Boy or Not a Boy?

Is our intuition right?

How far along? 20 weeks, 4 days



Our long awaited 20 week ultrasound was yesterday...it was the anticipation of Christmas Eve when you're a kid but not as much fun because I had such anxiety dreams about the event and I didn't even know I was feeling stress about it- I blame it on the full moon...when nothing else will explain things, blame it on the full moon. Anyway, why so much anticipation? Because we find out if it's a boy or girl of course! Hopefully...I kept telling the baby, leading up to the day, to not be pulling any tricky stuff on us like hiding it's little girl or boy bits because I HAVE TO KNOW!! I think I even pleaded at one point. Simon and I, since the beginning have had a strong feeling that our baby is a boy. As a matter of fact I can't even wrap my head around the possibility of it being a girl but we'd really like science to confirm our intuition. Of course finding out the gender of your baby isn't the purpose of the 20 week ultrasound but that's all I could think about.

Finally the big moment! Simon and I go to enter the ultrasound room and the technician tells Simon he's not allowed in just yet...huhn? She assures him he will be allowed in after she takes all the measurements of the baby's organs and things(the actual purpose of the ultrasound). Laying on the "bed" the technician has the screen rotated away from me and I can't see a thing...I feel like telling her I haven't seen my baby in 2 months and I would really appreciate a glimpse right now but instead I try to read her expression as she explores the baby and presses down on my abdomen. She mentions something about the baby's position and... wait, did she say "he"? Maybe she said "the". Oh, the suspense is killing me. I try to be patient. I am informed that my bladder isn't full yet (what the crap? I chugged a whole bottle down before I got there)and so far she has been unable to measure my cervix (another measurement she needs to take) and if my bladder doesn't start filling up soon she might have to do a measurement through the labia. HOLD THE PHONE! THROUGH THE LABIA? Now I can't quite envision how this is done but I don't like the sounds of that. "Oh, wait", she says..."I can see it now." THANK GOD! That was a narrow escape.

Finally the technician finishes taking her digital measurements and Simon is allowed in the room. It's about time!! She turns the monitor so we can both see the image. There's our baby! Is it sucking it's thumb?


awww cute. We are shown the baby's limbs, heartbeat, spine etc. and then she says "You guys want to know the sex right?" YES! YES! WE WANT TO KNOW THE SEX NOW TELL US ALREADY! but instead
"yes, please."
"Well, I've looked 3 times and....I think it's a little girl."
What?
"See there?"
No
"The three lines...that is usually what the labia look like"
again with the labia, but really...what?
Simon and I look at each other with an expression that can only be explained as a look of "huhn?". I'm thinking...is the specialist gonna come in here to show us stuff like last time. Cause I would really like a second opinion.
Nope. The appointment is over and after I pee we exit the hallways of the hospital in that dazed sort of state. All we can say for a couple of blocks is "huhn".



"Maybe we can get one of those 3D ultrasounds done and they can confirm for us?" I say to Simon. "I'm not going to rule that out.", he says.
Now don't get me wrong...it's not that we don't want a girl... it's just that we both felt so strongly that it was a boy. And all the things we didn't even know we'd been thinking about got realized and turned upside down with the thought that our baby could be a girl. At this point I'm still saying "could be". Wow. I think even now I am still shocked.

Looked up prices for 3D ultrasound today. If the technician had said it was a boy then we would not have second guessed because
1. that is what we thought all along and
2. the chances that the genetalia is misread is less with a boy than a girl

oh! here are our horoscopes from one of the days papers



Well, the plus side of this is that they didn't charge us to tell us the gender. I had heard that a lot of places do that now and don't be surprised if they charge for the info. Ridiculous! I thought...especially since they can be wrong.

We are adjusting to the idea of a girl coming into our lives



though I think a 3D ultrasound may be in our near future...just to be sure.