It's a... (-nother gender reveal post!)

It's that time again!  Time for me to put my creative thinking cap on and figure out YET ANOTHER way to answer the age old "boy or girl" question with a fun little twist.  I'll admit, I knew how I was going to announce this pregnancy long before it ever happened (ya know, just in case).  But gender reveals are a bit tougher.  They're still fairly new and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of ideas out there.  We did balloons in a box for Julia, the cake-thing for Jude, and the good ole fashioned "just say it" way with Jack.  And I was determined NOT to leave #4 out of the fun.  So I spent a few good hours on Pinterest and finally decided confetti was the way to go.



We recruited Uncle Jared for this one.  Jon wasn't thrilled that Jared was going to know the sex of his offspring before he did (a whole 2 minutes before) but he wasn't able to provide me with any other options.  So I headed off to my ultrasound appointment this afternoon, came back with a secret slip of paper that no one had seen but the tech, handed it off to Jared and sent him to a room with black balloons and blue and pink confetti.

Baby was fantastic for it's peep show and kept waving at Mama! The tech even said it was a gorgeous baby ... Don't ask me how she could tell from those pictures, I'll just take her word for it.

And then the rest of us waited patiently.

 Uncle Jared counted to three and ...

BAM!!

Aw, c'mon. I did this same thing last time, you had to have been expecting it.

Here's the video for the full experience.

Yes, that's right.  PINK!!

 I realize this is a terribly unflattering picture of me, but for the sake of good sportsmanship I'll still post it.

You see, we had done a few practice rounds throughout the day and I was starting to get a bit gun shy.

With good reason too, I now sport three tiny welts on my left arm where the balloon fragments struck me.

So just be prepared, if you ever decide to try this at home.

Jack gets a turn.

And be prepared to sweep up a lot of confetti.  Or you could just let your daughter eat it.

Julia's thrilled about becoming a big sister.  Okay, so not really.  But I will say, my biggest concern today was my reaction on video if this baby was a boy.  Not that I don't already love it and would shirk at the challenge of raising three little fellas.  But for Julia's sake - I'm so excited to give this girl a sister!

It's a ... (gender reveal post)

We hit 19 weeks on Wednesday and had our anatomy ultrasound!  I went by myself and Jon stayed home with the boys.  After a long, full-bladdered wait, I finally got to see our newest little one, who made sure to give mama a wave during all the investigatories.

I had a great tech this time around.  I think she thought this was my first because she was explaining every little thing to me.  She definitely had a "teacher's heart" and I didn't want to cause any problems so I just kept nodding my head and saying "uh huh" or "Yeah, now I see the two femurs" "Ohhh, wow look at that placenta."  When really, it was just a load of black and white fuzzies to me.

But I did see the heart, all 4 chambers.  And it was beating.  And I saw all the parts of the brain.  A nose, lips, a yawn, fingers, toes.  A perfect spine.  The tiniest ribcage.  A perfect little hiney that was pointed in the air.  Wow, life is amazing.  Baby is about 8 oz., the size of your morning cup of coffee, and moving like crazy.  I've never felt this much movement this early with either of my other two, let's just hope it doesn't mean anything for the future.

She had me turn away at the end so she could do the between-the-legs check.  This is when I told her I had two boys at home and a lot of people were rooting for a girl.  "No way!" she said, "Mean you've done this before?!"  Sure, but it never gets old!  She put the results in a sealed, cardboard envelope and sent me on my way.

Now I was pretty sure we were having another boy.  But she threw me for a loop when she said (a) the heartrate was 163 (a little on the higher end, especially compared to last week and (b) she was 80% sure of the gender.  80%!!  How am I supposed to plan with those kind of odds!  The techs for both boys told me they were as certain as they could be, and I think that's because boys are a bit more obvious.  It's a lot easier to look for something than to look for the absence of it.  So now she had me all confused.

