I just read a great post over at Daniela Barbosa’s blog (hat tip to Jack Lail) about what Daniela is doing online to get ready for her new baby, including reserving the baby’s name as a URL, checking Facebook for other people with the same name, and setting up a Skype account for grandparents to see the new arrival from afar.

This was a good reminder to me to do what I am always advising students to do when I speak to journalism and PR classes, which is “own your own name.” So I just asked Jon to take care of buying “GeorgiaLastname.com” for the baby’s future use, and to add URLs for the other kids’ names as well. They each need to own their own identities online, even if they aren’t ready to claim them yet.

The primary reason I’ve moved from using my kids’ full names when I blog or write essays for publication to my current practice of instead using their first initials is so the kids can own their own identities online. I have no illusions that people don’t already know my kids’ names – after all, I wrote about them using their real names for years before making the switch – so that change wasn’t about privacy, per se. No, I just think that when my kids get old enough to have their own, grown-up accomplishments and interests and careers, and someone Googles them (or whatever it is we are doing at that point to retrieve digital content), the info that comes up front and center should be stuff they themselves have created or written rather than years and years of my blogging about them. So yes, I stopped using their whole names to make them less Google-able, but not for the reasons some folks might think.

But back to my current digital nesting for baby Georgia. I am definitely reserving her name-branded URL, and probably setting up a Google alert with her name (because it would be good to know if some other Georgia LastName has just committed mass murder in the Ukraine or something), but I don’t think I will bother with claiming Facebook, Flickr or Twitter real estate for her, since the odds are low that those specific online brands will still be relevant platforms by the time she is ready to use them.

What about you? Have you done any online nesting before or soon after your baby(ies) have arrived? Or do you think I am a complete nutjob? Tell me in the comments below.

(Cross posted over at AckermannDigital)

Tell me your thoughts on the trendy factor when it comes to baby naming over in my latest Babble blog post.

….Georgia.

Georgia Allison LastName

We love it, and can’t wait to meet our sweet little Georgia this summer.

In my last two pregnancies, with E and C, I started having pretty strong Braxton Hicks contractions by the beginning of the second trimester, and it looks like that’s going to be what happens this time as well. In the past two weeks, if I allow myself to get too worn out, or stay on my feet too many hours – like last week at the Knoxville Social Media Summit where as the organizer, I was “on” for about 16 hours straight – I start contracting. Day before yesterday, the contractions started up as soon as I got to work that morning, and they were regular enough and “peaky-ey” enough at the top (women who have given birth will know what I mean with this description of a contraction) that I got a little concerned.

So I called my doctor’s office, and they recommended that I come in and get checked out. This wasn’t what I’d hoped to hear, as I was very busy that morning, but I knew they were right. I didn’t feel like I should drive, so I called my sister, who picked me up at my office and ran me over to my doc’s office. They hustled me back to be examined. It was determined that I was indeed having pretty noticeable Braxton Hicks contractions (duh), but that’s all they were. There was no change to my cervix; in fact, I was told that my cervix looked so excellent, that on a scale of 1-10, it was a “wow!” (I’ve always wanted to have one of my internal organs described in such glowing terms). The baby was wiggling around on the ultrasound, but of course I couldn’t feel anything because my placenta remains anterior, muffling any kicks that I’d be feeling otherwise. This was all very reassuring, so I soon headed back to the office for a full day of meetings and projects. The contractions continued on and off all day, but I tried to ignore them.

At 18 weeks, I can’t believe I am pretty much halfway to birth, since E was born at 37 weeks and C was born at 36 weeks. While I’ve gained 22 pounds, and I now have a belly the size of most 6 month pregnant bellies ( I always get huge in pregnancy; In fact a drunken relative actually cornered Jon at our wedding to warn him that “she always gets HUGE when she’s pregnant.”), I still can’t quite get my mind around the fact that I will be having an actual, real, human infant in just a few months. While my ambivalence about the pregnancy seems to have faded away as the last of the pregnancy nausea has over the past three weeks (praise Jesus!) – I am now full-on invested in this – I still just can’t believe that the pregnancy means a real baby at the other end, or that there is a real baby in there at all.

As I’ve pondered my very different (from previous) feelings in this pregnancy, I’ve realized that my inability to connect is mostly due to all of the pregnancy losses that Jon and I experienced prior to this; when you’ve been disappointed time and time again, it’s just incredibly hard to expect anything other than the worst in the same situation. And I keep asking myself “why?” Why did this pregnancy “stick” when all the others didn’t? I didn’t do anything differently this time, and in fact wasn’t taking particularly good care of myself when I became pregnant. I was recovering from a nasty virus, working too hard, drinking a few too many glasses of wine in the evenings after work, and not getting enough sleep. And yet, I somehow became pregnant despite efforts to prevent that from happening, and the pregnancy somehow hung in there past the first trimester. And here I am; 18 weeks pregnant with a seemingly healthy baby girl, our Mr. Darcy.

We’ve begun talking about the baby more with the other children, something I’d avoided until now. E has taken to talking to my belly and giving it the occasional smooch or poke, just as he did when I was pregnant with C. And C likes to ask me again and again what’s in my “big tummy.” The other day, she told me that she already has a sister, J, and “that one” should stay in my belly “forever.” I think we still have some prep work to do to get C ready to be the big sister instead of the baby of the family, doted upon by three much older siblings and numerous cousins.

