I’m 39 weeks and have wondered every day for the past week if today is the day. I’m having contractions and some of them even grab my attention. With my first I went into labor spontaneously 5 days before my due date and with my second I was induced two days before my due date because I had preeclampsia. This time around I beat the preeclampsia with a recommended diet and I’m incredibly grateful not to have to suffer through that again. [name_f]My[/name_f] next appointment is scheduled for after my due date and I’m hoping to have to call the midwife before then.
[name_f]My[/name_f] three and a half year old son has significantly added to his suggestion for the new baby’s name. He now insists that the baby’s name will be [name_f]Juju[/name_f] Smith-Schuster [name_u]George[/name_u] [name_m]Washington[/name_m] [name_f]Sigourney[/name_f] [name_u]Alex[/name_u] [name_m]Abraham[/name_m] [name_u]Lincoln[/name_u]. JuE-JuE for short. What a funny guy!
[name_f]My[/name_f] husband and I have settled on [name_m]Clay[/name_m] [name_m]Ezekiel[/name_m] for a boy and [name_f]Cate[/name_f] [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] for a girl. I have the changing table set up and the bassinet put together. I couldn’t figure out how to get my mind off wondering when/how the baby will come so I’ve tried to make sure my hair looked great everyday instead. Like I can control my hair and that’s enough? Who knows.
37 weeks here and it’s finally [name_f]May[/name_f]! Hooray! I hesitate to say birth month just in case I go over by a couple of weeks! Ha
Feeling pretty uncomfortable and sleep is tricky once I’ve woken up once I’m finding it very hard to sleep again. [name_f]My[/name_f] brain is too active obviously!
[name_m]Little[/name_m] one hasn’t been consistently head down, which has happened with several of mine but it seems they make a bigger fuss each time. [name_f]My[/name_f] 3 natural births were at 41 weeks so I don’t feel like it’s all that likely it’ll happen yet. And then the growth scans have been inconsistent too, notoriously unreliable close to the end but still creates that niggle of worry.
Tomorrow I have blood flow and fluid check and then another scan next week. I’m not talking to an obstetrician tomorrow as I’ve been told mine isn’t in and last week’s unfortunate conversation with someone else gave him the opportunity to tell me 'i can see you’d like a natural delivery but I don’t think it’s going to happen ’ ugh! As if anyone should be saying it that way
I managed to stand up for myself though and I’ll chat with my consultant next week.
After that I had a lovely talk with head of midwifery who was much more supportive of vbac…fingers crossed this monkey goes head down soon! Meanwhile a section has been penciled in for 29th! Which is with my lovely consultant, but is only 41+1 which is a little early if I’m trying to wait out labour. Unfortunately she can’t do later in the week. However it’s all a bit moot if baby still not head down by 40 weeks. I may be headed for ECV or earlier section which I don’t really want but trying to keep an open mind!
This is why I can’t sleep
No closer name wise either.
[name_f]Aurora[/name_f] still the favourite, but not for husband who is pretty unhelpful as usual. And I’m having doubts now too
Our wait is over. Active labor started for me at exactly 41 weeks. [name_f]My[/name_f] second full moon/Friday birth and this time it was on our wedding anniversary.
The home birth was intense for me this time around. I had an anterior lip. As soon as the midwife pushed it out of the way [name_m]Clay[/name_m] [name_m]Ezekiel[/name_m] was born. He weighed 10 lbs! I had no idea I was carrying a 10 lbs baby. Somehow I did not tear. We’re all doing really well.
Congratulations! That’s such a great birth story… I love all the little details. And wow 10lbs and no tearing!!! That’s like a super power right there. [name_f]My[/name_f] two vbacs to date were 7lbs with tears.
40 weeks 2 days here. [name_f]My[/name_f] next appointment is this [name_m]Friday[/name_m]. The midwife said at which point they’ll offer an induction. I plan to turn it down though. [name_f]My[/name_f] two who were born past 41 weeks didn’t need any help with starting labor so I don’t feel the urge to this time when I wouldn’t even be 41 weeks yet. Plus, I’m kind of soaking up the extra days as hubby and I are at a name standstill. We’ve settled on the middle name [name_m]Stephen[/name_m] but now trying to pair something we love with it. - we each have suggestions but then reasons to veto. He finds my veto reasons silly and I find his reasons silly. We have our girl all settled but yesterday brought on phrases in our conversations I don’t think we’ve had before like “if we ever have want another we’ll have to decide on names beforehand.” And “so we agree our boy has no name at the moment.” This is somewhat panic worthy but I do keep flashing back to all previous pregnancies and I do think it’s not uncommon for us to still be undecided/ not in agreement at this point. But yikes the thought of being nameless at the hospital is just a tad of a scary thought.