Later that afternoon Jon took the envelope and a big box to the Dollar Store and told the nice little balloon cashier that we wanted her to open up the envelope and fill the box with pink balloons if the results said "girl" and blue balloons if the results said "boy."  He ran across the street to the store while she loaded up the box and sealed it shut.  Then he brought it home and I wrapped up.  We somehow managed to accomplish all of this without error so that neither of us knew what we were having until the moment we opened the box.

Since this was just a family affair we had to work with limited recording devices, i.e. two cameras on tripods and a remote control shutter ($4 on Amazon, get one!!).

Jack, look at the new baby!

So unfortunately, Jon is a bit cut off at the top in the video.  Also, since we had to keep the box taped shut, there was a good amount of (aggravating) downtime right before the big moment.  And yes, I got a bit of sun this weekend.  I decided to sit outside and read my Kindle while the boys napped on Saturday.  Let's just say, Sherlock Holmes is a fascinating read and the boys took a really long nap that day.

And now, for the big reveal:

Haha, gotcha!  I guess you'll just have to watch the video.



Evidently the Dollar Store didn't have any plain-colored balloons.  But the substitution worked well.

Jack is pretty excited about his baby sister, er I mean, "sister balloons."  He's probably thinking, "Dude, if all sisters come with balloons I'll take 10 more!"

We've had the balloons in the house 3 days now and he keeps asking for "sister balloons."  He's also asked to watch the video of the reveal several dozen times.  "One more time, Mama.  One more time!"  I finally  just set him in a chair and put the video on repeat, and I was able to cook our entire dinner without interruption.

So yes, we're having a GIRL!  Can you believe it?  I honestly thought this was a third boy.  I was totally surprised.  But now that I've gotten over the inital shock, I'm excitedly planning out a sweet little nursery for our new baby girl.  And dreaming of tea parties and frilly dresses.  And having someone to share all my favorite books and movies with.  Of course, 80% isn't much to bank on, good thing I'm well-prepared should we need a back-up!

It's guessing time!

We hit 18 weeks on Wednesday! And that means soon we'll find out if #3 is a boy or girl. I'm not saying when my big ultrasound is because we're going to have to keep the results a secret for a "a little while" until we have an opportunity to tell our frineds and family. And the last thing Jon needs (or myself for that matter) are phone calls and texts trying to eek it out of us!  Just plan on us making an announcement in about two weeks.

This is technically 17.5 weeks.

But before we get to that, I FINALLY had a doctor's appointment this week. This is my third appointment. The first was just an ultrasound to determine the due date and the second was just a big waste of time (over an hour wait for someone to check my eyes, ears and throat??).

After that experience I decided it was time to move on from military healthcare.  Mainly because I can right now.  Our area currently has a program where you can continue to use your full military benefits at certain civilian clinics.  Who then, in turn, can you give you a referral to a civilian OB and wa-la!  I now find myself at a Birthing Center.  Woo hoo I'm so excited!  Jon isn't as thrilled, but I'm sure he'll come around.

So after a lot of paperwork and referrals and driving to Annapolis and back and waiting for appointments, I finally got in to meet my midwife yesterday.  And then I had to wait over an hour since there was a birth going on upstairs.  Which isn't a big deal, I'm sadly growing more and more accustomed to hanging out in waiting rooms for long periods of time.  So basically we just talked a long time about history and this pregnancy.  The center offers tours/orientation once a week so hopefully once we move and find a babysitter Jon and I can make a visit to fully understand the process, but for now I'm just happy to finally, FINALLY hear this baby's heartbeat.  Even though I've been feeling some kicks and flips for a few days now, I just wanted to hear that sweet sound.

It took a while to find, and once she'd find it baby was off moving again.  This same thing happened with Jude too, you can actually hear the baby swishing and moving, which is kinda cool.  But at the same time I really just wanted him/her to lay still so we could catch a few beats!  We finally did, a strong 155 bpm.  EXACTLY what both my boys were at this stage.  And precisely what my trusty website, http://www.babybpm.com/ predicts to be a boy:

So now I have to wonder yet again:  Is this heartrate thing really accurate or just a fun game?  And even if it isn't, does the fact that both my previous boys had the same heartrate mean anything?  Or will all my babies be fairly consistent with one another?  So really, I'm just left with more questions at this point.  And that's fun, it's all part of the anticipation building.

