It is such a relieving feeling knowing now that LB is a GIRL! Not that we wouldn't have been thrilled with a boy, but just knowing the gender make things that much more real now. Overall our anatomy scan went great. We were both so proud of ourselves for enduring the wait for so long that the hour and a half delay once we got to the hospital seemed like a cake walk. Apparently emergency ultrasounds trump an eager mama! I'm just glad they didn't make us come back another day, because I definitely thought they were going to—phew.
 |
| Smiling! |
Once we got settled, we asked the ultrasound tech if we could guess the gender once it came to that. I told her we had done our research and wanted to try it out. She was happy to let us, but not until the very end did our proper little lady even decide to open her legs enough to get a peek. The tech kept going back to look every few minutes and even had me get up to jump around and go to the bathroom, but LB wouldn't show. We were sweating bullets! After about 40 minutes, she eventually got a good enough still of her lady parts and put a shot on the screen for us that said Perineum. She asked what we thought and we both said GIRL! There was definitely no penis and I could see the three while lines that I kept hearing about. Our minds were blown and our faces were grinning ear to ear.
My instinct had been boy all along, but you might remember back at our 16 week ultrasound that we caught a glimpse of Baby's bottom while the nurse was measuring the femur. I mentioned that we had a guess based of off what we saw, which was actually girl! We didn't see any boy parts, but figured it could also just have been too early to tell. We were right after all.
Honestly, both Papa K and I couldn't be more thrilled to be having a girl. His heart has already melted for her, and he can't stop talking about how much he loves her and wants to be a strong leader to both of us. Sure he would love to have a little guy someday, but he's so good with his ladies, and I know he's going to be the best papa. And of course I am over-the-moon that she's a girl. What mama doesn't hope for at least one little buddy to do girly things with? Hopefully she likes baking and making art! My heart swells with joy thinking about the blessing it will be to shepherd and raise a little girl to love the Lord.
On my way home from the ultrasound, I immediately called the ladies I met at the West Seattle Garage Sale a few weeks back to arrange a time for me to come pick through their leftover girl clothing. All were eager and waiting for me to contact them. I ended up scheduling a night with each of them to pilfer through their bins. The first night visiting my top pick down on Beach Drive was a blast. My mom came with me and we left with two bags full of ridiculously cute clothes, socks and shoes. Her daughter was only 9 months, so there sadly wasn't much beyond 6 mo.
 |
| My favorite! |
The next two nights, however, weren't as great as I had hoped. One woman had insane amounts of clothing all sorted out for me, but I just couldn't bring myself to get much of it aside from about 15 pairs of jammies in various sizes. Arthur and I have agreed that we will dress our kids roughly how we would dress ourselves, and as I've begun to look more closely on Craigslist and at department stores, I've started to realize that isn't the case for most people. I wouldn't wear hot pink pants with a matching pink t-shirt that says something on it, so why dress our kids that way?
The last night was even more stressful. The woman had clothes all the way up to 4/5, but the second I looked at her bins I froze up and couldn't bring myself to get or even look at anything beyond 2T. I didn't feel ready to jump ahead more than a year. Luckily my mom was there with me to affirm that I wasn't crazy for feeling this way. On the positive side, this woman works for REI and had some great cold weather gear. We left with a 2T nearly new REI snow outfit (pants, long underwear and jacket), that I'm sure would have cost us at least $100. We also got a 2T down vest, which Papa K loves, and a never used infant winter sack. Even though things ended up not panning out as I had hoped, we still have been entirely blessed with so many great necessities for when our little girl arrives.
I've been starting to feel bigger and slower. My belly isn't huge at this point, but still enough to cause my already poor back to ache even more. I'm hoping that once I'm not sitting at a desk all day my back will start to improve, but for now, it's really tough to get through many work days. I've noticed myself starting to waddle a bit, and am consciously trying to curb that. I know it will just make me stiffen up, and I want to keep myself as flexible as possible. On the plus side, my bump is showing loud and proud and there is no mistaking it for stomach flub. It's funny to see people glance down quickly when we're talking or passing by in the hall. It happens all the time! But I totally get it and even still do it to other pregnant ladies. There's just something about the bump that is so irresistible.
I am also having awful round ligament pain that runs up both side of my abdomen and below my uterus. I would imagine this won't be as bad once the muscle stretches out a bit. It kind of feels like someone attacked me with a hammer—ouch! I'm also having irregular light cramping, but I have to imagine that this is related to my round ligament pain. Maybe my uterus is growing extra right now and the muscle is adjusting to support it? I won't lie, it's made me fall back into a pattern of feeling panicky. It's hard not to rush to the bathroom to make sure I'm not bleeding every time I feel achy/crampy.
Nonetheless, we got our ultrasound results back, which were great according to the radiologist and midwives. I was shocked to learn that my placenta is in the front! LB must be extra strong since I've been feeling her kicks for weeks now. I'm told that many women with placentas in the front don't feel movement until much later. We also learned that she is in the 86th percentile for 20 weeks, and they moved my due date up a few days, which could be the cause of all the movements I'm feeling. I'm happy to hear she is growing big and strong, but also nervous I might have to push out a giant baby! The tech mentioned that babies go through growth spurts at different times, so maybe she just recently had one.
We are midway through doula interviews and hope to make a decision in about a week. I'm excited to post about what we've learned and who we eventually end up going with!
Need to catch up?
Pregnancy Posts:
Weekly Updates:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Leave us a comment. We would love to hear from you!