I am seeing a new doctor for this pregnancy and he does not have imaging equipment in his office. I am used to having monthly ultrasounds at the doctor's office. With my first three, I knew genders by 16 weeks. This time we had to wait until the 20 week anomaly scan at the imaging center. I felt like we might as well just find out at the birth, we waited so long.
As soon as the ultrasound was scheduled, I began making plans for the party. Pinterest had good ideas but most were too over the top for me. For Everly's party, I made white cupcakes with pink candy in the middle. The idea was that when our guests bit into the cupcake, they would see the color and discover that the baby was a boy or girl. This was fine, except that a couple of the candies showed as the cupcakes were unwrapped giving a few of our guests a little advance notice.
This time, I decided to try something different. I bought pink and blue balloons. One color was to be sabotaged with a pin after we found out the gender. At the party, our family members would choose a ballon according to their guess. At the same time, all would try to blow up the balloons. Only one color would work, revealing the gender of the baby.
The day before the ultrasound, I dragged my kids out shopping for party supplies. Pink and blue plates, cups, and napkins, and balloons and some streamers that I forgot to use. We also grabbed cupcake supplies and got busy making them as soon as we got home.
The night before the ultrasound, I could not sleep. I was super hungry and ended up eating three bowls of cereal over the course of the night. The baby was crazy and this was the first night that I had been kept awake by all the kicking and punching going on in there. I could tell that baby was already head down because of the movement I was feeling.
Finally, the sun came up and I got the boys ready for preschool. Off they went and Everly and I headed to the imaging center. The only problem was, we were an hour early! Blast!! Why had I not scheduled it an hour sooner?! Naturally, we went to Starbucks to kill time. Everly was an absolute doll and played peek-a-boo with the barrista.
We started heading to the imaging center and got a call from Keith to pick him up, he was going to meet us there because of a meeting but had decided to skip it. We were still 30 minutes early when we got there :-/ we waited and waited and waited.
Finally, after two different waiting rooms, a now familiar ultrasound tech called us back to the exam room. I've never been so happy to pull up my shirt and have that gel rubbed on my belly! He asked if we were hoping for a boy or a girl and we lied that we would be happy either way.
The truth was, I was desperately hoping for a girl! Our boys are 16 months apart and though it was really hard when they were little, it is so wonderful now that they have each other to play with and I pray that they will forever be best buds. Everly and the new baby are going to be almost as close, 17 months apart, and I hoped, for her sake, that she could have a close sister as the boys have each other. However, I really thought it was a boy.
We saw our baby on the screen. Perfect, beautiful baby! Hands and feet perfectly formed and the most adorable little baby face with an upturned nose! I watched, breathless. The tech got a shot of the baby's bottom and was measuring the umbilical cord. I looked closely. No sign of a penis! Instead, little lines that meant girl! Keith looked at me, I knew that he knew too and I smiled and winked at him. After showing us the blood flow through the umbilical cord, the tech zoomed in on the baby's bottom and circled the girl parts and announced "It looks like a little girl! See those lines? There's no question it's a girl." Keith and I high fived and I felt hot tears stream down my face. I was so happy for Everly! God knew she needed a sister and he is giving her one!
I can't believe how perfect this is! You can't plan these things. We have two boys close together and a space of three and a half years now we'll have two girls close together. It's a miracle! Especially, considering we had a conversation in April in which we discussed having another baby so Everly could have a close sibling like the boys. We both kind of wanted another baby but decided that we needed at least another year before having one because I was beginning to homeschool and we needed a bigger house and maybe a bigger car. I remembered the blur that was Henry's infancy and thought I couldn't do it again. God had other plans, and a few weeks later I was in the shower, crying in bewilderment over a positive pregnancy test.
After the ultrasound, we went to lunch at a nice restaurant to celebrate. I couldn't shake the feeling of wonder. I was so excited for this baby and for our family. I imagined all the times that the boys would be doing Boy Scout stuff with Daddy while Mommy and the girls would do whatever the girls want to do. I imagined matching dresses for Easter and the dress up box they will share. I imagined the protection of older brothers as they grow into teenagers and young women. The value of the companionship that these little sisters will share through out their girlhood and into their womanhood.
The rest of the day, I got busy preparing for the party that was coming that evening. I iced cupcakes and decorated them with a question mark on top, I poked holes in 20 blue balloons, got the kitchen ready for the party.
Finally, it was time for the party. Family arrived and Keith teased everyone pretending to accidentally give hints about the gender. I passed out the balloons and for the most part, boys and men guessed boy and girls and women guessed girl. I explained that only one color would work and counted to three and everyone blew on their balloons. As the pink ones inflated, I heard squeals of joy from the grandmothers. The only damper on the moment was that we had to encourage Gavin and Henry to be happy for Everly to have a sister instead of being upset that they weren't getting the brother that they were hoping for.
No comments:
Post a Comment