By June the bleed had stopped and we were finally able to allow ourselves to "get excited" for our babies arrival without any "what-ifs" lingering in the back of our minds.
Since our baby was doing well and the pregnancy was progressing, I decided to take the next year off of teaching and be a stay at home mom when she finally arrives in October. So some of June was spent emptying my classroom (which is not an easy task, especially when you have just been freed from 13 weeks of bed rest!)
Anyway, once that was all finished it was finally time to come up with her name. My whole life I've been obsessed with baby names. I like knowing what names mean and seeing how those meanings impact ones personality. I also spent a lot of time thinking about what I would name my future children. I had a whole list of names I love; however, the funny thing is that once I got pregnant none of those names felt right for her. Finally, we decided to name our little girl Makenna Claire. Makenna means born of fire, it's a strong name and it just seemed to fit our little fighter well. It also means "born to royalty" which is kind of fun since my husbands name, Rex, means King. We choose Claire because it is my middle name and also because it means bright--I know our sweet girl is going to have a very bright future and grow up to be a very intellectually bright individual!.
Once her name was determined, we shifted our focus to her room! We found a beautiful cream colored crib for her and after many indecisive weeks, we decided on an amazing shade of turquoise for her room. A lot of people thought it was strange to paint a little girls room blue, but I am so glad we did. It is the perfect color. As it all came together it became so real. It was so fun to think about how Makenna would use each item in her room. We could literally envision her having tummy time on the pink rug, sitting on the bench by the window watching the ducks in the lake, and rocking with us in her new green arm chair.
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| Installing Shelves in her closet! (23 weeks) |
Another fun part of pregnancy during these months was feeling her move. It was so exciting! We first felt her really move during week 18. It was amazing and she was so strong! She kicked with enough force that from the first time I felt her, Rex could as well. Every kick was another sign that she was doing okay!
It was a long road getting to this point, but it was also rewarding as well. After all, when most people find out they are pregnant, life goes on pretty much as usual until around the time the baby arrives. For us it was different. Two weeks after finding out I was pregnant I was put on bed rest. That meant no working, no friends, no nothing. It was just Sadie (our puppy), Makenna, and Me. My job became keeping her safe and it is all I had to focused on all day, every day. By the time I could move around or even go back to work, it was the summer, so again my focus all day, everyday, became her. I feel so bonded to my little girl. I can't wait to see her pretty face and hold her in my arms!
