The Big Wand

The things I don't know about pregnancy and childbirth are, again, catching up with me.  I say "again" because it was only a month ago that I had a preeclampsia freak out and decided that my approach to pregnancy know-how had to change.  This morning's post (The Big Reveal) included a fabulous photo of a "sonogram wand".  I had a good time making perverted jokes about its shape.  Within a few hours of the post going live, I received one comment and a couple behind the scenes communications from friends and family: the sonogram wand photo isn't a sonogram wand photo.  I guess my reliance on wikipedia and urbandictionary.com for hard facts is finally catching up with me. 

Turns out that the photo below is an internal sonogram wand.  Not the one that is pressed against a pregnant belly to determine the unborn baby's gender.  OOOPS!  I haven't delved further into this discovery - I don't know when or why this internal sonogram wand is used - though I probably should given that its image is now posted twice on my blog.

An internal sonogram want (aka not what you thought)

This photo shows the sonogram wand that is used to determine the baby's gender.  Slightly less phallic shaped.

The goop has a slight blue tint.  Interesting.
(image here)

Despite my sudden need to know more about pregnancy and childbirth, it's clear that I don't know much...and that there's a lot to know.  Does this mean that I'll break down and purchase a pre-pregnancy educational book!?!  Stay tuned...

Blog Roll, Sorta

You may have noticed that I don't have a blog roll on Next Stop Baby.  For those who don't know, a blog roll is a list of blogs that I support, read, and/or love.  The list is posted on one's blog to share the wealth with my readers (and cross promote with other bloggers). 

Why don't I have a blog roll?  It's not that I don't wanna be a team player, rather, it's that I'm simply not into baby blogs.  This may shock you given that I sorta write a baby blog, but I swear I'm not a hypocrite (on this front).  Most baby blogs give a daily diary-like account of what it's like to be a mommy and have a baby.  That's not really my shtick.  I'm not a mommy and don't have a baby (more on that here).  At this point in my life, my obsession is the pre-parenthood, superficial stuff: baby names, nurseries, baby showers and the social idiosyncrasies that separate non-parents from parents.

With all that being said, I still manage to kill plenty of time surfing my beloved internet for sites about babies, pregnancy, nurseries and everything in between.  So, while I may not have a blog roll for you, I do have a website roll (which includes a blog).  Below are my favorite online time kills, some are from previous posts and some are brand spankin' new.

Celebrity Baby Gossip - Some individuals are born into celebrityhood, like Harper Seven.  I have zero doubt that her wardrobe is worth 5 times as much as mine.  10 times?  Anyway, People.com, UsMagazine.com and Babble.com dedicate entire website sections to celebrity babies.  You'll find everything from gratuitously adorable photos to cool product plugs to mind bending articles about things like Snooki wanting to have mini guidos and guidettes.

First comes love, then comes marriage,
 then comes guidos in the baby carriage

Baby Name Polls - BabyNameGenie.com is a great baby name website in general, but the real action is with the baby name polls.  These polls allow the public to vote and offer an opinion on name choices that an anonymous-parent-to-be is haggling over.  You will easily kill 5 minutes (or 5 hours) by looking at all the names that people poll and all of the vicious comments that people leave.  Ouch.

From an actual Baby Name Genie Poll

Poll Question: Cali Dream vs. Skai Dream vs. Fiyah Dream

Poll Comment: I hope it's fake, otherwise I feel sorry for the poor kid with the dumb, ugly 'name' and the  even stupider, pathetic 'mom'.

Baby Name Ideas - There's 1,000+ baby name websites, here are my two favorites: Baby Namescape and Nameberry.  Baby Namescape gives real time(ish) statistics on the most popular baby names in a given state, city and hospital.  It's magic.  Nameberry has a blog that posts everyday (sometimes multiple times a day) with baby name lists, ideas and stories.  There is always a funny or interesting context so that you're not just reading bullet points.

Celebrity Nurseries - Chic & Cheap Nursery has a growing collection on their blog that includes Kelly Kapowski's mini me.

Tiffani Thiessen's daughter, Harper,
 has some gorgeous digs

Mommy Blog - There is one (just one) mommy blog that I get a kick out of: Mommy Shorts.  The writing is succinct and the stories are actually funny and heartfelt.  There's also some good laughs to be had with the caption contests and parental tweets.