Drumroll Please....

Today was the big reveal....


We



are




having





a




girl!!!



Okay, that probably wasn't much of a surprise because now a days with texting and facebook, probably everyone knows, but of course I have to document it here!!! 

Most of all, I was relieved to find out that our baby appears to be healthy as of now.  Of course no guarantees, but for now everything looked a-okay.  It was quite a long ultrasound.  They measured and looked at everything....head, kidneys, legs, stomach, mouth, nose, etc. etc!  About halfway through the ultrasound she revealed it looked like a girl!  No guarantees, and she reminded us it's not 100%, but she checked back a couple times and it still appeared to be girl! 

I'd just had this fearful feeling throughout the whole pregnancy and was a bit nervous for today's ultrasound.  Just praying for a healthy baby and that the news would be good.  Only at one point did I get a tad nervous.  Baby girl did not want to cooperate and show us her face, and the radiologist kept trying and trying to get a view of her nose and mouth.  They can already determine if a cleft palate has formed, and I thought maybe that's what she was checking for so I asked.  She said she just might not be able to get a good view today, and of course that left me a little bummed and worried, but her persistence paid off and she finally got a good view and baby girl indeed has a little nose with two nostrils and a mouth with two lips! 

Our friends and family seemed pretty mixed as to their opinions on their prediction of pink or blue.  I was pretty clueless and Mat was thinking boy.  I've felt so different this pregnancy and with being sick, not having near the cravings, and feeling like I'm carrying a bit different, I kind of wondered girl, but there are so many women who say they felt very different for two pregnancies and had the same gender, so I really didn't put much value in it.  Of course everyone expects that I wanted a girl, and don't get me wrong, deep down I really was hoping it would be a little girl, but I also knew having two little boys growing up as playmates could be pretty special too!  I feel like I "know" boys now and have all the clothes, etc. that it seemed a bit more comfortable than a girl.  But I was really hoping I'd have the chance to experience having a daughter as well, and knowing this very well could be our last pregnancy, I'm so excited to know I'll have that opportunity now.  I know it's cliche, but above all, and especially after all we've been through to conceive, MJ's health scare, our losses, etc. my biggest prayer is just for a healthy baby and safe delivery!!  I must admit though, within a couple hours of finding out the gender I was already shopping!!!  There are way more cute girl clothes than boy clothes out there I tell ya!  I'm going to have to be put on a budget.  Ha! 

If you're like me, sometimes ultrasound pics are so hard to decipher, but I have to share some from today, of our sweet and tiny baby girl!!!

Profile shot

This is her head with her two little arms blocking our view.  To the left is just the placenta.  So she was already snuggled up against that and then kept putting her arms in front of her face.  Stubborn little thing!

Kinda hard to tell what this one is at first, but it's one my faves!  She's yawning!  Again, on the left is just the placenta and then she finally put her hands down for a second and opened her mouth big and wide to yawn.  She did it twice.  Apparently we were disturbing her sleep!



Another good profile shot!  Can you see the spine too? 



This one is really hard to show.  I'm not talented enough to draw a little line to the spot, but this is when we finally saw her nose and mouth.  The angle is looking down on her.  Her head is wedged in there looking towards us and you can see the spine going down.  You can finally see her mouth and nose! 

A magnified close up.  Right in the middle are her two nostrils and two lips with her mouth a bit open. 

And she's done!  One last shot of her blocking her face with her arms.  No paparazzi, please! 

As always, thanks SO much to everyone for their prayers and well wishes for this day.  We are so grateful!

It wouldn't be complete without sharing this special day with our MJ.  He was such a good patient little guy throughout the long appointment.  He kept pointing at the screen saying "baby" and he would hold my hand and pat me.  It was so sweet!  When she played the heartbeat (157 bpm by the way), and we said "What's that?" he responded with a very excited "Choo-choo!!!"  It was so funny and had us all laughing!  Hey, it does kind of sound like a train!  He might be a tad disappointed when a baby girl pops out and not a choo-choo train.  ;)  Daddy already told him, he's condemned to a lifetime of dance recitals.  We shall see!  ;)  I grew up with a big brother, almost the exact same age difference as my two kiddos will be, and I loved it!  We were far enough in age that we had our own interests and friends, but close enough that we had things in common and are very close as adults.  I can only hope for the same for my little family!