Naming this baby has been challenge. We went through books, internet searches, and heck, even some of our favorite movies and TV shows for ideas. We would agree on a name and then the next day (heck, even an hour later) one of us would decide that maybe that wasn't the best name in the world. We wanted a strong name. I was concerned that with names that were "unisex" simply because they always seemed way to girly to me. I got the point where I gave Mike an ultimatum. I had picked out a name and I was sticking with it unless he could come up with something better that we could agree to.
Part of me wonders why this naming process was so difficult. Evan's name was easy. I had come up with two, and gave Mike the choice between the two. While he now admits that he didn't think that "Evan" went well with our last name, he couldn't picture Evan named anything else.
I have in part been more detached to this pregnancy. Yes, I love that I'm pregnant and thank God for every kick, punch, roll, and hiccup. But since the miscarriage I was just waiting for something to go wrong. I was ignorant when it came to pregnancy. We conceived so quickly with Evan and Charlie, it wasn't until I was on the phone before going to the emergency room to confirm that I was losing Charlie that I found out that it wasn't a matter of getting pregnant in our family, it was a matter of staying that way.
My Grandmother had gone through 6 miscarriages (she also had 5 children). My mom had gone through 1 miscarriage (she had 4 of us). We used to laugh and joke that we as "Wagstaff" women would get pregnant just by having our husbands look at us crooked. How I wish I had known the truth.
After the miscarriage, I knew it may take us months to conceive. We were lucky that it only took us 2 months. This pregnancy has been fairly textbook. Hyperemesis that was solved thankfully to Zofran (and while I don't experience "morning sickness" as severe, I still am fairly nauseated in the morning.) Hip pain and nerve irritation has been helped by PT, ice packs, and massage. Plus it helps that baby is fairly active to the point where he dances constantly in my tummy to reassure me he's alive and kicking.
However, hearing that baby has an issue with his kidney hasn't helped us come up with a name or ease my cautiousness about this pregnancy. I know from what we've been told that he will be just fine. Whether it is from his own body figuring itself out or being corrected by surgery a couple months after he is born. We had hoped to move before baby made his appearance, we're waiting to hear the results from a followup ultrasound in a couple of weeks to see which direction we're headed. We're hoping for the best, but I fully expect to be talking to a urologist to develop a game plan.
Regardless of my hesitation, I'm so excited for this baby to join our family. I'm preparing for a big, healthy baby (well...as healthy as he can be with extra fluid in his kidney). And thankfully we can now cross naming this baby off our list. I had originally planned to keep the name a secret until he was born...however, we made the mistake in telling Evan and well...we figured it would be best to let the cat out of the bag.
So baby will now be known as...
or Alex. or ABC. (it wasn't until we agreed on Alexander that we realized that his initals will be ABC) I had originally decided baby's name would be Brooks Alexander, but Mike said he liked the name just not the order, so we flipped it.
We only have a little more than 14 weeks before Alex makes his appearance. I'm excited and itchy to meet him. I want him to bake as long as possible, and get healthy and strong.
