Week 27 Update, a Couple "Holy Cow" Moments, and Baby Names

I'm feeling a bit chatty this morning, so am going to cram in a lot here :)

First, a couple "Holy Cow" moments that I'm going through this week:

• HOLY COW! Our baby girl is due THREE MONTHS from yesterday!
• HOLY COW! This is the last week of my third trimester, which means she's only going to get bigger, and at some point soon, I'll have to get brave and find a way to get her out of me!

Now that I have that out of the way, I'll share an update on names, since many people have been asking.

First, I want to ask a favor - we'd LOVE to hear your opinions. But, we only want the good ones - like how much you love the names, or which is your favorite. You might have a story of a girl you knew in high school that you didn't care for - after all, it's natural to associate names with someone you knew. But please keep that memory to yourself. Negative opinions about names we love - and potentially the name we are going to pick - really bring us (me) down! If you have any other ideas to add to the list, we'd love to hear them. Our plan is to have 2-3 names as potentials, and then pick one of them when we meet our baby girl.

That said, we have two front runners:

• Madeline Grace (we'd call her Maddie for short)
• Aubrey Grace

We also had Lillian Grace (would call her Lily) on the list, but we're thinking of scratching that one off the list. We keep hearing of others naming their baby the exact same name, which makes it feel a little less unique. Too bad - I wish we had the idea first!

Before I move off the topic of names, I HAVE to share a funny story. A girl I work with has a cousin in Memphis, who works as a nurse in the Labor & Delivery unit. She had a few really fun (or sad, rather) stories about names mothers gave their children:

• One mother chose to name her child something that is spelled C-H-I-N-E-S-E. Does anyone else think of the language Chinese? So the nurse commented on how interesting the name was, and pronounced the name as the language is pronounced. The mother was irritated, and said, "no, it's Shiness! Why can't anyone say by baby's name right!" Well, maybe because you spelled it like the language...
• Another mother named her son Nosmo. The nurse asked how she came up with that, and the mother said she had a vision as she was being wheeled to the ER. It was later that day that the nurse walked through the hallways of the ER, and saw a sign that said "No Smoking". And, the mother's last name is King. I feel so bad for that child, having NoSmoKing as a name! Although it is a great life motto.
• Another mother named her son Jron. Or that's how the nurse thought it was spelled. The mother got irritated at the mistake in how the nurse spelled it, saying "No - it's J - coma in the sky - R-O-N" (J'Ron).
• My favorite - a mother named her daughter La-a. When the nurse asked how that's pronounced, the mother responded "Ladasha - but the dash aint silent!"

Don't worry. I didn't get any ideas for names from that story :)

And now for the update on our baby girl, from babycenter.com:
This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother her, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.