Go, Baby, Go!

Webhamster and I are in Jacksonville, Florida this week so that I can collect some data on the city-county consolidation for my dissertation. The flights here were, thankfully, uneventful for Cletus and me. I had been a bit worried because I watched one of those Discovery Health shows about amazing births in emergency circumstances, and there was a six-months pregnant woman who went into labor and had her baby on a flight from the Dominican Republic to NYC.

Cletus has been a traveling fetus. She has "been there" for the Indy 500 and U.S. Grand Prix from which 14 of the 20 cars withdrew. She has flown to Florida and has been to Nashville for more dissertation research. She'll be headed to Indianapolis, and will of course have several trips to Louisville.

I'd love to say that she's been somewhere really exotic, like my friend Abby and her then-fetus Finn, who went to Peru and the Galapagos Islands when she was five-and-a-half months pregnant, or Tiffany, who was in Paris with then-fetus Luc when she was at about the same stage. Luc has also been to Paris once out of utero, and he's only about 20 months old! I hope that Webhamster and I will be the kind of parents who continue to pursue our interests, such as travel, when Cletus breaks out of the pod. I know that kids require you to modify your lifestyle, but I think there can be a balance.

Baby names from the 1800s

I was browsing through a local history book we received as a gift. What names some of these people had! Like the trend today toward unisex, occupational-sounding surnames as first names--Taylor, Tanner, Weaver, etc.--some of the names were unclear as to the gender. There were names like Hepsy, Milbrey, Squire, Notley, Chalon, Elender, Lowry, Sandford, Yearby, Merritt, Hylas, Emmis, Green, and Tempy.

Some of the more unusual names that I assume were given to girls included: Permelia, Fastina, Fatima, Turana, Permesia, Eudora, Minerva, Philomene, Hulda, Ratie, Sarilda, Sophronia, Famariah, Talitha, Apphia, Alpha, Sylvestra, Almira, Arminda, Sabine, Zilpha, Parthena, Amariah, Adijah, Orlenia, Sarepta, Albina, Parnessa, Vesta, Sidora, Zephrania, Fawntainee, Electa, Ludica, and Dicey.

Of course, there were the popular (at the time) girls' names Bertha, Gertrude, Bessie, Edith, Polly, Elsie, Matilda, Hester, Prudence, Edna, Eunice, Stella, Effie, Fannie, and Blanche.

I don't think the Webhamster and I will be culling our hot list of baby names from this book.

99 Bottles of [fill in blank] on the Wall

I just noticed that the Cletus countdown meter on the blog says "99 days to go." By the time those 99 days are approaching an end, they will probably feel like an eternity, but for now, 99 feels like a manageable number. It almost feels like a cause for celebration. I suppose it would be inappropriate to sing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall," although I look forward to the days when I can enjoy a few pints guilt-free. Perhaps "99 Bottles of Formula on the Wall?" I'm still weighing the benefits of breastfeeding versus formula, and am thinking that I will try to breastfeed for a while. However, "99 Bottles of Breastmilk on the Wall" just sounds a bit too arrhythmic or otherwise off.

Sci-Fi Bebe

So Cletus seems to be starting to hear outside the pod now. We saw Serenity last night and she was crazy active during the loud fight scenes. Webhamstress speculated that the loud noises were bothering her.

I think she was putting on her own fight scenes using the umbilical as a wire and fighting off the hideous reavers (or kidneys and bladder) with deft acrobatics.

She's been active during Formula One races and Sci-fi movies. Definitely an excellent start. Just gotta get her to some fencing tournaments so see if the clashing of blades, buzzing of scoring machines, and din of fencers yelling in victory or arguing with the ref in defeat gets a good reaction out of her.

Percentages

I will try not to whine about pregnancy symptoms related to growing larger, but I am starting to feel like I am head, neck, breasts, volleyball, and legs. Maybe she's already craving breastmilk; Cletus seems to be growing up toward my boobs. Consequently, mobility is starting to become an issue. It's really sort of cute and comical, the way I now have to roll and slide to sit or get up.

At this point, it's really not so bad, but the Webhamster pointed out to me last night that I'm only 50 percent done growing, at least pound-wise, according to the standard recommended weight gain charts. I said that at 24 weeks, I was 60 percent along. I hope I don't have to cram that much more growth into the next 15-16 weeks, but I have heard from several moms-to-be, new moms, and older moms that by the time you get to eight months, you are just ready to get the baby out of you.