Boy or Girl?

I know you were expecting this earlier, but our appointment was after Matt got off work and we needed to do some grocery shopping before we headed back to Tehachapi. It just now occurred to me that I should've taken a poll. I know not many people visit this blog, especially since so many must've given up on me months ago with my posts so few and far between. But it would've been fun to have those of you who did see my last post comment and give me your guess, boy or girl. You know, it really isn't too late for that. Haha, just kidding. I won't make you wait any longer.

Our ultrasound went really well today. Because this baby moves and kicks so much less than Joshua did, I made sure to get a little sugar in me ahead of time in attempt to encourage some movement. Boy did we ever get it! Baby was kicking and flipping and moving all over the place. The picture was much clearer than I remember it being with Joshua, too. We saw a perfectly complete spine, including tailbone, the four chambers of the heart, different parts of the brain, kidneys, profile, everything. No cleft lip, heartrate at 155 beats/min. The complete head measurement was a big thing (for us) in contrast to Joshua's ultrasounds. We had to go back two additional times because the little booger just wanted to tuck himself in without budging (not that we minded the extra excuses to see him). Baby weighs about 13 ounces which is right on track. And even though the u/s was only 2D we did get to see that Baby's feet were all the way next to the head; we even saw Baby grab one foot, so cool!

Have I made you read through enough yet? Tell me the truth, how many of you actually scrolled down to this part before reading everything because you were too impatient? Are you ready? Baby is..................

A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe it? How perfect is that, a precious boy followed by a precious girl?! We certainly are blessed either way and would've been thrilled with another boy, but we get to have one of each, so exciting! The u/s tech took her time getting measurements of everything else before finally checking on the gender. On the screen we saw two little legs sticking out and between them...absolutely nothing. I must say that I am tempted to be a little leary without having a second u/s to confirm this finding. But then I think about how much this kid really did move all over, how much the tech moved that probe all over my belly to get every angle checked thoroughly and nothing "extra" popped up anywhere. With Joshua's ultrasounds it was very obvious from the get-go. That first one I laid on the table with a full bladder not realizing that the equipment there is so good that this was not only unnecessary but a hindrance. When I returned from, ahem, emptying ;) the tech told us she could tell what we were having immediately before I got up. So, for those of you who are also tempted to be leary, I think we're safe!

Matt and I are so excited. And even though Joshua hasn't shown any excitement, not even while watching the ultrasound on the 'TV' (hehe, obviously he doesn't comprehend any of it yet), we know he's going to love having a new baby sister...especially picking on her ;D. About a week ago Matt said his guess was a girl, without explaination. About a week before I realized we were expecting, I was daydreaming about having a little girl. And every time I've thought about the baby since, my mind has gone on autopilot that it's a girl. I've had to force myself to consider the possibility/probability of it being a boy. Not in a bad way, of course, but it's just funny how the mindset for boy versus girl really is different. God really did make the two sexes different, so naturally the dynamic of a family is going to change depending on it having two boys or two girls or one of each. In a way I just feel like this is too good to be true because I get what I've wanted for a very long time, a son of my own and a daughter of my own. God is amazing!

Of course I'd planned on just making a quick announcement on our findings and all of you get stuck reading a wordy novel. Sorry, that's just how I write, no matter how hard I try to keep it simple. This doesn't by chance make up for my lack of posts, does it? Blessings to you all; I really am so thrilled to share our exciting news with you :)!