What's in a Name & Progress

Today is July 8th.  We are exactly eight days away from our due date.  We are pregnant with our second little girl.  And we have yet to decide on a name.

This whole naming business has been TRICKY this pregnancy.  With Kate, Brian and I had two names picked out for the duration of our pregnancy.  I mean, we looked around a teensy tiny bit after we decided on those two names, but for the most part our first little girl was either going to be Kate Madeline or Sophie Katherine.  And we both loved Kate Madeline over Sophie Katherine by a landslide.  So many people, however, told us that sometimes that name that you pick doesn't match the baby that comes out, so Sophie was our back up.  I mean, we loved Kate Madeline so much that it was, like, 97% Kate Madeline and 3% Sophie Katherine once we found out we were having a girl.  We didn't really discuss boy names that seriously.

This go round has been a bit different.  Since we are expecting a second little lady, we have run through the gamut of girl names, and none of them have stuck with us like Kate Madeline did.  This has made the whole baby naming bit a tad stressful.  I don't want to be in Labor and Delivery and still not have a name for our little lady.  We both have had top names (Brian's was Emily, mine was Thea), but neither one of us loved the other's top names, so we took them off of our lists entirely.

Surprisingly enough, before we found out we were expecting another little girl, we both loved the name Connor Patrick for a boy.  Whether or not that would have stuck, I don't know, but it kind of made me wonder if we were having a boy because we were both able to agree on a boy name we liked!

Today, at my appointment, we learned that we have indeed made more progress.  I am currently THREE centimeters dilated, still 75% effaced, and Little Sis is still at a -2/-3 station.  The fact that we haven't nailed down this whole name thing is still stressful.  Emerson Rose has been a top contender this pregnancy.  We both like the idea of calling her Emme/Emmy.  But there's something that hasn't stuck with me with this one.  Other ideas we've thrown out there are Alanna (pronounced Uh-Lay-Na), Hannah (love the alliteration with the double H with our last name!), Lily, Maya, Harper, Ashley, and Claire.  These are the names that continue to come up.  But still nothing solid.

We've asked Kate for her suggestions and she has said Anna, Elsa, Christoff, Sven or Olaf.  Or any combination of the Frozen characters.  I can see it now.  Hello.  Meet our daughters, Kate Madeline, and Olaf Sven.  Yeah, not happening, but thank you, Kate.

I know that our little lady's name will come to us when it's supposed to.  But the planner side of me wants to have this figured out now!  This is why we found out if we were having a boy or a girl.  Both Brian and I like to be as prepared as we can...

...Turns out our little love wants to keep us on our toes!  Somehow I see this happening for the rest of our lives with kiddos around!

In other news, while I was at the doctor today, I was placed on a non-stress test because it sounded like baby's heart rate was a tad low on the Doppler reading.  I had to do this when I was pregnant with Kate for the same reason - a lower heart rate reading on the Doppler.  Both times they were still within range but the doctor just wanted to be sure that everything was a-ok in the oven.

That's a soon-to-be mama of two look!

Non-Stress Test Machine!

The little arrows signify baby's movement.

And here's a little snippet of Little Sister's heartbeat!  Music to my ears!

In just a very short time we will have a name and deciding on said name will be a thing of the past.

We will also be holding our newest little lady in our arms.  This I cannot wait for.  She is going to be the most wonderfully perfect addition to our family!