Ear of Corn

Ah, 24 weeks, the beginning of that all-so-important possibly-viable stage. Amazing. I'm feeling Barack kick even more, and the other night I could feel it with my hand on my belly for the first time (though of course he stopped as soon as S put his hand there). I also think that I felt baby hiccups for the first time yesterday (I can't be sure, but it felt like regular little thumps for several minutes, which I hear is what they're like).

Nesting is kicking more into high gear -- we've done a ton of work, and S did several tasks involving heavy lifting and moving while I was out of town last weekend. Now that there's more room in the nursery, I plan to order the crib and changing table this weekend. And my cousin dropped off a huge collection of little boy clothing and infant gear (eg, bouncy seat) that her boys have outgrown, so I'm looking forward to sorting through that. Adding to the nesting: the fact that we have an actual bird nest on our front porch (a purple finch). Nothing quite like carrying armloads of stuff out of the future nursery just to see birds flying back and forth with branches, doing (apparently) much the same thing. Ah, spring is in the air!

This past weekend, I was out of town at a mini-reunion with several of my high school friends. Five of us flew in from all over the country (2 coming from the West Coast, 2 from the Midwest, and 1 East Coast). We hadn't all been in the same place together for several years. We shared a suite at a resort hotel on the beach, and the weekend was filled entirely with beach, pool lounging, music, and restaurants. Two of these friends have small children, two of us are in graduate school, and all 5 of us work, so I'm still kind of amazed that we pulled off the logistics of everyone being able to take a long weekend off at the same time. We had a fabulous time, catching up on each other's lives, providing support, reminiscing about high school (and earlier -- one of these friends I've known since 3rd grade). Just the relaxing weekend that I needed! Also, a bizarre coincidence: when I told my obstetrician about the trip at my last appointment, he informed me that the hotel where we were staying was also the site of his high school senior prom.

My flight back home Sunday night confirmed for me that this was my last airplane trip until after I give birth. Even though I'm supposed to be okay to fly for a few more weeks, Barack clearly did not enjoy the experience. When we started our final descent, as soon as I felt the pressure change (eg, my ears popped) he immediately started squirming like I've never felt before. The increased activity continued for several hours after we landed. I can just imagine: he's got some tight quarters to begin with, so having them squeezed by outside pressure couldn't have been very pleasant. So, no more flights for me.

Update on names: thanks for the suggestions of just using the name anyway, even if it matches the middle name that my brother M wants to use. Sadly, that approach really won't work for us. We're Jewish, and Jewish culture is very, very, very opposed to choosing names in common with living relatives (it's considered rude and bad luck for both the baby and the person who first had the name). M gave his daughter the same middle name as our second cousin's wife's name (yes, that's right, same name as our father's mother's sister's daughter's son's wife, if you can follow that reasoning in a family tree) and it caused quite the family uproar. The good news is that M is starting to soften his position, and has thrown a few other names back into consideration. M and his wife seem to be changing opinions on names so frequently that we figure if we just wait them out, they'll probably settle on something different. Fingers crossed!