Hello and welcome back to babynames.co.uk.
Unbelievably, this small speck of life announced its arrival loud and clear in the first trimester. Not only with morning sickness, but also noon and night sickness. This sudden hormone overload left Ana unsure if she was coming or going. I didn’t stand a chance.
To contain it, I thought Ana and I would spend a weekend lazing at home in each other’s company. I tailored meals to suit the lady’s involuntary fussy stomach, only for them to end up untasted. In fact, as I presented Ana with her dinner, she peered into the bowl, sat back and pushed it away from her exclaiming: “Get it out of my face or I’m going to be f***ing sick!” Combined with her newfound clumsiness, the weekend was a disaster and the decision to stay cooped up inside only highlighting the matter. The apartment was a mess. It was as if her thumbs had been removed since becoming pregnant because Ana was unable to get a grip on anything – especially reality. “My life is over” and ‘”everything is shit”, she bemoaned.
Life continued as normal for those first three months, perhaps with a higher level of tears and vomit than usual, but I was still adjusting to the prospect of becoming a parent.
Of course, not everyday was a disaster but I think Ana found it difficult feeling tired, sick and emotional without any visible reason for it. And before we knew it, we had reached the twelfth week milestone and we were awaiting our first scan.
As we waited to be called in, I flicked through a magazine in the waiting room and it had a very interesting article on baby names:
Fact attack!
Did you know, Denmark has a very strict law in place to protect children from having odd names that suit their parents’ fancy? To do this, parents have a list of 7,000 pre-approved names to choose from. If you want to name your child something that isn’t on the list, you are required to seek special permission from your local church, and the name is then reviewed by governmental officials.
It seems Denmark has not heard of babynames.co.uk.
We were called through (just as I was reading the amazing baby naming rituals of the Aboriginals) and before I knew it, Ana’s belly was smothered in jelly and the search had begun. In no time at all, there was a tiny baby on the grainy screen. To my astonishment, it began to move. I think that was when the reality hit home. I held Ana’s hand as we sat and watched OUR baby moving around!
It was a well-earned reward for Ana after a trying three months, and the scan printouts took pride of place on our refrigerator door. It was purposely placed to remind me she was indeed eating for two.
