No-name No More

Sajid and I have decided on the name of our much anticipated son.

Ethan Sajid Whatley!

How did we arrive at that you ask? Well, I knew all along that I wanted to keep 'Sajid' as either the first or middle name of our son. I didn't want a "Junior", but the name 'Sajid' is too unique for it not to be carried on. I can't say that Sajid's heart was set on naming our son after him, but he never said he was against it. I would think it was an honor to have your son named after you. So, I said all that to let you know we only had to decide on one name since we already had the other - Sajid.

Ethan was one of our top 3 picks from the very beginning. The night I told Sajid I was pregnant, he spent some late night hours making a list of all the boy names that he liked.

[He didn't have to think about girl names because for more than a year now, we've said that if we had a girl, her name would be Lola Mae. We always knew we wanted to use Mae because it's both my great-grandmother's middle name and one of his grandmother's middle name. Lola - Sajid came up with that, and I liked it. So, now that I am actually pregnant and naming our children is no long just a thought, it became very realistic that the Lord might give us a son.]

The next morning, Sajid showed me his list, and I went through it and marked my favorites. Ethan being one of them. We quickly narrowed our top 3 down to 2 after we found out that the meaning of one of our other top 3 picks is thin and skinny. I don't want to say what that name is because I believe it is still a very beautiful name, and I certainly don't want to offend anyone. I've never been really huge on the meaning of names; however, when I saw that the meaning of Ethan is Strong and Firm and was the total opposite of the other name, it became very easy to cross one name out.

So, now we were down to 2 names. Even though many of you know the other name we really like, I'm not going to mention it in this blog. Sajid and I had a really hard time deciding between these two names. Both are Biblical names. And, neither of us could think of anyone with either name. For me though, the deciding factor was the flow of the name. See, if we went with Ethan, Ethan would be the first name. If we went with the other name, it would have to be the middle name because it is one syllable. I know many people go by their middle names, and I'm not one of these people who is totally against it. I just wanted to cut down on as much confusion as possible seeing that our son's other name is going to be Sajid. Just from listening to other people's experiences with this, it seems very likely that doctor's offices, school systems, and mail will consistently use the child's first name regardless of what the child goes by. And, truthfully, that wouldn't be so bad, but I have never met a single person who knew how to correctly pronounce S-A-J-I-D without someone having to tell them. Here again, I can't say this was Sajid's exact thought process, but it was mine, and he never disagreed. So, maybe it made sense to him too.

We went back and forth with our top 2 picks for a good while. It's quite funny looking back now. Each of us would ask the other, "so, what are we going to name our son?" at very random times. And, our decision came at a pretty random time. Sajid and I participated in our church Easter play last weekend. We had 3 productions: Saturday night, Sunday morning during the 8:45 service and the 11 o'clock service. It was during the waiting period between the two Sunday services - as we were in full costume (and makeup) sitting on the floor in the hall with about 20 other cast members and other church members in and out dropping off children in the nursery - that we both looked at one another and asked that question, "so what are we going to name our son?" We went over our thoughts again for both choices, and then Sajid said, "That's it. Ethan it is!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. More so, as exciting as it was, I couldn't believe he and I in our own little moment amongst all these people and commotion were deciding on THE name of our son. He assured me that it was what he wanted. And, I couldn't have asked for a better moment. To me, it was like we were in a meadow all by ourselves excitedly discussing this major decision. Even though it wasn't, it seemed so private. It was a special moment to me that I'll never forget. So, Ethan Sajid Whatley it is! We did agree that if we were blessed w/ another son in the future, that we would use our 2nd pick at that time as long as no one close to us uses it before we get a chance to.

Sonogram Pictures

Note: I didn't insert the captions on the sonograms; Dr. Palmer did :)

Sharing in the Moment

I've been meaning to make a list of all the people I know who recently had a child (2008) or is currently pregnant. I think it is so cool to be able to share this special moment with others.

1. Toni Johnson - Son, Noah, born late January
2. Courtney Elliott Phillips - Daughter, Kayla, born late February
3. Nikki Griffin - Son, Brandon, born early March
4. Kimberly Stephens - Daughter due in March - born March 19th.
5. Jilly Taylor Matthews - due late March/early April
6. Jan Harris - Son due April 12th
7. Tracy Rollins - Daughter due in May 10th
8. Lisa Cantrell - Son due in May
9. Ashley Strickland - Son due in May
10. Cindy Griner - Daughter, Haley Grace, due May 24th
11. Katie Chambers Painter - Son due; not sure when, but I think it's March or April.
12. Casey Chambers Nelson - Katie's sister is also having a boy. Don't know her due date either.
13. Kim Solomon - Son, Parker, due June 5th
14. Nicole Armour - Daughter due in June
15. Wendy Killingsworth Milner - Due July (I think)
16. Me - Son, Ethan, due July 22
17. Tracy Norris - Daughter, Abigail, due in July
18. Shanna Pabian - Daughter due July
19. Kristy Johnson (Kyle's wife; NOT his sister) - due in July
20. Mandy Pickett Smith - Daughter, Jolie, due July 30
21. Fairin Grimes - Girl due August
22. Amanda Sanders - Boy due early September
23. Stacie Perdue Eady - Son due September or October
24. Samantha McKinley - Due late September/early October
25. Lori Simpson - Due in October
26. Brandy Sheppard - Due November
27. Becky Cowart - Due December

28. Tracy Vinson -

I love it!!!!!!!!!

