The big day before the big day finally came today! You know, not the actual birth but the day we learn whether this tiny baby is a boy or a girl. I have been on pins and needles since, well, the two pink lines showed up on the test. I get that some people are patient and like the surprise of waiting til the birth to find out, and I have serious respect for their restraint, but it's just so not me. I'm a planner, and especially since these two will be sharing a room, I've been anxiously waiting to see if I will just be adding another little girl to a very girly room complete with a very girly wardrobe or if I'd be weeding out pink things to make room for lots of blue! And now I know. And now I can begin to get ready.
We are having a son. I am having a son. I am the mother of a daughter and a son. It is a very strange thing to wrap my mind around, and I am loving every second of it. It's like, the moment you feel like you've got this parenting thing down, like you kind of know what you're doing, then you are thrown a curve ball. But it's the best curve ball ever. It's the chance to see the other side of the fence, to know what it is to relate to a tiny boy as well as a tiny girl. And, I'm sure, once the third comes along it will feel new all over again because even among the same gender there is such diversity in character and personality. Because, as parents, we probably don't ever really know what we're doing. So off I tread into uncharted territory, with thoughts of boy clothes and boy toys and boy questions. Will he make everything into a gun or a sword? Will he eat dirt? Will he hit things, throw things, make car sounds and train sounds and explosion sounds? Will he be louder than Ella? (Is that even possible?)
It's funny, because my initial instinct said girl. I think this was because I am due in August, six days after Ella's birthday, and my mind could easily see just how simple it would be... all of her clothes fitting her baby sister perfectly, and a room shared by two girls. The dolls, the toys, the curtains, everything would just fit for a girl. But at one of the first ultrasounds I had, I watched my little bean jumping all over the screen and got hit with this deep gut feeling of boy. Ever since then, I've been at a loss, trying to figure out whether to go with my initial instinct or my gut at the ultrasound. Every time someone would tell me that whatever I was thinking was probably right, it made me laugh inside, because the only thing I was certain of was that this was a baby. I had several dreams that it was a boy though, and one of them was last night, so I woke up today leaning toward blue.
The ultrasound tech had us on pins and needles for a bit. She looked around for about 30 minutes, getting pictures and measurements of all the organs and important inner workings of baby. I kept waiting for her to say, "Oh, I just saw it!" or "THERE it is!" in regards to the little parts necessary to know the gender, but she was tight-lipped. I was getting anxious, thinking of how ironic (and frustrating) it would be for someone like me, who's been on the edge of her seat for months waiting to hear the news, to have to make a second appointment because baby wouldn't cooperate. Then, after 30 minutes, we got the clear picture we'd been waiting for. The tech asked us if we had any last minute predictions as she drew a little arrow on the screen to point out the baby bits, and at that point it was pretty clear what we were having. We both said "It's a boy!" as we looked at the screen and she confirmed it for us right away. THEN she told us that she'd actually seen the boy bits at the beginning of the ultrasound but preferred to get some other measurements done before getting a clear shot for us. Hah! All of my nerves were for nothing. She was very tricky, that one.
Baby boy wasn't done with us yet, though. I had figured 20 minutes for the whole ultrasound and we were there for over an hour. He didn't want to move into the positions she needed to get a few pics of his organs. The last shot they needed was of his heart and the tech left the room several times so I could get up and move around to try to get baby to change positions. Most of the time, though, she'd come back after I'd done stretches, twists, toe touches and various other ridiculous contortions only to tell me that baby hadn't budged. By the time we left, we were flying to the Dollar Tree for "It's a Boy!" balloons and then on to pick up pizzas. Half of the fam was already in our driveway by the time we got home.
We snuck the balloons in the house and got them to our bedroom before everyone came inside. Almost everyone was able to make it. We were missing Stephen's parents, Auntie Faith, Uncle Gideon and Uncle Josh. This still left us with 14 people just in our immediate fam. (Have I mentioned that we have a giant family? Because we have a GIANT family.) After everyone gathered in the living room, Ella and I went to get the blue balloons and we sent her running into the living room to share the news with everyone. It was pretty awesome to see everyone's faces and to hear the chorus of "I knew it!" and "I told you!" It seems that most everyone had boy vibes this time around. It was such a special way to share our news.
Now we are quiet. Stephen (who knew it was a boy all along) is snoring next to me on the couch, Ella is snoozing in her big girl bed and I am on the couch, enjoying the peace after a busy and special day while feeling the kicks from my baby. My boy. We are having a son. And mama couldn't be more happy.
