Wherein I ramble about, you know, stuff

DH is a girly man

If you're my Facebook friend, you already know the news: Numero Cuatro (thanks for the spelling correction, Alison! I had no idea!) is another girl. Apparently DH has no Y chromosomes, lol. I thought I would be ecstatic at that news -- I have always been a girls' girl; boys seem like an alien race I've never been able to figure out (so how could I parent one?). I love being a mom of daughters. I love to see the bond of sisterhood developing among these first three. Honestly, I've always felt a little (or a lot) relieved to get a girl.

But.... But....

This is final. There will be no Cinco. Our last name will die out with DH. I feel very conflicted about that. I feel like I've "won" at DH's expense, or something.

I was talking to a guy the other day who (I believe) was trying to congratulate me on having so many girls, though his comments later caused me to have a giant hormonal meltdown. He said that having a son after having two daughters was amazing in an unexpectedly different way because he could look into that tiny baby's eyes and really know what life had in store for him: What it might feel like to get picked on in the boy's locker room, or to nervously ask a girl out on a first date, or whatever. I think he meant to say that I was lucky to have that bond of automatic empathy with all of my children. Later, though, all I could think about was what DH would never have.

My meltdown began with a few silent, stoic tears -- but then DH, who insists that talking things out is a good thing (grumble, grumble), made me tell him what was wrong. The more I tried to spit it out, the sobbier I got until I was choking on tears and could no longer breathe through my stuffed up nose. It was awesome. (Why can't he just leave me alone until the emotional moment passes? Distract me rather than making me focus on the sadness? Talking-schmalking, I say! GEEZ.)

He insists he's happy to have four girls, and I believe him. He says that having daughters "softens" him in a way he needs; he worries that if he had a son, he'd be as hard on him as he is on himself (or as his dad was with him growing up). I shouldn't be sad on his account, he tells me. (And besides, it's his fault, lol.)

But.... But....


Names

If Cuatro had been a boy, he'd be named already (with the boy name we picked out for Uno). But Fate Babyess remains nameless. It's tricky, because each of the other girls have names with Significance! Uno is named after two of the best women I know, her grandmothers; Dos is named after a courageous religious figure; Tres is named for two sisters of DH's grandfather, feisty, funny, hard-working women he admired.

Cuatro, too, needs something to inspire her, something to live up to -- not just a name that sounds nice (though that would be cool too, lol). And plus it ought to go well with the other girls' names, which are all old fashioned and on the strong side of the strong - prissy continuum. If we go the family name route, it ought to be from my side this time (for the sake of symmetry). I would also consider names of religious, historical, and/or literary significance -- but the farther it gets from a personal connection with the name, the better the name would have to be to make the cut.

Oh, and I have five sisters who all have beautiful names that would fit my criteria, but I can't use any of them because then the others would think I loved that sister better. (And even if they didn't -- because really, my sisters aren't petty like that -- it just doesn't seem right.) So that's five good names off the table right there. :-P

See? No pressure at all. Don't know why we haven't figured something out yet.


Maternity pants

I hate them. They always feel like they're falling down, no matter how huge my belly gets. I still have one pair of regular jeans I can squeeze into, and two pairs of knit pants. I will resist the maternity pants for as long as possible.


The great debate

I almost forgot to mention! We discussed my clotting condition -- and my complete lack of any actual clotting -- with the Maternal-Fetal specialist on Monday. In her opinion, I do not need anticoagulation. (Insert mental picture of me doing the happy dance.) I asked her about baby aspirin, but she felt that any potential benefits were too small to risk its side effects, especially toward the end of the pregnancy. So it's nothing. YAY!!!

I did buy some purple grape juice and ginger ale at the grocery store yesterday. And I'll try to eat stuff with garlic in it. I've read that each of those has natural anticoagulant properties. Maybe that will ease DH's fears? Couldn't hurt, anyway. Woo-hoo! :-)


Tres's favorite joke

TRES: Knock-knock!

RCH: Who's there?

TRES: [Anything random]

RCH: [Anything] who?

TRES: K-K! [Pumps fist in the air] YESSS!!!

I don't have the slightest idea what the joke means, or why Tres seems to think she's pulling one over on us when telling it (which she'll do over and over until we answer, "Nobody's home!"). But she thinks she's hilarious.


~RCH~