Wow! I was able to log in! Having some computer issues on this side of the monitor which has contributed to some relative silence. What’s worse, I don’t know if it is the host, my computer or my browser. My computer is certainly having issues as it has been tormenting me for two weeks. Firefox was recently updated, which can lead to issues. And, well, the message I continually get when I try to log in is “unable to negotiate a connections” with the helpful suggestion to try again in a few minutes.
You know what is worse? I can’t even show my dear husband what my not so dear computer is doing to me. Every time he comes over to see, the silly thing decides to work. And that, my dear blog friends, is the worst part of the whole thing.
So anyway, hopefully it will just sort itself out. My dear husband can’t help me when it won’t act up for him, and I’m about clueless when it comes to figuring these sorts of things out. And I have enough other things to worry to keep me occupied. Being nine months pregnant tends to do that.
I still need to get the baby clothes out of the attic. Or get someone else to. I think I probably could get up on top of the freezer to get up there, but likely wouldn’t get down again. And I really don’t want to give birth alone in an attic.
Come to think of it, we still need a name. Any suggestions? He’s a little boy and while most people think Mudpuppy is a cute nickname, they aren’t going for it as a legal name.
Then there’s my daughter’s e-zine. You wouldn’t believe how big a project that is becoming around here. OK, maybe you could and that is why you were smart enough not to let your child start one, but it has been fun. And interesting. And even blog worthy, but I’ll get to that next time my blog grants me access.
And finally, I’m trying to decide my worst case scenario with this whole birth thing…you know, the kind where everything still turns out ok in the end? I figure I’ll go in to labor in the middle of the night while my husband is on the other side of the road and BNSF won’t be able to get him back in time and I won’t be able to get hold of anyone I know. So it will be off to the hospital alone. Alone with four children, that is. And I’m contemplating whether it would be worse to give birth in the car on the side of the road, where the children are at least all strapped down. Or to make it to the hospital and have them all running like madmen through the hospital.
Or maybe it would be climbing into the attic in some bizarre nesting moment, getting stuck and delivering up there while my children run like madmen through the house.
Any thoughts? My mom just laughed at me. She said I’d at least have a good story to tell, either way. But believe me, I’ve never felt left out while other women talked about their horrendous birth stories. And I’m not that desperate for blog material. But you may feel free to share yours. Mine are not that exciting, but maybe I’ll share tidbits anyway. In comments, because at least I am generally able to leave those.
I remember that last week with Abby… we planned to have her at home but I still panicked wondering if someone would be around to pick up the girls before I actually HAD the baby! Luckily I was in early labor for two days, so we had plenty of time to send them to stay with the in laws while we welcomed Abby into the world. Good Luck with this baby, and God Bless!
When I was in labor for Emma, we left our house after 1am, piled 3 kids in the back of our truck in the jump seats, drove the 45 minutes there with 30 of those through woods while our cell phone cut off contact with L & D.
And it started snowing.
I was alternately trying to breathe through contractions, not worry the kids, keep my eyes on the road (Ron was driving, but still, someone’s gotta look out for moose) and praying to God they weren’t going to send me home *again*.
Our niece met us at the ER entrance and took my kids, I walked in and tried to refuse the wheelchair while Ron parked. By the time he got upstairs I was pronounced at almost 7cm dilated.
Emma arrived less than an hour later.
We though she was going to be a boy (Joseph Benjamin), we didn’t have any girl names.
I would say, call an ambulance! That way, if you give birth on the side of the road, at least you’ll have an attendant. Let them know you’ll need space for carseats. That has always been my fear. The need to go to the hospital and not having enough space for all the kiddos in the ambulance. But, they can bring two.;)
Names, well.. that’s harder than giving birth. Personally, if I had another boy, he would be named Armand and called Army.
Can’t offer advice on what to do with the other kids while in labor with this one, as I’ve only given birth to the one! But I’ll be thinking of you! And as for names? I had my daughter’s narrowed down to 2 possibilities, and the consensus of the delivery room decided her official name.
With my FOURTH, I ended up going to the hospital and being sent home. But it was for the same reason…I was jumpy. We live almost an hour from the hospital, and although I seem to have issues going late, once it starts, it moves fast. With my third, they gave me the epidural and then she came before the stuff had a chance to work.
I used to love playing with baby names, until this campaign season when I soured on the cloying,clever and conspicuously alliterative. So now I think I’d suggest solid, safe and secretly meaningful only to you.
Although I should add, Favorite Daughter recently was doing our family geneology on both sides, and she discovered a few names that surprised and delighted us, and that I might well have used if I’d known about them as an expectant mom. Maybe you have some too?
Well, I have some distant relatives in the ol’ geneology tree… brothers named Lemon and Orange. Their last name? Lymon.
You’re free to use those for the next two kids if you want, because I think we’re passing on those.
:]
HEY but we’re also related to Truckson LaFrance. Just call him “Truck” for short. It would be a cute name except for all of his friends beeping at him instead of saying “excuse me.”
This baby will be born in the 200th anniversary month of both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, if any of those four names appeals . . .
I can give you the name we were going to give my daughter if it turned out she was a boy: Caleb Alexander.
Darwin’s middle name was Robert, and it happens to be the 250th anniversary of Scottish favorite son Robert Burns to boot. (I know this because I have a bagpiper and a poet, both very excited!)
And they called him Rabbie, which would be an unusual nickname.
Then I could have Rabid Mudpuppy!
ROFL . . .
So far we have “Friend,” “Crowned,” “Beginning” and “The Lord has answered.” None chosen for their meanings, but we like them anyway.
‘Course, we like our kids. That probably goes a long ways in liking their names. I think my problem is that I only ever wanted a boy…or so I thought. But I had his name chosen back in elementary school so he was easy. My girls weren’t too hard, but we seem stuck now.
