It's a Girl

Its official.  We're having a little girl.  It still feels like its settling in - but we're absolutely thrilled.  

Its really no secret that we've thought all along that we were having a boy.  I had read about several of the old wives tales about predicting gender based on all sorts of things- morning sickness or lack there of, where you gain your weight (whole body or just tummy), when you conceive and how old you are (Chinese calendar), looking back at your husband's family tree and birth order, etc.  Everything had pointed us toward boy, and wanting to pick a side when people asked, I began claiming "boy" at about 12 weeks.  So much for gut feelings and old wives tales! 

The day leading up to our apointment (Monday, December 19th) was so slow.  The appointment was at 3pm and Colin and I both went to work in the morning.  I didnt have any more trouble than usual sleeping the night before, but I definitely woke up with the thought on my mind "we find out today!"  I had enough to keep me busy at work, but was still pretty distracted and checked the clock way more than usual.  Colin's job is structured so that if he has appointments, he has to take a half sick day to leave work for them, so he was off at noon.  I was so jealous, but he was a rockstar and brought me lunch.  FINALLY, at 2:30, I left work and we headed to the doctor's office. 

Maryann, the sonographer, was hilarious.  She asked us right away if we wanted to know, and we didn't have a doubt in our minds.  It was amazing to see how much Baby Beck has grown since our last appointment!  Maryann was quick to find what she was looking for and burst out saying "I know!  Do you want to know?"  Colin was standing beside me holding my hand, and we both said yes. 

"She's a girl!"

We were shocked.  Speechless, really.  I had tears in my eyes (which is really nothing new, i cry at every sonogram and ultrasound), adn I looked up at Colin and his eyes were glistening a little too.  I looked back at Maryann, "really?" I asked!  She showed us that our little lady wasn't being much of  a lady for the time being and it was pretty darn clear.  Maryann actually said she was 100% sure that we are having a girl. 

She spent the next few minutes taking measurments and showing us where little girl's head is in relation to my belly button and how she likes to keep her hands up near her face, as if she's about to suck on her thumbs.  She was wiggling a little, but not as much as last time.  The rest of the appointment went pretty quickly and I was anxious to get out to the car to start calling family.  My granny had one of the best reactions, but everyone was so wonderfully excited for us. 

I wanted to get some cute shoes for a photo idea I had (the one above) and after venturing into the baby girl's clothing section at Buy Buy Baby, I can see how easy it would be to go overboard.  I found so many cute things and had to stop myself at these three items. 

I just can't get over the pink!!!

I think I asked Colin two or three times if he was excited.  He's just SO great with all the rough-and-tumble boys at church, and we haven't had the opportunity to be around as many little girls- and I just wanted to make sure that he wasn't disappointed.  He reminded me that he is the one who for the last 2 months has been telling me it would be a girl because of how convinced I was we were having a boy.  He made sure that I knew he was excited about having a little girl- and it was confirmed by his reactions when he was telling his parents and grandpa.  He's even been talking about baby names with me now (finally!).  And, to top it all off, he brought be beautiful pink flowers at work yesterday, wrapped in pink tissue paper and with a "baby girl" mini balloon.  So thoughtful....

 
So, the half way mark has come and gone.  We're officially well into the second trimester and I feel like I need to get started thinking about when baby girl actually arrives.  Let the nursery planning, name debating, and pink perusing begin!

Almost Half-Way There

I cannot believe that we’re already just a few days from half way through this pregnancy!  Its amazing how the time goes.  We have an appointment on Monday to find out whether this little one in my belly is a girl or a boy, and I just felt the need to post once more before we find that out.  Not that I’ve been that consistent anyway…but that sort of plays into how low-key this has all felt up until now. 

I read a few blogs here and there, mostly friends and acquaintances, and I noticed that there were many people who didn’t post much through November and early December, and I kept using it as my excuse to put off writing anything as well.  BUT, now that just about everyone has caught up and posted something, I’m giving myself a swift kick in the behind and taking the opportunity to write some of those thoughts swimming around in my head before I forget them (which seems to be happening a LOT quicker these days). 

I am so thankful for how easy this pregnancy has been so far.  I have heard story after story of friends and friends of friends who have been in and out of the hospital or in bed all day, or even worse, trying to take care of other little children while super sick.  I have other friends who feel like they haven’t been able to stop worrying their whole pregnancy and theres this constant nervous energy.  I don’t know that I believe there is such a thing as “normal” during pregnancy anymore, but I certainly wouldn’t call any of those things abnormal—which is why I have felt so blessed these last few weeks by the blanket of calm that seems to have draped over Colin and I.  We’ve had these super sweet moments together, just talking about what our family will be like.  Decorating for Christmas was so much fun this year—I can’t imagine what it will be like next year with a little baby (probably of crawling age) to get into everything. 

I’m just going to take a moment to brag about my rockstar husband for a second.  He’s going to be the best dad!  After we read in our 19 week update that the baby can probably hear our voices now, Colin will randomly bend down to my belly and say things.  We’ll be sitting on the couch talking, and he’ll lean over and involve the baby in what we’re saying.  In fact, the other day, he was whispering something and I couldn’t hear, so I asked him what he said and he replied “this one’s between me and little fella”.  Which brings up a whole other point.  Have I mentioned that Colin and I are convinced this peanut (or more like grapefruit these days) is a boy?  We have no medical proof, but almost all of those old wives tales- like heartbeat, Chinese calendar, morning sickness, etc- seem to point toward a rascal of a boy.  So, Colin’s taken to calling ‘him’ “little fella”.  I asked what was going to happen if we’re wrong and find out a girl (because, lets face it, we only have a 50/50 shot of being right), and he just said “then we’ll call her ‘little fella’!”  It made me laugh.  I love seeing him play with all the kids in our bible study group.

I had a moment earlier today where I wondered if I was really ready to find out the gender.  Things have just been so easy-going that I’m a little afraid that knowing what we’re having will invoke this crazy rush of activity over picking out names and nursery stuff and clothes, etc.  But, I know that will happen anyway, and I think it will just have to be a decision to continue to enjoy the small moments.  Wow, now that I’ve started writing, I want to share all of these other details- like what those first few movements have felt like in the last week, and some of Colin and I’s funny name conversations, and they way the little kids I tutor have reacted to finding out I’m pregnant….but I’ll have to save those for another time.