Names, Gender Myths, & Impatience!

I am getting so impatient to meet the baby now. At the start of pregnancy I was anxious about it passing too quickly, but now I feel a real sense of “C’mon!!” about the whole thing.

I think that is exacerbated by not knowing if we are having a girl or boy – I’m really getting impatient to find out and to meet my child. Although I am still not sure that the fact I am going to have a baby, a child, has fully sunk in yet. It still feels like a weird dream.  So while I don’t want to wish the rest of the pregnancy – 52 days to go until my due date – away, I am impatiently waiting for things to start to feel real.

My husband and I, thus far, have completely failed to pick a name for a girl. Boy names were easier than I thought (I think because there was a much smaller pool to choose from that we both liked) and we’ve had a winner picked out for a while (with a caveat from me that I’m allowed to change my mind once the baby is born if they don’t ‘suit’ the name). For girls we still have a long list and a serious case of indecision. Middle names are picked (we are using family names so that was relatively easy) but the first name is completely alluding us. It’s getting to the point where I think we should just leave it now and pick a name if it turns out we actually have a girl.

Which brings me onto the – what do you think you are having? – question. I find that really odd. I have absolutely no inkling of what I am cooking in there. Literally no clue and I have no idea how any woman ever has “a feeling” about what they are having. So far my “theories” are as follows:

• It must be a boy because we have picked out a boy’s name
• I’m REALLY spotty, which apparently means girl
• Cravings – basically I will eat anything that moves, so it could be either!
• I had really bad morning sickness, so it’s a girl
• I’m carrying low = it’s a boy!

So yeah, none-the-wiser. I don’t want to look into any of the slightly more scientific methods of gender prediction (heart rate, ‘nub’ theory, intercourse timing, etc.) as in truth, despite itching to find out now, I really don’t want to know prior to the birth.

We start NCT courses next month and have really started to ramp up the baby preparations recently – my hospital bag is partly packed, nursery is decorated and carpet is being fitted next week, nursery furniture is awaiting assembly, we have bought most the basic clothes we need, changing bag (I really need to post about that as it’s fabulous), blankets, muslins and a few other bits and pieces have been bought. I’ve filled out a birth plan on the NHS website to talk about with the midwife… so despite not feeling real yet, it is all starting to come together.