34 week results

Here are the results...I gained 4 pounds!!! I'm up to 179!! This has got to stop or I'll never be able to regain a pre-baby body! I usually only gain 1 pound or nothing at this point to the end, so Maren has graciously taken the blame for this recent bulge since she's doing the cooking (and cookie baking), but I told her it's well worth the weight gain to have her help in the kitchen (not my favorite place to be). My blood pressure is going down finally, rather than up, and my swelling isn't as bad. I still have a trace of protein in my urine, but nothing major. The baby has dropped a little, so my tummy isn't any bigger...the centimeters finally match the weeks (34 cm at 34 weeks). The doctor guesses by the feel of things that the baby is about 5 pounds now.

It's fun to reach different milestones. At 20 weeks you're halfway done. At 24 weeks the baby has a good chance at survival. At 32 weeks, the baby's chances of having long-term damage from an early birth are as slim as that of a full-term baby. As of Monday, I'll reach another milestone. I'll be 35 weeks and that means this baby could be delivered in Coos Bay rather than having to be transported to Eugene or Medford for a NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). Since the nearest NICU is 2 1/2 hours away, Coos Bay won't let you deliver and stay there unless you're 35 weeks along. You're automatically ambulanced over to Eugene or Medford.

So with 5 1/2 weeks left, I still don't know what this baby will be named. Most likely the first name will be Paisley since my kids, hubby and relations can't imagine calling her anything else since they're so used to it by now, but I don't have a middle name set in stone, and I still need a back-up boy name in case SHE turns out to be a HE (though I doubt it since even a blind man couldn't mistake Hyatt's "endowment" for being girl parts, so I assume my other boys would be the same...hopefully). We like Bronco, as in Bronco Mendenhall...BYU's football coach, but hardly anyone else seems to feel the love with that name. I want cowboyish names for my boys, but I'm afraid Bronco would only really fly in Wyoming, since it scored so badly on my poll. I've also thought of Rogue (as in the Rogue Valley), but my favorite is Cutter. I love Ryder, but that sounds naughty when paired with Johnson, and my friend used that for her son's middle name. Any suggestions for a boy name (I want to be prepared for a misread ultrasound), or any suggestions for a girl's middle name when paired with Paisley? My other girls are Talea Lila (Tilly for short) and Kiersa Milly.