Sunday, September 14, 2008

One Battle Won...next?

You may be asking yourself what has inspired my sudden return to blogging, what has caused my absence and what it is that has me giddy and excited. I’m assuming you have a mild interest, hence your stopping here to read.

My absence: completely 100% related to health. I’ve got a myriad (sorry H, I just can’t not put the article in, it sounds wrong) of health concerns going on right now and it sucks. The FDA discontinued my migraine meds a while back and we’ve not found anything to replace them with as nothing works like that particular medication. In addition, I have a blood disorder that is currently doing backflips and has the doctor straining her brain trying to figure out what to do.

No worries about the little one. He’s just fine.

Which brings me to my current giddy and excited state which is why I’ve returned to my blog.

The SO finally caved. I’m getting my way! And yes, I’m gloating shamelessly because the SO doesn’t read this blog. Otherwise I’m handling it with sensitivity and grace. So what was the big victory? I get my pick for the baby’s middle name.

We had compromised to come up with Aidan as a first name and had originally compromised on James as a middle name. I was, however, forbidden to even discuss the idea of referring to the child as AJ. The evil glare was given and the lower lip protruded to emphasize the intensity with which my Precious hates initials for name. However, for some reason I can’t identify--temporary insanity, a sudden blow to the head which I swear I wasn’t responsible for—I have now been told I can use the middle name I’ve wanted all along.

Zarek (Zair-rik)

I know it’s a bit out there and yes, I first read it in a book. (Yeah, Anny, we Kenyon fans can be a bit intense.) While it is generally considered to be Greek, it can actually be traced to Babylonian times as the name and battle cry of a group of Babylonian generals, men who once conquered almost all of their known world. The literal meaning is "God (Lord) save the King."

Aidan means "fiery one" and St. Aidan (Aédén) was known for his gentle approach to the conversion of the people of Northumberland. He walked among them talking and sharing and with his quiet, noble and gentle spirit won the people over to Christianity. When a noble man gave him a mule to ride upon in his missions, he gave it away to a beggar and continued his way on foot.

So he will be Aidan Zarek. Together the names are strong and can be roughly translated as one of my favorite sayings: “Speak softly but carry a big stick.” Besides Zarek is just cool and masculine sounding. I am not a fan of unisex or soft names for boys.

I knew I’d won when I got the SO to laugh about using the name and after me calling the baby “Mamma’s little Z” a few times, my Precious actually used it too. Five minutes later I was being encouraged to pick out a large wooden letter Z to go on his wall. We also hung a large A. We’ve agreed he will go by Aidan officially. But he is Mamma’s little Z.

The nursery is basically done. We need to move the rocking chair up but everything else is in place. I attached the changing pad to the dresser top this morning, put up the wall decals, hung pictures and then tonight put the collapsible changing shelf up and attached it to the side of the dresser.

We also had our last childbirth class tonight and our tour of the hospital, labor and delivery, and the mother/baby unit. We still have a few things to decide, such as about circumcision. I hate the idea of them cutting a piece off my baby’s body when there isn’t really any medical need to. The SO is worried about the stigma and “teasing” that may happen in the future and just looks at me and says, “Everyone does it. It’s the norm.” I’m adding to my argument by the fact that many insurance companies now consider the procedure to be “elective cosmetic surgery” and aren’t covering it.

If there are any moms or grandmas of little boys out there who’d like to give the new mom advice, I’d welcome it too. And the guys. Is it really that big a deal in the locker room if you’re not clipped?


Don't forget, as always, stop by and read Anny Cook, Amarinda Jones, Kelly Kirch and Sandra Cox. They are much better about keeping up with their blogs and are much more entertaining.

4 comments:

Bronwyn Green said...

I love the name, Jae!

As for circumcision, I wish I'd never, never agreed to it. It was an absolute nightmare - feel free to drop me a note if you want the gory details - I don't feel comfortable posting them here, but I will say, it's a parenting mistake I still regret. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't. There aren't many parenting choices I regret, but that's a huge one.

Pamk said...

I have two sons and yeah it's probably a big deal in the locker/rest room especially for my 12/13 cause anything that makes them different is not a good thing per them. My recommendation if your going to do it is to use a surgeon not gyno. My oldest was done by gyno and youngest by surgeon and his went much smoother and wasn't as painful since they used pain meds where gyno does it in his office and didn't. I didn't know that until afterwards. I was only 23 and nobody I new had boys.

Molly Daniels said...

Both my boys were 'clipped' and only one needed a 'touch up' when the dr was being conservative. Both were done under anthesthsesia (sp??). I watched the first one being done, and immediately held the little guy when he returned to my room.

Anny Cook said...

I had two boys. If I had it to do over--nope I wouldn't do it. Of all the things I would worry about, time in the locker room is at the bottom.