Despite my inability to completely come to grips with the pregnancy, there finally came a point this week when there was no denying that my belly (and yes, the rest of me, too) has become too big for any of my clothing, particularly when it comes to getting dressed for work each day. Nothing at all fit any more beyond two turtleneck sweaters, one wonderful pair of hand me down Japanese Weekend maternity pants from my friend Julianne, and one stretchy black skirt. That was it. I made these four items last as long as I could, but this week I finally threw in the towel and invested in several cute dresses and a new cardigan that fit well, show off my tummy – meaning they allow me to look pregnant and not just fat – and they should be wearable into summer when I give birth, and even beyond into the “fourth trimester,” after Mr. Darcy arrives. As I shopped, I realized that I’d been putting off buying anything for the same reasons I’ve had trouble getting attached to the pregnancy; I didn’t want to jinx anything by buying maternity clothes too early. But the time had come, and I was able to find a few things I really liked. None of the items I bought are actually maternity dresses, but are instead empire waisted frocks that would suit my tastes well even if I weren’t knocked up. While I hated spending the money, it felt good to know that I could avoid the turtleneck sweaters, black skirt and black clogs when I got dressed this morning. For someone who really likes cute clothes, that situation was getting old, fast.

The most fun thing that’s happened this week is that yesterday, for the very first time, I felt some baby taps, kicks, pokes and wiggles off and on all day long. They were still very faint – if I hadn’t been pregnant before, I might not have recognized them – but they were definite. I sure wish that pesky anterior placenta would get out of the way so I could get to know my baby girl a bit better via her internal gymnastics, but I guess that’s just not in the cards. I hope I get to feel her moving some again today.

I’m 17 weeks now and still feeling nothing from Mr. Darcy. That’s what I’m blogging about over at Babble today.

C makes her daily commute to the office in Sevierville with her Daddy.

This is what 16-weeks-pregnant-with-baby-number-five looks like.

A fave photo of H that I stole off his Facebook page (I can do that now that he’s friended me…after only THREE YEARS of me asking him to friend me.)

C lounges in nothing but a diaper and her brother E’s lacrosse helmet.

In case you missed it the first time I posted it, here is my 7 year old nephew M’s cartoon creation.

C plays dress-up at Great-Grandmother’s house

E channels his inner Obama

My J-boodles

J and C, wrapped up like a toddler burrito

Me, getting a snuggly kiss from cousin L (known as Rainbow over at his mama’s most excellent blog)

J and another model all made up (remember! You need that much make-up for actual professional photography with lighting and everything; I took this photo with my BlackBerry) for photoshoot for JulieApple bags.

Jon spends time visiting with my grandmother.

Jon and E. Jon will be very sad, I think, when E finally gets too big to climb all over him.

My sweet H, age 18 (!!!)

K and E, the hippest neighbors on Grainger Ave!

Yesterday I had my 16 week check-up at my OB’s office. Everything looks good – my belly is measuring right on track (that will change, I am sure, as my belly always measures HUGE for dates as pregnancy progresses). I also had blood drawn for the AFP test, which theoretically looks at certain markers in the blood to reveal risk factors for spina bifida and Down Syndrome. But of course, since we already had the CVS test, we know definitively that the baby doesn’t have Down Syndrome. And due to my high risk status, we’ve already had numerous ultrasounds, and will have the major anatomy scan in 2 weeks. So spina bifida probably would have become visually apparent by now (and certainly would at the big, lengthy 3D ultrasound 2 weeks from now). So I am not entirely sure why we did that AFP test. But anyway…

The best part of the visit was the ultrasound, where I got a good, long look at Mr. Darcy for the first time since the CVS test. She’s REALLY grown! She looks like an actual human being now, and the ultrasound tech was very sweet about pointing out specifically how good everything looks – her spine and skull look perfect, and there is no fluid on her brain or on any of her organs. Her measurements – leg length, etc – are spot-on. These are the same kinds of things they will look at in more detail at the big anatomy scan in 2 weeks, but she gave me a bit of a preview. She also pointed out that my placenta is “anterior” in this pregnancy, meaning that it’s on the front of my uterus, near my belly button as opposed to the back, near my spine. This is a first for me. She said the placenta may be muffling the baby’s movement, which is why I am not yet regularly feeling any flutters or pokes, something that’s had me a bit paranoid (since I was feeling movement pretty regularly by now in earlier pregnancies). I asked her whether the anterior position of the placenta would affect anything if I decide to have a repeat c-section, and she said no, that unless it’s very low in the front, which it won’t be by the time it’s finished its upward migration near the end of pregnancy, the anterior position is of no consequence.

The best part of the ultrasound was seeing Mr. Darcy sucking her thumb and hiccupping! It was so cute. She was curled up sort of on her tummy, with her legs tucked under her, just like newborns like to sleep (I know, I know, they aren’t SUPPOSED to sleep on their tummies, but who can deny that most of them prefer it?). Her hands were up near her face, and one thumb was plopped in her wee mouth as she snoozed and hiccupped. She didn’t really wake up for the whole ultrasound except to shift position a little bit. She’s definitely been much quieter when we’ve seen her on the ultrasounds than her siblings have been when we got to peek at them in utero. Maybe she’s going to be very laid back. On the other hand, E was the least active of my other kids while gestating – he kicked so rarely that I worried about it all the time – and he is definitely NOT laid back or calm and quiet. So we’ll see.

Seeing her on ultrasound yesterday made me feel a lot better than I had the week before, when I had started to let my fear and paranoia about the pregnancy get the better of me. I still have a hard time believing this is really happening, but for a few minutes yesterday, as I looked at my tiny, sleeping baby girl on that flickering screen, I was a true believer.

I’m now 16 weeks pregnant, but I still can’t quite believe that I am actually going to have a baby. My inability to get fully invested in this pregnancy, and how that has me feeling guilty and worried is what I am blogging about in my latest Babble post.

Me to Jon: “Honey, does this pregnancy makes my ass look big?”

His response: Dead silence.

My two middle children – ages 12 & 14 – find it more than a little weird – and not necessarily in a good way – that their mother is having a baby, again. That’s what I am blogging about in my latest post over at Babble.