What gives ladies?  While I may have not “pushed the watermelon through the straw”,  I most certainly worked my prego butt off giving birth to that baby.  I pushed with some serious effort for an hour and a half and only after the Dr. told me that the baby wasn’t gonna come out the old fashioned way and she didn’t want to take a chance that my sweet little angel might be born with a “bum arm” if her shoulders got stuck, did I agree to a c-section.  So believe me when I say it wasn’t for a lack of trying.  Not to mention the fact that I had been having contractions for let’s just call it F-O-R-E-V-E-R!!!

I for one would never judge a woman for how her baby is delivered.  The important thing is that the baby is delivered safe and sound and mom makes a full recovery.   So to all you mommies out there that have had a shhhh… “c-section”, I promise to never make a face when you tell me you had a “c”, or think bad about you for having an epidural, or tell you how it’s “too bad you didn’t get to experience the entire birthing process,” ‘cuz honie… no matter how you deliver your baby you’ve earned a badge of honor in my book.  Pregnancy is like preparing for war.  Labor is the war.  Motherhood is the 100 years occupation that comes after you’ve conquered your opponent.

Probably the most frustrating part for me (and the hubby) was watching these teenagers struggle and knowing that the last 30 seconds of the show was probably going to put a big smiley face on the whole situation.  With two minutes left to go the young parents looked like they were about to break up, but in the end they were going to give it the old college try and stick it out for the baby’s sake.  Of course they were… the cameras were still there.  Makes me wonder what happened when the film crew hit the road?!  

I just don’t think that a show like this is responsible television.  While it definitely showed that the couple was having a difficult time I’m not sure that it really shined the most honest light on life as a teenage parent.  They had their own apartment, their own cars.  They only once had an argument about money. They weren’t running out of diapers or formula.  I realize there’s only 44 or so minutes to tell the story but come on.  Let’s get real people.  Shows like this and People Magazine articles with a rested and peaceful looking Bristol Palin may be giving our teenagers a false sense of what being a teenage parent is really like.  

What do you think?  Has MTV gone too far with this series?

For whatever reason the internet connection in our house has been having issues the last day or so and despite having spent more than an hour on the phone last night with the cable company (who provides our internet) trying to solve the problem, it is still running slow as molasses this morning. My favorite part of my conversation last night was when the first tech assistant (who sounded old enough to be my grandmother) wiped out my IP addy and then told me my internet should work just fine.  Not without an IP address it will.  Seriously people!

I realize that comparing my need for high speed internet to the very real addiction of smoking might be a bit of a stretch… but mamas here me out. I’ve committed myself to blogging once daily (by noon) here on ChitChatMom.  In order to post my blogs via WordPress.org I have to have an internet connection.  Sure I can write my post in TextEdit if push comes to shove… but I have to be able to get online to post it.  I also have to be able to access iStockPhoto so I can download a corresponding picture (’cuz pics make a post more exciting right?!).  Not to mention, how am I supposed to put in links to other great mom blogs like Dooce and websites like MomBloggersClub if I can’t get on the information super friggin’ highway?!  I’d say the way I’m feeling right now is right up there with the smoker that can’t find the smoking lounge at the airport after a five hour cross country flight sitting next to a crying baby.

Of course, now that I’ve ranted about my internet connection… it actually seems to be working fine.  What is it with this stuff?  Oh well. I should just stop complaining and thank the web gods (or maybe “dealers” is a more appropriate term for them).  As soon as I’m done writing, editing and publishing my mama blogger post I’ll be able to cruise over and get a Twitter fix.  Another of my “techy”, mom blogger induced addictions.

I can appreciate wanting to give your child a name that isn’t at the top of the most popular list for the previous year.  I have a traditional name that wasn’t that popular when I was a kid and it has helped me throughout my life because no one else my age has my name.  Being unique can be a good thing.  But isn’t there a point when a name can be too unique?  A recent study about names conducted at the University of Pennsylvania had it’s findings published yesterday and found that names that fall into the “fad” category tend to pick up speed quickly but also fizzle out over time.

