Baby names are often chosen because of a special time of year or event. Christmas is no exception to that rule. There are plenty of Christmas names to go around for girls. Boys names were a bit harder to come up with, but I finally had some come up in a conversation at a prenatal class the other night. Which of these are your favorites?

Related:

• Christmas Baby Names
• Baby Naming Style
• Baby Name Hints
• Baby Name Books
• Christmas Pregnancy Announcements

_{Photo (c) iStockPhoto}

Sometimes we think about what's in it for me when it comes to birth. There is a lot of talk about push presents of the several karat variety. I'd like to to stop and consider a push present of a different variety: the gift of a safe birth.

The Hunger Site has a store that includes gifts that cost little but mean a lot. It could be paying a nurse midwife's salary for a week in a third world country, or a clean birth kit to help prevent infection in newborns. This is also a great gift for you to give to the doctor, nurse, midwife or doula in your life. I just gave a clean childbirth kit to a nurse friend of mine and she was thrilled. It wouldn't clutter her house and yet it made the world a better place.

More Thrifty Thursday from About.com Parenting:

• Choose a Cost-Free Boyfriend or Girlfriend Gift
• An Inexpensive Push Present
• Creative Ways to Find Coupons
• Give Gifts to Teens That Double as Activities
• Free WiFi Coming to a McDonald's Near You
• Saving Money on Gas is the Right Thing to Do
• Defensive Driving Saves Lives and Money

This year the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Research Council (NRC) made the first revision to their pregnancy weight gain guidelines since 1990. Now the guidelines are revised so that women who are overweight at the start of their pregnancies should gain only 11 to 20 pounds. Previously, it was stated that overweight women should gain about 25 pounds in pregnancy. This effects about a quarter of all pregnant women.

While the guidelines are officially new, they have been in the works for awhile. Studies have been going on for the last few years as the number of obese and overweight women who are pregnant have grown. The latest study says that obese women might be fine gaining no weight at all. Zero. They say that weight gain should be limited to about a 3% of their starting weight gain. One study about pregnancy weight gain in women who are obese (BMI above 29), it is being said that not only do they not need to gain a lot of weight, but a neutral gain and even a loss may be perfectly acceptable for these patients. One of the studies talked about the benefits of weight loss in pregnancy, as far as preventing some diseases like pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH), gestational diabetes (GD) and it could even help lower the c-section rates.

The pregnancy weight gain that is recommended for women with a body mass index (BMI) under 30 has not changed:

BMI	Recommended Weight Gain
30+	11-20 lbs
25 - 29.9	15-25 lbs
18.6-24.9	25-35 lbs
18.5 and lower	28-40 lbs

Related:

• Pregnancy & Exercise
• Nutrition in Pregnancy
• Nutrition for Baby

_Sources:

_{Gestational Weight Gain and Pregnancy Outcomes in Obese Women How Much Is Enough? Deborah W. Kiel. Obstetrics & Gynecology 2007;110:752-758}

_{Weight Gain During Pregnancy:
Reexamining the Guidelines. Kathleen M. Rasmussen and Ann L. Yaktine, Editors; Committee to Reexamine IOM Pregnancy Weight Guidelines; Institute of Medicine; National Research Council; 2009.}

Over in the Baby Names Forum, we came up with lists of names for best and worst for boys and girls. Now comes the vote...