December 22nd "The Big Day"

This day will be one I hope to never forget. It's the day I found out that I'll be the mother of two sons. Here's the story.

I slept poorly the night before, just like I always do on Christmas Eve, or the night before any exciting event. I spent the morning of the 22nd busying myself with cleaning up, doing laundry and taking care of Andrew. We ended up planning to take Andrew with us, so I wasn't sure how that would work out at the office.

I didn't drink for the 1.5 hours leading up to the appointment so when Nannie and my mom arrived, I was relieved to get to the clinic!

I wore a blue turtleneck with black pants, partly to commemorate the baby boy of my suspicions.

We arrived and I was checked in quickly, and Drew arrived shortly after. Nan, my mom and Andrew were on the right side of the waiting room and I was told to wait on the left to be called, so Drew and I sat there. I wasn't figuring they'd let all five of us troop back so when I was called, I asked the tech and she said, "Let's do the measurements and all the business, then we'll have them come back for a look." Great plan. We were so excited, we didn't even tell the gang the plan. Later I found out that they had never seen Drew come in, so they also never knew we'd gone back!!

Ours was the first room and we went in and it was dark. She had a computer and the keyboard in the middle of the room, then there was a bed facing a TV mounted on the wall. She had me lay down and she spread the gel on my belly, and Drew sat on the other side of her. She got right to work, finding and measuring the baby from top to bottom. She told us she's been a tech for this company for 32 years, longer than I've been alive!!

She showed us what she was looking at, starting with my full bladder, and moving to the placenta, the umbilical cord and the baby itself. We saw everything from the chambers of the heart to the backbone, the kidneys, the femur, the heart pumping away beautifully, the tiny bladder (she said it must've just peed, lucky baby), the ribs and the brain, among other things. She would let us know where she was looking, too, so we knew whether it was the belly or the head! The baby didn't move a whole lot, but did have its hand or hands up by its head several times as she looked around.

When she was showing us the baby's bran, Drew, in his usual way, said, "Well, I don't see any horns, it must be human," and she didn't miss a beat and said, "Yeah, they grow those later." Heehee.

We had looked mostly at the back of the baby, and some at its belly and organs, then she asked, "Do you want to know what you're having?" I replied with an adamant "YES!"

So she moved the wand lower and it was mere seconds before she said, "Well, what does that tell you?" and that nutty baby had it's legs spread as wide as you please and I said, "A boy!" Oooooh, it could not have been more clear, just like he wanted us to know for sure! I'll never forget that image. She said, "Oh, yeah, no doubt about it!"

I told Drew triumphantly, "I was right! You were wrong!!" I just kept thinking, "I can't believe I'm having a boy...I can't believe I'm having a boy..." just like after I had Andrew and laid in surgery saying, "I can't believe it's a boy..." over and over. Wild.

As she looked around some more, I would say to Drew, "Honey, it's a boy! We have a son! You have TWO sons! Andrew is getting a brother!" Oooooh, I was so excited!! I really thought it would be a boy. We often have a family with four boys (teenagers) sit in front of us in church. They are all handsome, tall and unique and it's beautiful to see them in a row with their parents on the end, as they worship together. I have teared up many times as I imagined the possibility of being the mother of boys. I have a few friends with just two boys, and I have always admired that. One of my oldest, dearest friends has two boys and every time I see pictures of them together, it just gets to my heart. I thought of them a lot this week, thinking how wonderful it would be if my Andrew got a little brother.

So, yeah. A boy. I knew it!!

Not long after that, i got to go to the potty and then we brought in the rest of the family. I kinda felt bad that they missed "the big moment," so I told them up front, "We already know what it is." I didn't want to have to pretend to be surprised!