You like history, right? Maybe a famous contemporary historian’s name then, like oh, Ambrose or Goodwin or McCullough?
Or Shelby Foote! A history god here in the South. . .
Or put it all together with the literary — name him Charles or Christian Shelby but call him C.S. (as in Lewis, except that way you don’t actually have a child named Clive Staples!)
I used to have a thing for the use of last names like Williams. Or Jeffreys. And if I were going for a C.S., I think staying away from Clive is good. No offense to the Clives of the world.
At least we’re not constrained in any way by the names we already have. We have a Sioux name, a Swedish name, a Germanic name and a Hebrew name. Irish would be cool since we both have that in our heritage, but I haven’t found many Irish boy names I like.
Hmmm….we could name him after the the man who probably most influenced my political thought and go for a Buckley. It’s Gaelic and means Ram’s Clearing or Cowherd. Who wouldn’t love a name like that?
I wanted my DS to be Eamon but my superstitious DH vetoed it because had a friend in high school named that who died at 16 in a car crash.
For more Irish boy names, check out the ones here.
Oh, Buckley would be cool! And still very literate. . .
Funny post, sorry about the computer programs.
You don’t have a babysitter set up? I had a plan with my parents that barely worked due to the fact that I woke up and was already in labor, and had been 4 cm dilated for 2 weeks and 5 cm dilated for the last 5 days, so it was fast. Without a babysitter around I’d start prepping the kids to be present for an unplanned home birth or a car birth. (Unless you call an ambulance.)
I’d also read “Emergency Childbirth” to prep myself to deliver my own baby, or one of the books on unassisted pregnancy. I mean, can’t #5 come pretty quickly?
I do find it interesting you’re worried about getting TO the hospital and how to deal with kids and about who will be with you rather than the actual delivery, I guess you’re pretty confident that you know what you’re doing (smile).
I wish you to have a healthy baby and a smooth delivery!
Names: my favorites: Katherine, Jessica, Jennifer, James, Mark, John, Michael, Steven, Philip.
Good luck on all fronts!
Go Linux.
And prayers for a safe and happy delivery. Congratulations!
That’s a neat picture of Pre-Columbian stone work. lol Good thoughts are sent your way in advance of delivery.
Dana, I just heard on NPR in a program about the young Charles Darwin that because of his keen interest in chemistry experiments that led to smelly substance concoctions, his nickname was “Gas.” [shudder] Let’s not add that to the list!
Oh, that made me laugh!
I only have two kiddos, and the first was born c-section. But my second, yikes! 24 hours of labor before Teeny (the first) was taken c-section. This one, going for a VBAC, came in 9 hours. That would be 10 minutes after our doula got there, 2 minutes BEFORE they got me in the car. Yep, our driveway baby was fun. Thanks be to God for a loud generator going next door so no one heard me bellowing like a cow!
AS far as kids and labor, our sweet 2 year old kept hugging me during contractions, telling me it would be alright and brining me all her stuffed animals. I had to call my parents before I screamed at her sweetness to get away, oww! I didn’t want to do that :0)
Can’t wait to hear how it goes!
Dana – I did not even realize you were pregnant again! Congrats! Shows how clueless and wrapped up in my own little one I have been these last 4 months! We named him Gideon.
If I were closer, I would be on deck for you I was on deck for a relative stranger (recently relocated to here) and took care of her oldest when she had her 4th – the other 2 were with Grandma about 500 miles away for a couple of weeks – she kept her oldest (8) with her so she was not by herself all the time – and so her shoes would get tied, lol! Of course, that was 3-4 years ago and we are good friends now.
I’ll be praying for you that everything will work out okay and hubby will be in the right place at the right time for you!
Melisa H. (from CCHES….)
Dana, you aren’t the only one. I’m 8 months along with #6 and we have only lived here (DC) for 5 months. I keep having dreams about what to do if I go into labor while my dh is out of town. Do I take all the kids to the hospital with me? What if I start to have the baby while trying to find a parking space? Do I just have the baby at home? We don’t have any family around and willing to come. Last time I recall my mother calling every 30 minutes during labor, “Have you had that baby yet, I want to go home.” Well this time I can’t even call on her, she died a year ago. So, we are depending on new friends and neighbors to watch the kids… hence the nightmares.
It is nerve wracking, isn’t it? And here in Nebraska, home birthing is illegal. Not that they could do anything to me, but it isn’t something you can plan for with a midwife and all because they only meet you at the hospital under the supervision of a doctor.
Before getting into the car, Rose? Wow.
With my oldest, I started having contractions around four in the morning. My husband didn’t want to get up so he told me to wait “to make sure” and went back to sleep. “It’s real,” I told him. “Thirty more minutes” he told me. So I fed the rabbits and played Solitaire while he slept.
He finally got up & took me to the hospital (we got there around 6:30) and the nurses commented I didn’t look very much like I was in labor because I was smiling and joking through the contractions, but once they hooked me up, confirmed I was certainly in labor.
A few minutes after they broke my water, I told my nurse the baby was coming. It was shortly before noon and she told me I was hours away. She wouldn’t even check me and then the doctor came in. He checked and said the baby was here and why didn’t anyone call him? The nurse glared at me through the whole delivery as if I had done it intentionally or something.
Sure it was my first, but can’t you at least humor the poor woman in labor?
Dana, Praying your computer will start behaving… and that your precious baby will arrive safe and sound.
Praying none of the scenarios listed play out for real. I love the name Kincaid – it’s a family name on my dad’s side and a great Scottish name.
There’s nothing wrong with a boy named Sue!
I’ll admit I hadn’t thought of Sue, yet.