Monday, October 12, 2009

So much for my intuition

Well. We had a spectacularly awful night last night. I'm getting over that cold, which means I'm in the bark-like-a-seal-and-then-cry-when-your-throat-turns-to-sandpaper stage. Sometimes this cough goes away in a day or two. Sometimes it turns into a nasty little buzzard who hangs around for a week, waiting for my body to cool.

So when she screamed for two and a half, three hours last night, and I barked like a seal and cried for about the same amount of time, I felt about a thousand times worse than I did in the early mornings when she was first born. You're never going to get better! over and over again in my head. Add crappy pregnancy immune system to the lack of sleep, and we have a real storm a-brewin'.

CHILD! You used to sleep for 12 hours straight! What is your deal? I am not going to be a good mother if I'm sick for the next three weeks, ok?

I think she's getting a cold. And is on the verge of walking. Both would explain crappy sleep. But what awful timing. She was very good all day today. She hardly got a nap since today was a doctor's appointment, and we spent much of it in the car or at the doctor's office. I was optimistic about her sleep tonight.

WELL. We put her down twenty minutes ago, and she's still whimpering off and on. I'm probably going to sleep on her floor last night. Getting up out of my comfy, warm bed to go into her room every ten minutes and tell her I love her is just not something I have the will power for right now. James was up with her half the night last night, and he has to work tomorrow. I got a good hour and a half nap this evening, so I hope it works out.

Sigh. It is impossible to enjoy this pregnancy the way I did the last one. We'll have one or two really good weeks, and then she's right back to horrible sleeping again. This is bad enough when you're not pregnant. And sick. Blaaah.


On a lighter note! I had the 20-week ultrasound today. And... It's a girl! So much for "just knowing" it's a boy. Hah!

Crap. We have no girl names. I love Hava and Michal, but they're a little bit strange. Together I think they'd be really pretty. I love Ashira, too (one of my OD faves here has a daughter named Ashira). Most Old Testament girl names are really out there, though.

Anyone know of any other good female Hebrew names that aren't already used a lot? All the pretty ones, like Rachel, Rebecca, Sarah, are pretty common. I don't dislike them, but I prefer somewhat unusual names. I always liked having a name where, if I heard it in a crowd, I could be almost certain it was directed at me.

6 comments:

  1. Ooh, names! How fun! Congrats on finding out that you're having a girl! We have two girls, and it's a lot of fun. Plus you don't have to figure out difficult things like circumcision, or deal with the fact that boy clothes are just *drab* compared to the cute stuff they have for girls. I hope you have as much fun as we are!

    Have you tried Name Voyager? That's a fun way to put in some of the names you like and see what it generates. It goes by style and type of names. As for Old Testament names that aren't either common or really out there... that's hard. I'm a Sarah and I have an Elisabeth, so you can see I don't mind common. :) I wouldn't go with Tamar or Rahab, for obvious reasons. Esther is a bit less common and is quite pretty. Abigail is nice, and you can use Abby or Abbie as a nickname, not sure if that's too common for you. I don't personally like Delilah or Deborah, but you might. Ooh, I love Miriam, and you could nickname her "Miri" if you wanted, which is original and pretty. There's Naomi, but I think you may have heard of that one? :) I'd make sure that you know who in the Bible had the name, though, so you don't name your daughter Jezebel or something without knowing what the name connotates. If you don't mind New Testament names, I've always been fond of Chloe (and Zoe, although that one isn't Biblical).

    How certain is the doctor that it's a girl? Not to go into TMI, but did they see absence of body parts that would make it male, or did they actual see presence of female body parts? Because I think it's more common that the boy is being, um, shy, and they think it's a girl, then that they make a mistake the other way around.

    Sorry about the sleep and the miserable cold. I think colds are always worse during pregnancy, especially as you can't take the good medicines for them. Are you going to get a flu shot? Won't help with colds, but you might be able to avoid that torture, at least (and if your baby is due during flu season, it'll give them some protection at least). I remember having an awful flu (despite having gotten the shot) right around the time I was due with my first, and wishing she'd be a few days late just so I wouldn't have the torture of the flu during labor!

    As for her sleeping poorly, do you prefer not to let her cry? Mine was getting up a ton at night, wanting to nurse after just sleeping a few hours (and I know that at almost a year old she should be able to go longer), so eventually I started checking on her and then letting her cry for a while to see if she'd fall back asleep on her own (she did). After a couple of days of that, I waited five minutes after she'd start to cry before going in, and she'd settle down before I had to. Now she's sleeping straight through again. But I know lots of people would rather not let them cry, so no criticism if you don't want to do that!

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  2. Most of the good OT names are taken by friends or family. Not that I really think you can lay claim to a name, but I'd prefer she not share a name with people she hear about or see a lot.

    We're quite certain it's a girl. We got the, uh, money shot, just like we did with Grace. It's always a possibility that it's a boy, of course, but very unlikely.

    I'll be getting the H1N1 shot when it comes out since it's apparently more contagious, but not the regular flu shot. I haven't had the flu in years and years (like, ten? fifteen?). And in that time I went to a huge school and waited tables, so I was often sleep-deprived and exposed to tons of germs. And, for a few months, pregnant, which means a weakened immune system. The only illness I ever get is the cold, and now I'm a SAHM and see probably a hundredth the number of germs that I used to.

    I'm feeling SO MUCH BETTER today. She slept all night, once she settled down. Of course, I was on pins and needles all night and kept waking up after dreaming she was crying. Idiot. I don't object to letting her cry at all. We have never had any real sleep difficulties almost since she was born. For a short time, around 4 months, after I cracked down on her napping in her crib instead of on me, she reverted, but sorted herself out within a month. Otherwise, she's been sleeping 12 hours a night since she was 12 weeks. She'd wake up on occasion, we'd let her cry for five minutes, and she'd be asleep long before those five minutes are up.

    It's not working anymore. She just screams and screams. If we go in periodically to pat her and tell her we love her, at least she knows (hopefully!) that she hasn't been abandoned. Maybe two nights ago was a fluke. Hah!

    Aaaand... right now she's exhausted and supposed to be falling asleep, but is, instead, screeching. Fun times!

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  3. I'm glad she slept better for you and you got a good night's sleep! The screaming is tough. My husband can sleep right through it (and does), but I absolutely cannot sleep when I hear her, even if she's just babbling. When I let her cry the other night, I sat in the bathroom (the only upstairs room other than one of the occupied bedrooms) with a book until she settled and I could go back to sleep.

    I was at a Mom's group today and a mom talked about her 3-1/2-year-old being up all night with fears and nightmares, and that she's been doing it for 2 or 3 weeks. Ack! I'm *so* excited about what I apparently have to look forward to next year. Mine's already scared of moose and buffalo and sees them in her room sometimes.

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  4. I like Ariella, Shira, Shoshana, and Tamara.

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  5. Good luck with the names; it such an important decision. I just tried to pick names that sounded equally as good at 8 and 80 years old.

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  6. How about Havilah? Or Bethany?

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