And anticipation it is!  The midwife asked if we were going to find out.  Yes, we are definitely finding out this time around, because the results could potentially rock our world.  Ok, so maybe not that dramatic.  But if this baby is a sweet little girl, mama has some clothes to buy and a cute nursery in our new house just waiting to be decked out.  And since I'm the only one with kids in my family (and my mom's the only one with kids in her's), a little girl would be somethin' special.  And since, out of the 8 grandchildren in Jon's family, only one is currently a little lady, well we all know what they're hoping for. 

Then there's our little family.  Jude has no opinion.  Jack used to say he was getting a "sister" but lately he's switched that to "brudder."  Jon thinks/hopes it's a girl.  And I just can't make up my mind.  At first I was thinking girl and just for kicks I'm already planning out her nursery and scanning Etsy for little treasures.  But about halfway through my first trimester I started feeling like it was a boy.  If I had to go with my gut, I'd say boy.  But now I'm wondering if my gut is just too worn out from two other boy pregnancies and can no longer read the signals.  And everytime we're around our family I think it's a girl because that's mainly what we talk about.  There's not much to say about a third boy except (1) my grocery bill is going to be killer in a few years and (2) we'll save some money on weddings.  Oh and (3) WE HAVEN'T GOT A NAME!

You'd probably think I was at least hoping for a girl right now.  But actually, I think I'm split about 50/50.  I mean, a boy would be terribly convenient.  And if God intends for me to have 3 boys I'd much rather have them 3 in a row.  But that would mean that we'd have at least a 4th child ... or maybe a 5th! :)  Which leads to my next point.  If we have a girl, hubby wants to call it quits.  And honestly, I'm just not ready to make that decision.  I certainly don't anticipate having another baby 18 months after this one, but to never, ever experience this again.  Ah, I shudder to think of it.  Of course, I may change my mind in about 6 months, but I'd like to cross that bridge when we come to it.

So what's your guess?  Vote on the poll in the upper right column and we'll find out in two weeks who is right!

Oh Baby!

Yay, appointment day finally arrived! This afternoon we got to see our little baby on the big screen!
Everything looked great! Only one baby (phew!), and despite the location of my recent weight gain, the baby is really in my belly, not my rear. Speaking of weight gain, I'm up 3 lbs. I think that's normal. ?? Which means I'm only allowed to gain 22 more. Haha, yeah right!
Anyway, we saw #2 right away, and his/her heart was beating away at 154 bpm. Which is what Jack's was early on. So I'm thinkin' (and www.babybpm.com agrees), this might be another boy.

And the Chinese Gender Predictor is saying the same thing:


*sigh* I love ultrasounds. Despite the minute-by-minute, gag-inducing reminders that there is definitely a baby in there, it's always good to see the little one and know everything is right on track. Unfortunately, our pictures didn't turn out that well. But we could see its hands and feet moving around. And even some of the facial structure. Although it was a little harder to concentrate this time around because Jack wouldn't sit still. What else is new? I didn't think it was worth it to get a babysitter for a 15 minute appointment, and Jon didn't want to miss out on the photo op. So he held Jack, and tried to make whatever was happening on the screen seem exciting, but Tank was more interested in playing with the lamp.



The doctors say I'm 11 weeks, 1 day today. I think I'm only 10 weeks. #2 measured right in the middle at 10 weeks, 4 days at the ultrasound. Which to me, considering my first kid was slightly on the larger side, means my date is probably more accurate. But the doctor's always win. They're sticking with my April 14 due date. Now don't get me wrong, I'd much rather be 1 week closer to the glorious second trimester. But I'd hate to end up overdue, and have a doctor threatening to evict my child at 42 weeks when I'm really only 41. I guess that's still a ways off, and if things go the way they did with Jack it won't be an issue anyway. Now if you'll excuse me, I must go pull my cranky didn't-get-a-good-nap-this-afternoon little boy out of the trash can.