So I suppose the crazy celebrity baby names don’t really apply when it comes to name trends, ‘cuz the celebs seem to fly in the face of all fads.  I remember what a stir it caused when Gwyneth Paltrow named her daughter, “Apple”.  Looking back, “Apple” almost seems normal when compared to some of the more recent celebrity baby names. Actors Jessica Alba and Cash Warren chose “Honor” for their daugther.  Rockers Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale gave their sons names that probably qualify as one of a kind, Kingston James McGregor and Zuma Nesta Rock.  Then there’s the curious case of Bronx Mowgli, the son of Ashley Simpson-Wentz and Pete Wentz.

So what about the rest of us? What have we been naming our little bundles of joy?  According to BabyCenter the most popular names for 2008 were Emma (girl) and Aiden (boy).  Hmm… wonder why those names were the most popular? In ChitChatMom’s opinion reading baby name lists by year is like looking at an old Entertainment Weekly.  It always seems that names from popular TV shows and movies pop up on the lists.  Emma just happens to be the name that Rachel bestowed upon her daughter on the hit series Friends and it’s probably not just coincidence that the name Aiden was one of the men interests on Sex and the City, not to mention one of Jon & Kate Plus 8’s eight children.  You can check out the entire 2008 popular baby names list at BabyCenter.com.

So what should the hubby and I name the baby girl?  Well, we’re just not sure yet.  I have a name in mind that I really like and hubby isn’t too sure. It’s not that he doesn’t like it… he just doesn’t want to commit yet.  He has about 15 weeks to make up his mind, ‘cuz she’s not going to be Baby Girl X for the first three days of life.  Uh uh. No way.

So here’s where my great Babies R Us experience comes into play.  When I went in to the store to add items to my registry that were not available online they noticed that the changing table that was on my registry, that I had already purchased about one month earlier had gone on sale… and they gave me a store credit for the difference!  I walked out with a $27 Babies R Us gift card (which will likely go to a necessary purchase like a changing table pad) and a huge smile.  Now that’s customer service.  I hadn’t noticed that the changing table was on sale and even if I had I might not have thought to ask if a price adjustment was possible.  Nope… they just did it.  I have to say I am impressed.  It’s great to see that there are companies out there that treat their customers right.  Well Babies R Us… you have definitely made a loyal customer out of this mama!

Take me back to the home page of ChitChatMom.com

“Group finds carcinogens in kids bath products”.  I saw this headline on Twitter today and immediately thought… is anything safe anymore?  How sad that even giving your baby a bath could expose them to dangerous chemicals like formaldehyde!  I’ve been thinking a lot about trying to go organic as much as possible when the baby is born and this story from USA Today is just one more reason to do exactly that. 

Here’s the link to the story: http://twurl.nl/ah3e5z    There’s a list at the bottom that tells you which products were tested and what the results were. They tested 28 products and 23 had formaldehyde, which the EPA considers a probably cancer causing agent not to mention it can seriously irritate your skin… so you certainly don’t want to bathe baby in them… right?!

One of the products was Johnson’s Baby Shampoo which had 210 parts per million of formaldehyde.

Here’s the link to the TalkingShopping story: http://twurl.nl/zfw2t8

Now that I’ve made  it through the first trimester and I finally have some energy back, I’ve encountered a brand new sleep challenge… sleeping on my sides.  I’ve always been a back sleeper so adjusting to now sleeping on my side has not been easy.  I’ve yet to find a body pillow that I really like (I’ll be able to open my own pillow store soon) and spend most nights tossing and turning.  Of course any discomfort I’m feeling now I realize is all worth it and likely pales in comparison to what is coming down the road.  So my question to all you preggers gals (and former preggers gals) is… how did you get comfortable and learn to sleep on your side?  Please tell me it’s possible!