it is up to them and the family history.
Different cultures also have son and daughters who carry on names. We just didn't want to do that. I found girls names easier to convince my husband of, and I think I might just rant at about this time.
Parents of the world even though a name might be cute when your little girl is a youngster think about were this name will take them later in life. I know this is the prerogative of the parents but please think of the future and the chance your child may want to change there name so they can be taken seriously. That is my rant... Just thought I would get that out. Better now thanks.
Anyway, Boys names this is a hard one. You want something masculine but different but not to different and odd. Something they can say with pride and times it by three. Names that will sound good together and not make any words or acronyms that could be used in a not so nice way. My husband didn't do any ready of the name books it was just me constantly say how about this name or that name and him grunting disapprovingly or approval. Ok girls from speaking to other women this is pretty much universal. Husband will not help, however if you choose a name and if they don't like it, he will tell you. Pretty helpful huh? No not really.
The best book for name was a little pocket book I brought for about $5. Also I purchased another book that was about $35 and had 10,000 boys name 10,000 girls names. I really did not find this useful at all, but some might. It was a US book which had lots of American names in it. I personally didn't like it. The best website for me was http://www.babynames.com.au/ you could play around on this site for such a long time.
I will not tell you what name I chose because of privacy of course but he does have three names and of course his surname. That was one tradition I didn't want to let go of.
Just talking about those times when you think "is it just me or..."
Yip Yah... I am really pregnant
Finally... This time I waited the time before telling people just in case. Now if you happen to read some of those pregnancy books about the only one I would recommend is 'Up The Duff by Kaz Cooke'. I actually found the others scared the wits out of me... Most where full of old wives tales or worse case scenarios. Which when it is your first pregnancy you really do not want to hear.
Some other books will tell you you should be able to feel your baby kicking somewhere between 16 - 18weeks. This is only the case in about 10 - 15% of pregnant women. I was so worried when I read this I made an extra appointment when I got to 16 weeks because I couldn't wait. My doctor really dislike these books because of information like this. I didn't feel my baby until 21 weeks.
Now I will warn you straight up... Advice will come thick and fast with some really odd information. Now this will continue right though and including whilst trying to breastfeed, but we will get to that.
Now to understand I was extremely lucky to be pregnant so I did talk to my obstetrician a lot about foods and diet as I knew just one thing could be bad for me and my baby.Best advice given was eat naturally by my GP and Obstetrician. What this means is if is is processed then don't eat it. He said things like margarine, diet coke, etc...
One big warning I got was about diet sweeteners like aspartame and that one that starts with 'P' and lots of letters can cause you to miscarry. Again chances of this vary from person to person but I was not taking any risk at all.
To this day I will not touch the stuff. I tended to ignore most other advice given and if I wasn't sure I spoke with my doctor. I must say I even had nurses giving the most bizarre advice. I had a child health nurse tell me that potatoes were bad and that it would give your child diabetes...
Needless to say I freaked, thinking I have hurt my unborn baby. The doctor laughed and said don't believe that even for a second. I now think that male nurses and doctors were better because they are out of the old wives tales loop.
Now, in saying everything that I have I will say that different foods will have different effects on different pregnant mothers to be. I couldn't stomach for a moment any seafood and even the smell would send me running for the toilet.
I was a little unlucky in this regard as well because whilst at work I sat right near the breezeway to the lunch room in a call centre, and it was around this time that most people decided to be on the no carbs or low carbs diet which meant they all ate tuna or Salmon on crackers or with salad. The smell, oh god was terrible to me. I had to wait until lunch was over before I could eat mine. Otherwise from this I had no morning sickness at all.
Cravings... Your not odd
Some old wives tales say if you don't follow your cravings your baby will have birthmarks in the shape of... I know again bizarre. Popular in Maltese culture this one. Anyway, this is not true, just in case you were wondering.
I didn't have strong cravings and seriously didn't matter if I didn't get what I wanted but some expectant mums will have really strong cravings. So don't be surprised, all I say is try to remain healthy in your choice.
My craving otherwise was Pancakes, I couldn't get enough of them, just plain with lemon and butter. My other was strawberries, I would eat whole punnets of strawberries then eat more if I could. These days I still love both but just not on the same scale.
By this stage I was now 16 weeks pregnant and loving it.
