A house divided

Our "big" ultrasound is coming up in just 2 short weeks! We're all anxious to know if Jack is going to have a little brother or sister. I have to admit, the anticipation has been killing me since before we ever got pregnant. You can only plan so much of your future and ever since I was a little girl I've always wondered how many kids I would end up with, how many would be boys and how many would be girls, and what their names would be ... you get the picture.

Things are a little different this time around. With Jack, both Jon and I preferred to have a boy first, we both thought Jack was a boy, and lo and behold he was. This time Jon wants a girl and I want a boy. If I had to guess I'd say I'm carrying a boy, although for the first 11 weeks I thought it was a definitely a girl. I asked Jon what his guess was and he says he can't guess because he wants a girl. :) I'm pretty sure that some of our family (especially on Jon's side) is rooting for a girl, a petite girl to be specific (in other words, easier to carry around than Jack), only because there are currently 6 grandboys and only 1 grandgirl. My family hasn't given their opinion. But my mom's theory is that the baby is whatever Jon wants it to be. And she almost has me convinced. If you know my husband, he tends to get what he wants. In fact, I'm having a hard time trying to think of a time he didn't get what he wanted. So as I'm writing this I'm starting to have second thoughts. I mean, the man is the one responsible for determining the sex of the baby...

Honestly, I would love a little girl. It'd be a nice change. Even if the thought of having a daughter makes me just a tad nervous. But when I think of all those boy clothes in our attic, and our boyish nursery, and the fact that we're going to be moving twice in the next two years, I just think a boy would be more convenient. Plus, if I were Jack, I'd love to have a brother within 18 months of my age. I think they'd be cute buddies. I'm not quite sure why Jon wants a girl. I guess in case he decides he doesn't want any more kids, he'd like to have his "one of each" taken care of. Plus, Jack is so active and "boyish" that my husband said, and I quote, "If this next one isn't a girl I hope it's an artsy boy. I can't handle two athletic boys in a row."

He has a very valid point. I'm not sure if I can handle two balls of energy in less than 2 years. At our appointment today the nurse had an extremely hard time finding #2's heartbeat. The baby wouldn't stop moving! You could hear it swishing around, bouncing of the womb walls. She wanted to know if I just ate, nope not since breakfast 4 hours earlier. "Well," she said, "For your sake, I hope this isn't an indication of what's to come." I took one look at Jack squirming on Jon's lap in the corner and heartily agreed. I'd like to order one calm, placid baby please! And boy or girl, if possible, could we keep it under 9 lbs.?

Anyway, it's your turn to guess! I would say "vote" but technically that's inaccurate, since the end result has already been determined and nothing either you or I could say will make any difference. But it's still fun right? So what do you think #2 is?

Here are some fun facts to help with your decision:

• Symptom-wise, this pregnancy is different than my first. I'm not as sick, but I've been sick longer. I've also been getting crazy headaches which I never had with Jack or without. :)


• I haven't had any serious food aversions. With Jack I couldn't eat salad or eggs for weeks!


• #2's heartbeat was exactly the same as Jack's at our first appointment. And according to www.babybpm.com, his/her heartrate was reading "boy" at both our first pre-natal appointment and our appointment today.


• So far, I'm carrying the same as I did with my first pregnancy.


• Two different Chinese gender predictors says "girl." While a third one says "boy." (how helpful!)


• My mother-in-law is praying for a girl. She's a pretty authoritative woman!
  

So there you have it folks! Tell us what you think, and in a few weeks we'll tell you what we know!