The 50/50 chance...

We had our 20-week ultrasound this morning. I was instructed to drink 16 oz. of water in the span of an hour right before I came to increase the quality of the footage. I was nervous about having to pee so badly I wouldn't be able to concentrate on the baby, so I paced myself.

When we got there, the technician brought us into a dark room and had me lay on a table next to the ultrasound screen. First she asked if we "wanted to know". We eagerly said yes.

She worked quickly, squirting the goop on my stomach and moving the little sensor around. First she checked my ovaries, placenta and the umbilical cord. It was hard to tell what anything was. Then she moved to the baby, and we saw it's little face! I could hardly breathe. I wanted to look behind me at Jono to see his reaction, but I didn't dare look away from the screen. I heard him laugh a little.

She moved to the top of the head and made all of these little measurements with her tools. She slowly worked her way down the body, making sure everything was there and functioning: arms, legs, fingers, toes, spine, heart, kidneys. She told us what we were looking at as she went, but for the most part we could tell what things were before she said it.

I kept thinking "private parts, private parts, get to the private parts..." even though I was loving the entire process. I noticed I'd been clenching the towel she had draped over me in my fists and my legs were fully flexed and straight as boards. I tried to relax. She stopped giving us the play-by-play as she moved around to the baby's bum. We had a full view and both of us thought the same thing:

"Hmm. Is that...?"

....

"Looks like it's a boy," said the technician, in a nonchalant, "I-do-this-every-day" sort of way.

!!!!

I started laughing, and the ultrasound screen got all blurry as my uterus moved around. "Sorry," I said, and tried to stop. But all I wanted to do was laugh. I laughed the first time I heard his heartbeat too and the doctor lost track of it.

Afterwards she gave us five pictures of him and told us he is about the size he should be for his age, and his heart rate is normal. When she left the room we were all giggly and smirky about it. Both of us secretly felt more comfortable with the idea of our first being a boy, since we have six brothers between us and wouldn't know quite what to do with a little girl. (Of course we're hoping we have one eventually, and we'll love her to pieces if and when we get her). Last week I had two vivid dreams that he would be a boy, but as my dad pointed out, "There's a 50/50 chance, so I don't see why people think it's so great when they guess right." So true.

Anyways, HERE HE IS!!!
















Isn't he cute? And I think he's sucking his thumb in this one. See his little hand? (You can click on the picture to see a full-size version).

The other four pictures are of his profile (sans the hand), arm, feet, and "gender". It's on our fridge if you want to come over.

Over the past few days his movements have been getting stronger, and I've been able to feel him on the outside too. He wasn't doing much during the ultrasound, but when I woke up this morning at around 6:00 he was engaged in some serious acrobatics. I woke Jono up and put his hand on my stomach -- he felt him at least three times. I feel him moving around in there five or six times a day for a few minutes each time. We've been joking that he is "squirrelly" like his dad and that I'm in for another few months of interior pummeling. I don't mind. It's nice to know he's alive.

So that's that. I guess this means Jono's step-mom Jan can stop buying "gender neutral" clothing at garage sales, which I'm sure she is relieved about :)