24 weeks and growing!

The idea of having a little girl has really started to sink in over the last couple of weeks. I love her so much already!

I've started to feel tons better yesterday and today, but the last week and a half has been rough. I was in pain. My lower abdomen and lower back were killing me. I am not going to lie. I got really nervous since those types of pains can be signs of preterm labor, and at 22 and 23 weeks, a baby's chances of surviving if they are born premature are slim. Plus, a surviving baby born that early would be in bad shape health wise for a while, possibly forever. My mind always goes to the most extreme possibility. I cried a couple times when the pain didn't go away because I got overwhelmed with fear. When I got upset, my sweet husband was there to listen to my concerns and assure me that it was probably normal, not to worry, and that whatever was going on, God had it under control. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't doubled over in pain. It was just a fairly consistent dull ache that seemed to progressively get worse as each day went on. I would start off the morning with minimal discomfort and progress to extreme discomfort by the evening. I could feel her moving around every day, so that was reassuring. The fact that the pain wasn't letting up after a couple of days concerned me enough to call my doctor's office a couple of times for clarification on what was serious and what would most likely just be some extreme stretching and growing pains. They calmed my fears by giving me a checklist of symptoms to watch for should it become serious. Their answer was that it was most likely just growing pains. They said pregnancy can be hard on some people. They also reminded me that I have a baby inside me, which is not always going to feel very good. Good point.

And so I started to pray. I asked my friends to pray. Chris and I prayed together. We asked God to take care of her, that she would stay in there until it was time for her to be born, and that He would allow my pain to ease up. We told Him that we wanted to keep her, and we asked him if He would let us. I think most of my fear wasn't that I was hurting. I never felt like I was in labor or anything. Then again, I don't have a clue about what it feels like to be in labor, but friends tell me I would know if I was experiencing it! I think my fear was really just the unknown, the uncertainty and the fact that I didn't feel in control. I was also scared that if I was that uncomfortable at this point, how would I ever make it 17 more weeks? The third trimester of pregnancy is supposed to be way more uncomfortable than the second. The Lord in his kindness has since given me a few days of relief. Praise God! I hope the pain doesn't return, but I guess I wouldn't be too surprised if it did. I still have a lot of growing to do in the next 16 weeks. Pray that I am able to push through whatever pain comes my way over the next few months, that I am able to decipher if it's serious or not, that I would give up trying to feel in control, and that I wouldn't be such a weenie!

Chris and I have decided that her name will be Bridgette. We haven't made a final decision on the spelling yet. We might spell it Bridget. Chris likes the ette at the end. He thinks it's prettier that way. I like the et because I think it will be easier to spell and not as confusing to pronounce since a lot of names that end in ette have a different pronunciation. I don't hate either spelling, so we will just have to make a decision. What do you think? Should we go with the spelling Bridgette or Bridget?