She also showed them the brain, umbilical cord, heart, etc. then said, "Let's try to get a look" and scanned around, but he'd flipped over and had his back facing us!! She whispered to me, "It's being a booger, it moved! Should I just tell them??" She could catch a glimpse of it, kinda from the side, but not a straight on like we'd seen!! Mom and Nan eagerly said, "Just tell us!" She said, "You can kinda see something there...it's a boy!" They were so excited and my mom was kissing Andrew
and hugging Drew, it was funny. She would say, "It's an Ethan! You get a brother!" Later, she told me she kinda thought it was a boy but had gone with the majority when she voted. Mmhmm. My mom also has a thing for kissing baby toes, so the tech made a point to show us the baby's foot and toes. He was sort of crouching down, almost squatting, and we could see his bony little heel, with his foot pressed against me, and all five toes. So precious!

So they got to see a few more of HIS features, and it was fun at that point to refer to him as HE. I was still in kind of a wide-eyed state of shock. She showed them his face, too, and got a picture of him facing us. It was also cool when she showed us the umbilical cord and turned on some kind of infrared that showed where the blood was flowing. She said it looked healthy and strong! I said, "That's what we've been praying for!"

I asked her about his head, thinking it'd be nice if this baby's head was smaller than Andrew's for an easier birth. She said, "Well, it's actually quite average." I guess that's OK.

This was funny, too...as we all left and thanked her, Andrew went up to her, took her hand and said, "Thank you, sir." WHAAAAT??? He's never done that before! She didn't bat an eye but said, "Oh, you're welcome, sweety." I told her, "That's a new one!" Who says that??? We all thought it was utterly charming.

After we left, I was in a bit of a daze, but managed to call my sister-in-law (the one that lives with us), my mother-in-law and my dear old friend from Florida. Meanwhile, I helped my mom navigate the Chik-Fil-A drive-thru for salads all around.

When we got home, I was too excited to eat--and too busy calling more people. I talked to my boss (we agreed that I'm "in for it," but we both love boys), my other sister-in-law, my hubby's aunt that lives nearby, my father-in-law and my aunt in Florida. Almost everyone was guessing girl, so I'd tell them, "Well, you were in the majority that were WRONG! It's a boy!!"

Everyone seemed thrilled. I was thrilled!!

I finally got to eat and in the midst of it all, gifts appeared. My mom produced a box wrapped in blue and said, "I told you I knew!" I told her I knew she had a pink one still in her trunk!! She bought it when my SIL was having her ultrasound over two years ago, and she had a boy, so Mom had just changed the name! Back into the top of the closet it goes!! HA!

My grandmother gave me a gorgeous gold cross necklace with emerald-hued stones, a replica of the necklace President Kennedy gave Jackie when she found out they were expecting Caroline. Evidently, she never took it off during the entire pregnancy and even had them pin it to her gown during her C-section. I said, "Oh, emerald is May's birth stone!" Come to find out, when President Kennedy had jewelry made with gemstones, they were always green to commemorate their Irish heritage. And our baby will be named Ethan Ryan, meaning "Strong Little King" after my mom's Irish heritage. The fact that the May birthstone is emerald is just a bonus, plus it's perfect for Christmas, which is what I'll look back on as "when I found out." Pretty cool!!

There was another surprise, too, that they brought in as we were cooking up a way to tell my dad, grandmother, brother and SIL the news when they came over for dinner later. It was a small rosemary Christmas tree, decorated with tiny blue ornaments!! So we added blue garland and a blue bow and put it on a blue baby blanket on my craft table with all my blue baby clothes underneath and covered it with a blanket. When "the gang" arrived, we had them turn around then we unveiled the tree and had them turn to see. My brother was the first to say, "A boy!" I was too busy cooking after that to hear the reaction but it sounded like a good one!

The other surprise was a lovely cake, which the lady at the bakery made to say, "Congrats, it's a..." and left it "blank" for Mom to place either a pink or blue rattle, so that was pretty funny!

My boss had left me both a boy and a girl outfit so it was fun to look at the boy one again--the sailboat gown and matching blanket are precious. It's wild to imagine my baby wearing it!!

I am so relieved to know now so we can move on with the holidays and with 2009! I love referring to the baby as HIM and calling HIM by name! He's been moving more and more every day so that, combined with knowing it's a boy, makes everything seem so much more real.

What an amazing day!!