OUR BABY'S NAME

I saw the baby doctor today! After doing the usual... urine, blood pressure, pulse, weight (my favorite)...Dr. Avery's nurse checked the baby's heartbeat and counted 136 beats per minute. Dr. Avery then measured my uterus... it's finally reached above and beyond my belly button and I've even got a little baby bump. He told me that the baby probably weighs a pound now and to expect her weight to jump to about 4 pounds in a couple of months. So basically, all that has happened in the last 5 months is now going to happen a lot quicker. He says I should expect to gain weight faster and have a bigger appetite (like I don't have one already). He also said this is the time the cravings will kick in and to be careful. We talked about my exercise routine and I was proud to tell him that I am still in the gym.

At the next appointment, they will perform a glucose test and check for gestational diabetes. They will also check me for antibodies since I have a negative Rh factor. Seems if my baby has a positive Rh factor, I will treat her like an intruder and develop antibodies if her blood enters my system (bad mommy). If they find this is happening, they can give me an injection (RhIg) that suppresses my ability to react to her Rh positive red cells. That appointment has been scheduled for September 24 and since that's my wedding anniversary, I'm hoping the bliss of that day will bring us good news!

I can finally feel her move now. It took me all last week to figure out what was going on in my tummy. We were so busy at work, I didn't have time to really concentrate on it. So on Saturday, I took time throughout the day to concentrate on the movement. Like many first timers, I mistook it for gas. But after feeling the same type of movement every couple of hours, I am confident that I am feeling her. And this goes on everyday now. Joseph wants to feel her, too, but the flutters are too small for him to feel when he puts his hand on my tummy... so he's feeling a bit out of the loop. That's when I responded with, "well, maybe if you would talk to her, she would let you feel her!" Right now, he feels a bit silly about talking to my stomach, but he'll cave soon (and I can tell he really wants to). Of course, I told him he could just read our ECU pirate book to her! She'll know all about ECU Pirate football in no time!

Now onto the baby's name! We have officially named our baby girl! Her name will be...

DANICA CARRIE SUTTON

We are going to name her after Joseph's maternal grandmother, Carrie Dail Paramore, and Danica is a sweet name I found on the internet (I was looking for different). I mean, who knew about a really hot race car driver named Danica? And I found this out immediately upon mentioning this name to Joseph, so I know where he stands on that particular issue. But we are not naming our daughter after her... we just really like the name. And... if we discover she is really a he, we do have a name chosen for him as well. He'll be Garrett Berkley Sutton... named after my paternal grandfather, Raymond Berkley McGlohon. And no, I don't know any hot race car drivers named Garrett... but Kevin Costner's name was Garrett in the movie, Message in a Bottle... but that's really just coincidence (or is it? HaHa!).