The Middle Chapters

Jenn asked a good question - one I didn't think to ask the doctor during my last appointment. I've had the fetal fibronectin test run twice - I think at about 29 and 31 weeks. The negative result gave me huge peace of mind for the four weeks that it covered. But, according to Dr. Google, the test is only used up to 34 weeks. I'm 36 weeks tomorrow, so am outside the window of opportunity.

My sister asked about steroids - should I be getting them if there is a chance of the baby coming soon? Another thing I didn't think to ask the doctor about. Dr. Google says this is another thing that is used only until 34 weeks (and not necessarily a good mix with the drugs to postpone pre-term labor).

My doctor suggested the following plan for this week: (1) stop the Terbutaline tomorrow at 36 weeks and (2) stop the Nifedipine the following Tuesday at 37 weeks. I understand that this is based on the goal of getting us to 37 weeks, but not stopping things if they progress this week. I'm excited and scared (though not the sad kind of scared) - I guess worried is a better word. The effects of the Terbutaline seem to be diminishing - so much so that I ended up calling the on-call doctor yesterday when the contractions started getting regular and painful and he suggested an additional dose. The one extra pill did the work though and stopped the contractions. But, if I go off it tomorrow, it seems likely to me that the contractions will start back up with nothing to stop them, then, in theory, I'll have the baby. For me that would be great, but I'm worried about the baby. I just want her to be as healthy as she can be. I think that means staying inside, but if that were clearly the case, wouldn't the doctor keep me on the full dose of all meds until 37 weeks?

We are so close to having a name picked out. I want family names. My husband agrees, but doesn't want to call his daughter his mother's name, so we've been searching for an acceptable nickname. We found one late last week. But his question is, why don't we simply name her the nickname? I know my reasons - based on my experience of having a long formal name and a short nickname (ending in a y), I like the option of having and using the formal name - that whole be taken seriously thing.

Now, the interesting bit, is that the family name isn't long. In fact the nickname is longer, and its a bit unusual. So, in this instance, it would be naming her a very common (old fashioned) name and calling her an unusual (and somewhat hard to spell) nickname. I still like the choices that it would give her as she grows up. If she doesn't like the nickname, there are many others. If she wants an easy name - she's got one.

My sister was tortured by an unusual name growing up. She went through a short spell of using her middle name while in high school, then returned to her first name. I don't want to torture my child by giving her a name that will cause her unhappiness. But I do want her name to be special to us. And times have changed when it comes to girls' names. Unlike my sister, our daughter won't have to worry about not being able to find personalized things with her name on them. And uncommon names are very common now.

I've read through several pop articles that suggest that a person's name influences their career choices and people's perception of them. I want to name our daughter something that will serve her through her life and not limit her career choices to stripper or cocktail waitress or make people assume that she can't do math. If she's born in the next week, I think we have her name. If she waits longer, we'll see what changes we've come up with by then.