Great Expectations: Meagan @ 22 weeks

Meet our newest Great Expectations writer, Meagan Church! Meagan is 22 weeks pregnant with her third baby. Meagan is the blogger at www.DefiningMotherhood.com where she explores her role as a mother of two-and-a-half little ones, as well as Unexpectant, where she explores the realities of birth, babies and beyond. Learn more by following @unexpectant on Twitter or visiting www.MeaganChurch.com.

I'm halfway there! Sure most would consider 20 weeks the half-way point, but with #1 being 10 days past his estimated due date and #2 was 6 days, I like to err on the side of caution&which is also why we choose not to tell people an official due date. Instead we just say the new one will be joining us sometime in early February. We've dealt with enough past-due phone calls asking if the little one has arrived yet. So, in hopes of avoiding them this time around, we keep it vague.

It's hard to believe we are at the half-way point. So far, the pregnancy has been smooth sailing, much like my first two, making me feel blessed and fortunate. It is interesting how different this pregnancy is as far as preparations are concerned. I feel as though the birth is still so far off that I don't really need to consider getting ready for the baby. Of course we have most supplies already on hand. I find that I don't pay much attention to the week-by-week or month-by-month pregnancy books anymore. I have been reading more natural childbirth books, especially those by Ina May Gaskin. While I have experienced natural births both times before, I find that reading Gaskin's books helps put me into the right frame of mind and remind me of what's going to happen. Plus I have learned new information and gotten clarity on things I previously experienced. I wish I would have read them with #1.

My favorite part of pregnancy has always been feeling the baby move. So far, this one has not disappointed. I started feeling movements earlier on than with my other two and with greater frequency. This makes me wonder exactly how active our little one is going to be. While it has been weeks since I first felt movement, we are finally getting to the point where others can feel it on the outside. My husband just got to feel a flip last night for the first time. Pregnancy can sometimes seem like a personal experience. No one else knows exactly how your pregnancy feels. Once the movements are noticeable on the outside, it seems as though the baby is finally introducing himself/herself to the rest of the world.

Right now we are in the midst of trying to figure out a baby name. Before having kids, we had hoped for three boys and had names all picked out for them. This worked perfectly when we had our son, but when the ultrasound showed that #2 would be a girl, we spent the next few months trying to come up with a name. We had quite a short list and unfortunately don't have any leftovers to consider this time around since it appears (though not with 100% certainty) that we will be having another girl. We like to choose names with a good meaning, that will sound good with our other children's names, that aren't too popular and that go with the last name Church. That means my favorite girl name Grace cannot be used as a first name. Instead we'll relegate it to the middle spot. Thankfully we have a few more months to come up with something. May the search continue!

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