Friday, April 1, 2011

Some Things I'm Learning- Part 2

Pregnancy books, internet resources and articles can make any new parent honestly believe that their child is for sure going to wedge themselves between crib bars, die in their sleep, be strangled by their pacifier clip, fall off a changing table, grow an extra arm from the evil baby monitor radio waves, or get brain damage from an incorrect angle of their car seat. I learn much more from the parents in my lives, that, would you believe it, haven't had their children die from completely arbitrary baby-product mishaps. 

My friends aren't helping me in my quest to not gain 500 pounds during this pregnancy. Actual conversation: Me- "Here. I bought two cookies. Take one." Friend- "No. One's for you. One's for baby. Baby needs a cookie too." Me- "My one pound baby does NOT need a one pound cookie." Friend- "Fine. Take half." Me- "Fine. But it better be the smaller half."

I'm oddly sensitive about people's comments regarding my pregnancy physique. It's a little weird knowing that the people you see on a regular basis are checking you out and then making comments about how much you are/aren't showing. Some of these people are openly dieting. I'd like to think that, in turn, I should be able to say to them, "Ya know, you're not really losing as much weight as I thought you'd be." But that'd be catty. I'm just glad I'm not to the point where I've got a huge baby bump and people think they can touch my stomach at will.

Now that I know I'm having a girl, my shopping bug is on overdrive. I thought it was bad in the beginning of the pregnancy. I'm having a hard time not going across the street to the Carter's outlet store every other day. And I've had to convince myself that I don't need everything from this website and this one. Don't you think my baby needs these? 


When I heard stories about couples that had a baby and two days later still didn't have a name, I scoffed and exclaimed in complete judgment: "You've had NINE months to pick a name and you still haven't figured it out? It's not a game-time decision folks." I now must seek forgiveness from these people. I struggle immensely with this decision. Partly because I think I'm trying too hard [I keep expecting a grand celebration to occur the moment I find the right name, much like what happens to Harry Potter when he finds his perfect wand]. Partly because Jericho's main contributions are in vetoing my ideas but not in presenting any counteroffers. I threaten him by reminding him I will be the one filling out the birth certificate and if I have to, I will put down whatever name I dang-well please and, depending on my mood, I may not even put him down as the father. I also resorted to dramatically handing over the baby name book and telling him if he could find a name that he was over the moon, crazy excited about, I would accept that name, no questions asked. He flipped open the book and read the first name he saw: Imogen. I rescinded my promise and have assumed responsibility once again.*


*Update since I started this post: The middle name is set [and the last name]. And we have the first name narrowed down to two.  But I think we're going to keep it under wraps. I want it to be a surprise and I don't want anyone's opinions psyching me out. On the other hand, I know about a dozen people having baby girls this year and if I make the name public, I can hold intellectual property rights on that name and anyone who uses it before I do will be copying me. What do you think? Public or secret?

11 comments:

  1. Around the beginning of my third trimester strangers started saying to me, "Any day now, huh?" And I would be like, "Actually, I'm not due until May" just to make them feel bad. {But then I would tell them that I was having twins, which would make them feel not as bad.} Seriously, the only thing I'm ever going to say to pregnant women and new moms is, "You look awesome," because it's just so nice to hear. Much nicer than what my mother says every time she sees me now, which is, "You only look four months pregnant today." Gee, thanks, Mom.

    We started telling people our names when we realized that their opinions wouldn't affect our decision at all -- we also didn't waver when Christian's best friend had a daughter and named her Maggie. Pretty much, we were in a place where we were absolutely sure of our names, so we went ahead and told people, but if you'd like to keep yours a secret, I think you should. I'll wait.

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  2. Holy moly, I really need to work on the length of my comments. Some of them are just embarassingly long.

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  3. oh my gosh, this is SO funny!!!

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  4. We're pretty much kept all 4 of ours a secret, mostly because, for some reason, people feel the liberty to tell you all the people they hate/annoy/dislike that have the soon-to-be-child's name...but once it's born, and you've named it, they generally keep their negative comments to themselves...which I much prefer.

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  5. We decided on a name about two months ago and I'm fine with telling people in person but I haven't posted anything about it on the internet. I just refer to her as baby girl. We've gotten mixed reviews from people about our name but in the end its our baby!

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  6. Okay, I promise I won't touch your tummy anymore:)

    I think you should keep the name a secret. You just have to be patient with all the comments you are getting and will continue to get until little girl Belcher is born. People mean well. Enjoy the attention while you can because once that beautiful baby is born, all that attention will be lavished on her. Alas, you will be known for many years as your children's mom. The best part of that is the joy you will get out of being your children's mom:)

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  7. Love the hat. In my experience however, the baby may not love the hat.

    I felt weird telling names too. I told it when I was in the mood and didn't when I wasn't. It worked out.

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  8. I vote to keep the name under wraps. You don't want people giving you weird looks and saying they hate it and turning you off from your beloved name.

    Also, we held our two top names until we met our baby and felt like one name just fit perfectly and the other name was totally wrong.

    And though we had years to think about the perfect name, it still wasn't until driving across the state the morning we met our daughter that we had the two picked out. :) But give us a break - we only had 17 days notice of her birth.

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  9. HAHA! I would totally do the obviously bad thing and tell the ladies how much weight they don't look like they're losing! I know it's wrong and petty but oh so funny.
    Your husband cracks me up! I wonder if it was a boy if he'd care more about the name? Can't wait to hear what you name her :-) I bet it will be beautiful.

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  10. the name thing was awesome. whenever anybody asked us what we were thinking for a name we just said their own name. like, "we really love the name ____" some people thought we were serious which was great. but yeah, i had a name picked out way before we ever had a kid. i'm a a planner;)
    YOURS, MINE AND OURS

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