CS today at 40+1. I fought to wait that long. [name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_m]Jeremiah[/name_m] arrived this morning weighing 7#3oz. We’re doing great… hope to go home tomorrow, but realistically it’ll be [name_f]Sunday[/name_f] before we do. I think I’ve gotten the hang of this cs thing. sad, but at peace Girls, fight for vaginal birth! This was my 5th CS. We are thankful [name_m]Peter[/name_m] is doing well.
Congrats to everyone who’s delivered! And [name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_m]Jeremiah[/name_m] is so cute—I love the name [name_m]Peter[/name_m]!
[name_f]Theodora[/name_f] [name_u]Taylor[/name_u] was born at sunrise this [name_f]Wednesday[/name_f]! After a slow labor that made me wonder if I was immune to pitocin, delivery happened magically fast, and she was out in three pushes—unprecedented for me.
[name_m]Just[/name_m] as for my two older children, we only tuned in to the name that felt right in the last two weeks of pregnancy. We had cycled through [name_u]June[/name_u], [name_f]Susannah[/name_f], [name_f]Esther[/name_f], [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f], and a couple other frontrunners beforehand.
We love all the nicknames for [name_f]Theodora[/name_f], though [name_f]Thea[/name_f] is the one we’re using most for now.
It gave me some pause to use the feminization of such a popular boys’ name, but I had a similar experience growing up sharing my name with boys, too, and she’ll have the benefit of lots of nickname options to choose from. In the end I even doubled down and gave her my own first name as a middle.
I feel elated with her name and I love the contrast of her vintage first with a surname middle, and it feels like a great mix of family significance and sounds we love. [name_m]Even[/name_m] my 9-year-old daughter loves it, and she is a tough customer.
Aww congratulations!! [name_f]Theodora[/name_f] [name_u]Taylor[/name_u] is lovely
[name_f]Martha[/name_f] is 9 already? I bet she’s an amazing big sister!
Congratulations to everyone who has had their beautiful babies!
[name_u]Loving[/name_u] all their names, especially [name_f]Theodora[/name_f]! Our [name_f]Thea[/name_f] was 11 yesterday, she’s amazing and I’m still in love with her name! It’s fab! I tried to get husband to agree to a longer one (like Xanthea) but [name_f]Thea[/name_f] is fab and like you say yours will have loads of nn options too
Oh and mini update I’m 40 weeks this weekend! Hurray! [name_u]Baby[/name_u] is hopefully staying head down now (lots of drama over it as usual) and I’m trying to patiently wait for spontaneous labour. Couple of possible section dates are pencilled in for 41+1 and 42+1 (but no real reason except nerves) but really hoping for Vbac so fingers crossed sometime in the next week
Oh that’s amazing that you’re a [name_f]Theodora[/name_f] mom too! I’ve been so thrilled with her name a week in and I love hearing that you are too, 11 years in. [name_u]Happy[/name_u] 40 weeks and I hope you get your VBAC!
Thanks! Having some tightenings the last couple of evenings so all feels positive! Next week’s section has been cancelled and if I’m still here next week consultant midwife will give me a call to talk about balloon induction as it’s less controversial after sections. Had another reflexology session this afternoon which is amazing and so relaxing I could sit there all day
So our top two girl contenders had always been [name_f]Phoebe[/name_f] [name_f]Joy[/name_f] and [name_u]Promise[/name_u] [name_f]Ruth[/name_f]. I went into active labor late on the 10th. We rushed to the hospital as my contractions literally seemed to jump 0-60. I blame nursing my toddler for pushing me there. But similar to my previous two labors when baby decided they wanted out they meant it. So like the other two times I was rushed up via wheel chair, skipped triage, told baby was still head down- so a vbac attempt was possible , I arrived at 4cm but was told I was progressing fast so they rushed to get my desired epidural in. At 4:30am the next day I was told I was finally 10cm and able to start pushing. At 4:56 my husband announced…. “It’s a boy!”
Yep! I said it! And hubby said I physically recoiled in that moment. We were both completely stunned! The only one who thought boy during my pregnancy was my almost 3yo! I’ve guessed wrong with EVERY pregnancy but this was a first time where everyone else was guessing wrong with me. And with that we had to finalize our name….
