When you think of it in terms of “14 weeks down, 26 to go!” it really doesn’t seem like it will be all that long before the babies are here. 26 weeks is not that long at all. Half a year. 6 months. Coupled with the fact that they will likely come early…well, it will be baby city up in here before we know it.
I’m starting to really feel pregnant. Braxton Hicks contractions have started, and I am not surprised as I have had them sooner and sooner each time; however, I am surprised at how easy it is for me to be feeling fine and then something as innocuous as grocery shopping will knock me on my ass for hours. I am used to this happening in say, the mid to late third trimester, but most definitely not in the beginning of the second. It’s beyond not cool.
My hips have also returned to their usual jacked up pregnant state, again, earlier than usual. I’ve taken to sleeping on the couch a lot of the time because I can position myself in a way where they do not lock up. I tend to wake up with a headache in the morning, but I think being able to walk trumps headache.
I worked 2 shifts at my consignment sale this weekend, and thankfully after an hour or so of organizing racks of clothes each time, I was relegated to sitting positions. Being around tons of moms though…man did it ever provide opportunity for getting some assvice.
“Prepare to be done working by week 20…” I work from home, so I think I’ll be good longer than that. “Well, maybe 25 weeks then…” Are you a doctor?
“Set up a bottle station in your room so you don’t have to make bottles in the middle of the night…” I plan to breastfeed :Looks at me in sheer horror: “Well, God bless you then…”
“Make sure you get them on the same schedule!”
Are you prepared to never sleep again?”
“DO TWINS RUN IN YOUR FAMILY?”
“Are these naturally conceived twins?”
There were more comments, but thankfully, my head exploded and I did not hear them. The audacity of people, I am telling you.
As far as the babies go, I am feeling more kicks rather than just squirms. Still not the consistent able to count on kicks, but kicks just the same. I know they are in there. they are particularly active when I am in the car, and when I am eating. It’s fun.
Ed came home from work on Saturday and made a sweeping declaration that if one of the babies is a girl, we are naming her Melissa. I…well, I looked at him like he was crazy. His reasoning is that he had a sister who died at birth named Melissa–a good way of honoring his parents, and that it was our mutual friend Melissa who introduced us. Honor all around. I’m not going to say that Melissa is a bad name. I think it’s a fine name, actually. You know, for someone in their late 20’s to mid 30’s. Ed has a cousin named Melissa, we have our friend Melissa, I work closely with 2 Melissa’s AND not closely, but in conjunction with 3 more. And also? The NP I’ve been seeing at my OB office? Melissa. He is standing firm on this. He’s only named one of our babies (the one he named after himself!!), and while we agreed on the girls’ names I was the one who suggested them (though he likes to bring up that I insisted on Cait’s middle name {Renee}when he was against it. He doesn’t seem to remember that Hannah’s middle name was Grace until he told everyone it was Lynne in the delivery room). I sort of feel I’m at a loss here. His reasons are good. but I feel like I would turn in to one of those crazy people who would say “You can name her that, but I am not calling her by that name.” It’s tough. I know what it feels like to feel very strongly about a name and have it be shot down (Georgia, anyone?). But I just don’t know if I can be on board with Baby Melissa unless we somehow teleport back to the early 80’s. Or if it’s 2 girls, maybe I’ll name the second one Jennifer! (Not really…)
But anyway…good things! It’s October! We have our regular appointment next week, and the big sonogram is the 30th! It won’t be long before we know exactly who is in there! Hannah still says one boy and one girl. Ed and I have both had strong feelings that it’s 2 girls for the last few weeks. And at this point in the name discussion, I would be lying if I said I was not praying for boys.
Incubation Nation 
What I love about the name Melissa is the nickname “Lis.” Bummer about Georgia, though. Love.
I have to assume that these people who make these stupid remarks to pregnant women don’t have the Internet. I mean, how many times do we have to say that the only acceptable comments are, “Congratulations! You look great!”
I will say this: there is no such thing as one parent insisting on a name. There’s no “You got this, so I get this” in baby naming, unless that’s agreed upon AHEAD OF TIME (like my friends who couldn’t agree, so they agreed one of them would name the first baby and the other would name the second). There’s no retrospective “This is what the score is, and this is what I’ve decided that tally means.” Each baby’s name was agreed on by both of you (you agreed to the boy name, he agreed to the girls’ names), no matter who it was who preferred or campaigned for the name at the time. These babies’ names, too, will have to be agreed on by both of you. This is a joint decision; he may not make it on his own. The only thing you have to say is “No”; him “standing firm” is meaningless to the decision. Have him imagine if you were “standing firm” on the name Georgia. THEN what would you do if you only had one girl? Name her Georgia and Melissa simultaneously? No. The name has to be agreed on by both parents, so any names one parent says “No” to are out, no matter how painful that is.
One parent can try to talk the other one into using a name, but it’s not one parent’s job to talk the other one OUT of using a name.
Lis is a super cute nn! Would he go for Melissa as a middle name? If not, is there a name sort of like Melissa that he would like?
And, of course, that YOU would like!
Nope. If both parents don’t agree on a name, out it goes. I remember Homer wanted to assign a certain number of vetoes (like, 10 each) to the naming process. I refused and explained how such a (stupid) process could be manipulated. We both had to toss out names we felt strongly about, but ended up with names we both liked.
P.S. The names Homer liked were all popular in the ’80’s too. It’s a man thing.
T and I had a thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs in the middle system for names. If any one of us gave a name idea the thumbs down–it got tossed. Thumbs in the middle stayed on the list for a bit. And now I’m typing this out like you give a shit.
At any rate, I’m still pulling for Rita.
what about a combo compromise? Alissa? Miss you a lot. Wish we could talk. Lots of love, Paprika
I love the name Melissa. Heh. It was my childhood best friend’s name. But I bet I would feel the same way if I had to name MY baby Melissa. I would want something…more.
You are allowed to say no. Like he said no to Georgia. Hmph! And then you just have to meet in the middle. Which is how we ended up with Sophia. We both liked it, but it was definitely a middle choice for both of us. And when he suddenly decided to nix Elliot and Darcy (oh! why didn’t he stick with Darcy!?), it’s what remained. So…I DO like the name, but I wasn’t passionate about it. And let’s face it, once you get to baby Four (and FIVE!), it’s awful darn hard to pick those passionate names since you’ve already re-hashed the likes/dislikes of the two of you, so all you’re really left with are the in-the-middle names!
and…SQUEEEEEE!!!! Ultrasound coming up!!!!!