More pictures of our little man

Today we volunteered to have an ultrasound at a local community college. Basically, it's when a medical student "practices" a scan on you with an instructor. In other words, you sit through an hour of baby's legs, femurs, belly, spine, brain, liver, bladder, kidneys, etc and at the very end they give you a few minutes of 3D action.

Both the technician and instructor thanked us over and over again for such a perfect ultrasound. Apparently Lil' J was very cooperative and the images she took were of textbook quality. Both ladies confirmed that J is indeed a boy, or as the technician put it "a little man." It would seem that J is appearing somewhat large these days... The ladies also commented on his "huge thighs" and "chubby cheeks." What can I say, I feed him well.
This is J playing shy, like his Mama. He's hiding his face behind his right arm.



Dismally, J's cooperative spirit did not carry over into 3D portion of the ultrasound, thus the not-so-good pictures we have here. Despite all our jiggling and twisting, J's face remained facing back towards my spine, both his hands were in front of his face, and the umbilical cord was in front of his nose. So sadly, these were the best images we could get. They might be a little hard to figure out, I think they look better when you take a few steps back. For most of them, it's a side profile picture of the right side of his face. And no he does not have a huge nose, that's just the cord.

Our little spunk kept kicking the wand but now Mama knows exactly what all that bumping and knocking is under her right ribs, and what's been keeping me from bending forward. So we just wanted to share pictures of our beautiful son with you all, now it's off to pack for a weekend trip home to PA!

To know or not to know

On Thursday, May 22nd at approximately 7:00am, Lord and Baby J willing, Handsome Coastie and I should find out whether we're expecting a boy or a girl this fall. The anticipation is really getting to me!
Those of you who were in on my pre-pregnancy plans may be surprised to hear this, because a few months ago I was dead-set on leaving the sex of my baby a surprise until the day it was born. But my dear husband will have none of it. As a planner, I rarely find myself really, truly, downright surprised. I figure this is my one opportunity. But as a planner who is married to a planner, my husband needs to know what we're having so that he can spend the next 5 months preparing, mentally and physically, for a son or daughter.
Now that we've made the decision to find out, I'm beginning to see the many advantages which include a.) being able to buy baby things before J's arrival in colors other than yellow or cream and b.) being able to get to better know and bond with J prior to the birth-day.
So vote on the poll if you haven't yet because one week from now the secret will be out. And hopefully I can get my surprise baby a few years from now when go for round two!

Baby J's First Photo Shoot

Today was the appointment I have been waiting for my whole life ... or at least since my dud appointment last week. I've been able to schedule the majority of my appointments at the clinic on the base where Jon works which is slightly closer and does not involve crossing any bridges or tunnels. When I first arrived the entire clinic was undergoing a tornado drill, so everyone in the office had to cluster into the receptionist's room. The evidently-efficient receptionist decided to do what she could with my file while we were all waiting. Nothing like shouting your height, weight and last menstrual period across a room full of strangers. Or, as in my case, shouting it twice because the sweet women didn't speak very good English.
Despite my half-day appointment last week, the staff must have failed to do their job, leaving today's nurse to go over my complete medical and family history. But I have to admit, we had a great time bonding over listeria warnings and stretched ligaments.
After a few tests she brought Jon into the office for the ultra-sound. It was amazing! Baby looks like a little teddy bear, with a big head, round stomach and stubby little arms and legs, which were flailing about during the ultrasound. We also got to see the heart beating! We held our breath while she looked for what she thought could be a neighbor (sooo not ready for two) but she determined it was only a full bladder. (Doesn't take long for that these days.) And so we were sent home with two pictures to share with our family and friends, and another appointment scheduled in 4 weeks.
Now that we have no-doubt-about-it confirmation that this baby is real and in it for the long haul, I feel like I can stop being nauseous. Now if only my body would get the memo...