It's a Beautiful Little...

Yep! We're having a little boy! Our sonogram was conducted last Friday (Feb 29th - leap day) by Dr. Palmer. And, man, it was such an amazing experience. We had no real inclination as to what the sex of our baby was, but all the wise tales indicated a boy. I wish ya'll could have been a fly on the wall watching Sajid and I do these so called wise tales. We first did an online Chinese calendar, then we tied Sajid's wedding ring onto a strand of my hair. Then, not sure if it was supposed to be his wedding ring or mine, I pulled another strand of hair to which we tied my wedding ring on. We held it over my belly and over my wrist. All pointing towards a boy. And, just as I was about to go to bed for the night, Sajid wanted to try the Drano wise tale that my aunt, Leigh Ann Knowles told him about and he also found on the internet. So, he made me pee in a cup before I went to bed so he could mix it with Drano. Specific color changes supposedly directly relate to the sex of the baby. That one (I think) indicated girl. We were enjoying ourselves and having fun; so - that's all that matters. However, I don't recommend any parents-to-be setting their hearts on what any wise tales indicate. Not even the heart beat tale. The Sunday before while at church, Heather Kirkland told me, "You look like a little boy's mom." That made me feel so good that she thought that about me. And, Coach Carrick (GCSU Women's Basketball Coach) predicted it was a boy. His prediction was correct.

Back to the sonogram. Dr. Palmer was WONDERFUL!!! She was so complimentary on how well the baby was cooperating. She was able to see everything she was checking for w/out any trouble. I couldn't believe what she was able to see and tell about our baby by what we were looking at on the screen. Everthing from the cerabellum in the brain to the heart beat to the kidneys to the attachment of the umbillical cord to counting all 10 fingers and toes to his spine. She was even able to see his little eye lashes in one photo, and in another she could tell just by looking at his little nose and lips that he doesn't have a cleft lip. Our little man even had the hickups while we were watching him. It was surreal to see all that happening inside of me and me not feeling the slightest movement. Dr. Palmer said that as the baby grows and I start feeling movement, I'll be able to tell when he is hickuping. When she showed us our baby's genitalia, it was VERY CLEAR that was not a girl. However, Sajid wanted to make sure Dr. Palmer hadn't made a mistake. To prove to him that our baby was indeed a boy, Dr. Palmer began looking for the goodies once again. And, just as she did, she told us that he had moved his little hand 'down there' to either "cover it up" or "play with it". Dr. Palmer said, "Yep. It's definitely a boy; he's already playing with it!" She was able to get two more photos proving to Sajid that we were indeed having a boy. We ended up with about 12 or 15 actual sonogram pictures. I am hoping to get them on a CD today so that I can post them on our blog for all to see.

We couldn't have asked for a better doctor's visit. Dr. Palmer didn't seemed rushed. She took her time and spent at least an 1 hour and 15 minutes with us. It was also great to hear that the blood work that was taken at the last visit 4 weeks ago to screen for spinal bifida and down syndrome came back negative. Our God is an AWESOME GOD!

Names - no definite names yet. We're toying with about 3 different ones right now. Once we decide, we'll start sharing.

I want to say thank you to everyone who has been praying and supporting us in our journey thus far - everyone from our families, to our church family and friends, to our lifelong friends and our co-workers. All of you mean the world to us and we love you dearly!!!

Little Sajid even has his first Georgia Bulldog outfit. Thanks Jen and Mike!

Sorry It's Been So Long

- - - - - Week 18 - - - - - - - - Week 19 - - - - - - - - Week 20 - - - - -

Thank goodness I've stopped waking up at 4 and 5 in the morning, but I'm sure most of you have noticed that I've NOT been very diligent at keeping our blog updated. Previously, I 'Posted' in those wee hours of the morning. The past couple of weeks it has been harder for me to get up in the morning. I'd sleep-in if work allowed. So, that's my excuse for slacking on the blog.

I am now 20 (Tuesday 21) weeks pregnant. I just feel so blessed because so far I have not experienced hardly any pregnancy symptoms or negative conditions due to pregnancy. I don't crave anything specific to eat - just food!!! I do love a bowl of cereal in the morning. It's the cold milk that is so satisfying. iVillage states that some women might be experiencing more heartburn during this time; I haven't yet. But Sajid has been. Maybe he has my heart burn. HeeHee :)