Some other books will tell you you should be able to feel your baby kicking somewhere between 16 - 18weeks. This is only the case in about 10 - 15% of pregnant women. I was so worried when I read this I made an extra appointment when I got to 16 weeks because I couldn't wait. My doctor really dislike these books because of information like this. I didn't feel my baby until 21 weeks.
Now I will warn you straight up... Advice will come thick and fast with some really odd information. Now this will continue right though and including whilst trying to breastfeed, but we will get to that.
Now to understand I was extremely lucky to be pregnant so I did talk to my obstetrician a lot about foods and diet as I knew just one thing could be bad for me and my baby.Best advice given was eat naturally by my GP and Obstetrician. What this means is if is is processed then don't eat it. He said things like margarine, diet coke, etc...
One big warning I got was about diet sweeteners like aspartame and that one that starts with 'P' and lots of letters can cause you to miscarry. Again chances of this vary from person to person but I was not taking any risk at all.
To this day I will not touch the stuff. I tended to ignore most other advice given and if I wasn't sure I spoke with my doctor. I must say I even had nurses giving the most bizarre advice. I had a child health nurse tell me that potatoes were bad and that it would give your child diabetes...
Needless to say I freaked, thinking I have hurt my unborn baby. The doctor laughed and said don't believe that even for a second. I now think that male nurses and doctors were better because they are out of the old wives tales loop.
Now, in saying everything that I have I will say that different foods will have different effects on different pregnant mothers to be. I couldn't stomach for a moment any seafood and even the smell would send me running for the toilet.
I was a little unlucky in this regard as well because whilst at work I sat right near the breezeway to the lunch room in a call centre, and it was around this time that most people decided to be on the no carbs or low carbs diet which meant they all ate tuna or Salmon on crackers or with salad. The smell, oh god was terrible to me. I had to wait until lunch was over before I could eat mine. Otherwise from this I had no morning sickness at all.
Cravings... Your not odd
Some old wives tales say if you don't follow your cravings your baby will have birthmarks in the shape of... I know again bizarre. Popular in Maltese culture this one. Anyway, this is not true, just in case you were wondering.
I didn't have strong cravings and seriously didn't matter if I didn't get what I wanted but some expectant mums will have really strong cravings. So don't be surprised, all I say is try to remain healthy in your choice.
My craving otherwise was Pancakes, I couldn't get enough of them, just plain with lemon and butter. My other was strawberries, I would eat whole punnets of strawberries then eat more if I could. These days I still love both but just not on the same scale.
By this stage I was now 16 weeks pregnant and loving it.
Foster Care?
Determine we were... We went through the checks and passed them all. We were convinced this was it, this is what we should be doing. Now December 2002 we had news and great news though we were nervous. "Your Pregnant" I was not confident at all, as previously advised I would probably never see a pregnancy to term. I was not sure what to think. I was happy but sad at the same time. We took our name off the list for Foster Care for now.
The doctors were cautious and I was having ultrasounds every appointment plus specialist ultrasounds for a better picture to ensure everything was going well.
Week 10 I started bleeding, again I thought just not meant to be. Went to the Obstetrician who did a check and said, " Baby's healthy small bleeds are common around this time as the baby starts to look like it should"...
My response, "REALLY? NO WAY... REALLY? OH GOD YEAHHHHH..."
Now just so you know if you do get a bleed and you feel unsure get checked anyway, but it is common and another thing people just do not mention.
I went to specialists appointments every 6 weeks and also my obstetrician appointments. Dr Kelsey was such a nice doctor and lovely man. My husband attended every appointment, because, ummm well doctors poke around and I felt safer with my husband there.
I was still nervous because I wasn't sure if this little person was going to stick around, if so I was due 28th September 2003.
The doctors were cautious and I was having ultrasounds every appointment plus specialist ultrasounds for a better picture to ensure everything was going well.
Week 10 I started bleeding, again I thought just not meant to be. Went to the Obstetrician who did a check and said, " Baby's healthy small bleeds are common around this time as the baby starts to look like it should"...
My response, "REALLY? NO WAY... REALLY? OH GOD YEAHHHHH..."
Now just so you know if you do get a bleed and you feel unsure get checked anyway, but it is common and another thing people just do not mention.
I went to specialists appointments every 6 weeks and also my obstetrician appointments. Dr Kelsey was such a nice doctor and lovely man. My husband attended every appointment, because, ummm well doctors poke around and I felt safer with my husband there.
I was still nervous because I wasn't sure if this little person was going to stick around, if so I was due 28th September 2003.
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