A Half Baked Update!

20 weeks- our little one is half-baked!  It seems unbelievable to have made it this far.

I'm sitting here feeling little kicks and twitches...It is surreal.  I am so blessed and so thankful.

I ended up having an ultrasound a few weeks ago due to some light spotting (all looks OK with that for now), and they were able to reveal the gender earlier than we had expected.  I'll get to the rest of that story in a moment, but to answer the burning question, I'll just show you the cake that my mother in-law bought for us after we broke the news:

We cracked up that it says "Ho Ho", but is a snowman decoration rather than a Santa.

That's right- there will be dirt, tractors, and Spiderman (ick) in this mama's future!

To rewind a bit, I was not expecting to get an ultrasound, let alone find out the gender, but when she asked if I wanted to know, I knew that I couldn't wait another two weeks (until our regularly schedule ultrasound) to find out.  Brad wasn't with me, because usually my appointments are extremely quick and it's not worth it for me to ask him to take off work, except for the "big" ones (first time to hear the heartbeat, ultrasounds, etc).  So I asked the tech to not tell me, but seal a note or something in an envelope.  She put the "gender" picture in the envelope for me, and implied that she expected me not to hold it up to the light to try to "cheat" (apparently pregnant women have no self control?).

I left, called Brad to tell him that all was well, and then informed him that he had better try to make it home early, because the suspense was killing me!  When he got home, he burst in the door yelling "where's the envelope?!?"  I laughed hysterically because I thought that I was the only one going nuts from waiting. We opened it up, and saw the "boy parts" with a label on the picture, and got all giddy and excited and teary.  How romantic. 

The results were what we expected- I told Brad after my first ultrasound that I knew it was a boy.  Somehow I just had a feeling.  (I also had a 50/50 chance of being correct, so chalk it up to odds or mother's intuition, whateva). I am excited.  I always wanted only girls, and didn't want boys.  Sounds harsh, but if you've ever taught a class of 18 two year olds, with FAR more boys than girls, you would understand.

It's amazing how your perspective changes after losing 3 pregnancies and crying yourself to sleep many nights because you just want to be a mom. As long as I'm giving birth to a living, breathing, healthy human being, I have no complaints about gender.  I've even gotten (sorta) over my fear of having a redheaded boy.  Well, maybe not, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. And yes, for the record, gender reveals still make me gag.  

Yesterday we had another "regular" ultrasound, and baby boy is looking good!  He's measuring two weeks ahead (overachiever), and was squirming around like crazy. 

As much as I'm still fearful and worried, knowing that it's a little boy in there really makes things feel more "real".  I love this little guy so much already, and I'm starting to feel like a mama. 

 It's awesome, and terrifying.