Today is 19 Weeks! If this baby follows suit to Olivia, I can call myself "halfway there" since she came at 38 weeks. My spirits are still high, and I'm still feeling pretty good. I'm still holding onto the little bit of energy I have, but that seems to be dwindling! I still get headaches pretty frequently, but "knock on wood" no migraines for a while. The worst now is that pregnancy insomnia is in full effect already! I wake just about every hour, on the hour...for no reason. Just wake, then struggle to fall back asleep...repeat until my alarm goes off (well, until I finish hitting the snooze button 3 or 4 times of course). I don't know what it is...I suppose I'm getting more uncomfortable, plus the VIVID dreams you have during pregnancy can take a toll on you. I don't remember much of my dreams by the time I get up in the morning, but I know that they are very real. Not necessarily bad, or scary, just real. You wake up wondering "did that really happen, or was it really just a dream". And, you have multiple very real dreams, every night. It can be very overwhelming if you think about it...constantly trying to decipher real from dream. It's interesting though. I'm guessing this is going to last for a while, so I'll just have to get used to it!Now, for today's pregnancy rant...today I'm, bothered by a few things I've encountered in both pregnancies...name judgement and the big 20 week ultrasound.
First, name judgement. It seems like everybody pretty much falls on one side or the other..."I love traditional, common names" or "I need something unique and 'special' for my child". I definitely fall on the traditional, common side of the coin. I mean, come on, I'm Ashley, married to Christian...you don't get much more traditional and common than that. When we picked Olivia, I had no idea how popular it is. I've never met an Olivia, never known of one in real life, and had never heard it before. Come to find out, it was #4 on lasts years name list, and I hear it everywhere now! In the end, it doesn't bother me. I love having a common name...it's never for a day bothered me. In the end, I don't care what others name their children, as I shouldn't. What bothers me is, for some reason, people who prefer the more "unique" names seem to really look down on the traditionalists of the world. Like we are doing something horrible to our child giving them a "common" name. That bothers me...why should anybody care? In the end, I think as long as everybody realizes how important a name really is, really puts some thought into naming their child (including thinking about their adult life), you are doing right by your child no matter what name you choose...so don't worry about our ordinary, common children :)
As for the 20 weeks ultrasound...when you are pregnant, you are usually covered for two ultrasounds...one early on IF you need one to date your pregnancy, and one around 20 weeks. I HATE when people refer to the 20 week ultrasound as a "gender ultrasound"...it's beyond annoying. The purpose of the ultrasound is to check baby's heart, organs, growth/size, check mom's fluid levels and in general just make sure everything looks like it's progressing on track...THIS is the most important part. In addition, just being able to see your little one is so amazing and such a great experience, THIS should be what you are excited about. To see people put so much emphasis on finding out baby's sex at this ultrasound, and not focusing on the actual importance of it, breaks my heart. I mean, I'm not going to lie, we found out with Olivia, and intended on it the whole time...but didn't even ask to know until she had checked everything and told us everything looked good. And, we're not sure if we're going to find out this time, but if we do, it will again be the last thing on our mind's when it comes to the appointment itself. I guess I just wish people would focus more on the basics of pregnancy, rather than on girl vs. boy parts.
OK, weekly rant over!!
Until tomorrow!!!
I totally understand about the name judgment. I had a REALLY good friend of mine HATE every, and I do mean every, name that I came up with. I ended up having to stop talking to her about it. I don't need some crazy name for my kid. And hello??? Pregnant ladies are ultra-sensitive and it was really offensive that she would laugh out loud about my "normal, common" names. hahaha. See, I still get worked up about it and Katelyn is over a year old.
ReplyDeleteHope the ultrasound goes well :) I agree that the gender part of it is just a bonus! A lot of people take for granted that they are going to have a healthy baby. Anytime there is one born healthy it is a miracle.