So. We knew our middle name choice was [name_m]Stephen[/name_m]. This has been on our middle name shortlist since my very first pregnancy. I think it goes with the biblical classic name vibe as my other two sons middles [name_m]Thomas[/name_m] and [name_u]James[/name_u]. I love what I read about [name_m]Stephen[/name_m] in the Bible, described as a man full of “God’s grace and power”. Who “performed amazing miracles and signs among the people.” Not to mention he was a true display of unwavering faith.
For the first we had trouble collectively getting excited over the same choices. [name_f]My[/name_f] ideal criteria, I wanted, like with [name_m]Stephen[/name_m] and our others kids first name choices a positive biblical namesake.But…, I didn’t want something popular. I didn’t want some big name but one who’s name has a specific story come to mind that they could grasp to. Unlike my previous two sons, I also wanted a more positive name meaning. I wanted to avoid creating a pattern with unfortunate name meanings. I was happy [name_m]Stephen[/name_m] already meant “crown”. Hubby Inthink struggled creating and maintaining a desired name shortlist. I didn’t want to just force my ideal on him so Inwas ready to find that compromise and suggested we wait to finalize until after eating breakfast but he told me a song had popped into his head repeatedly as I was pushing our son out. He said he felt like this song was confirmation in a way as the name in the song [name_u]Jireh[/name_u] was reminiscent of my very long beloved guilty pleasure boy name …:
So he looked at me and said, “we can name him the name you want.”
So with that [name_m]Jairus[/name_m] [name_m]Stephen[/name_m] was named and became the sibling to [name_m]Jabez[/name_m], [name_f]Esther[/name_f] and [name_m]Gideon[/name_m]! Pronounced like [name_f]Iris[/name_f] with a J in the front. Meaning [name_m]God[/name_m] enlightens.
We are just shy of three weeks with him and it’s still so surreal! We were convinced up until 4:56 [name_f]Girl[/name_f] but [name_m]God[/name_m] had [name_m]Jairus[/name_m] in His plans and had [name_m]Jairus[/name_m] on my heart since I was pregnant with my daughter 5+ years ago. We’re still waiting to see if a nickname pops up and sticks. Right now it’s mostly [name_u]Jai[/name_u] or [name_u]Jai[/name_u] the [name_m]Guy[/name_m] (which kind of meshes with his brothers [name_m]Jabe[/name_m] the [name_u]Babe[/name_u] and Gid the Kid!).
Congratulations!! I LOVE a last-minute name that just presents itself like that—meant to be! [name_m]Jairus[/name_m] is so cool and sounds amazing with his siblings’ names, and your rhyming nicknames for your boys are so cute!
Congratulations!! I’ve been thinking of you! [name_u]Welcome[/name_u], [name_m]Jairus[/name_m] [name_m]Stephen[/name_m]!
[name_f]Glad[/name_f] you got to use a name you love. [name_m]Jairus[/name_m] is very cool.
[name_f]Aurora[/name_f] [name_f]Bluebell[/name_f] (3rd name TBD) was born 30th [name_f]May[/name_f] at 6.01pm weighing 7lbs 5.5oz. In the end she came in great style via emergency section following on off labour for days, the drip which made no difference and meconium waters. I’m not upset about missing out of vbac as we tried and because she needed to come safely. She’s just amazing
Finally popping back in to say that we welcomed our beautiful baby girl, [name_f]Ottilie[/name_f] [name_u]June[/name_u], on [name_m]Thursday[/name_m] 27th [name_f]April[/name_f] at 42+1 weeks.
If you’ve followed our naming journey, you’ll know we were waiting for her to arrive to decide on the final name. Although we took four names to the hospital, we knew the minute we met her that she was our little [name_f]Ottilie[/name_f]. I’m so happy I got to use one of my all-time favourite names, and that it suits her so perfectly! As many of you will know, her middle name is in honour of mine & my partner’s grandmothers who both had the middle name [name_u]June[/name_u]. It’s so special to us both that we got to honour two wonderful women that were so dear to us.
We’re absolutely over the moon right now and, although the last 5 weeks have not been without their challenges, are loving our new life as parents.
Congrats to everyone else who has welcomed their little ones and all the best to everyone else still waiting for their babies to arrive!
I bet she’s an amazing big sister!
she is absolutely obsessed with her new baby sister!
I’ve been so thrilled with her name a week in and I love hearing that you are too, 11 years in. [name_u]Happy[/name_u] 40 weeks and I hope you get your VBAC!
, I arrived at 4cm but was told I was progressing fast so they rushed to get my desired epidural in. At 4:30am the next day I was told I was finally 10cm and able to start pushing. At 4:56 my husband announced…. “It’s a boy!” 