Well I had my second ultrasound this morning, bright and early. It was amazing. And all this time, I had been convinced I was having a boy, but I was wrong! A baby girl. I'm so excited I barely have words, but that wouldn't make for an interesting blog post, now would it?
We both had a bad sleep last night, I think me more so than David. I only managed to get a couple hours, and when I did sleep, I had a terrifying nightmare. I think I was anxious about the ultrasound. When my alarm went off at 8am, I wanted to kill, but I was still excited.
We headed out early so we could get some coffee in us, for stimulant purposes, but also because I had been told by a few people to have some to make the baby more active, thus making it easier to get a good angle to see the gender. We got to the office kind of early but they took me in almost right away. It was nice to have an empty bladder for this one, as the first one at 15 weeks requires a painfully full one. And having the tech pressing on it with an ultrasound wand is uncomfortable.
I was in there by myself for the majority, as the tech moved to and fro, taking measurements. Every time she got over to my left side, I could feel the baby kick at the ultrasound wand, pushing into her precious space. I was just laying back and enjoying that, since I haven't felt her move too much yet. Mostly just light flutters. After some time the tech informed me that part of the procedure had to be done from the inside. No one warned me about that! My one friend told me about how her whole ultrasound had to be done that way since she unfortunately has too much fat around her belly for the normal one. But I didn't know it happened for everyone. The tech showed me the wand that was to be inserted, and it certainly wasn't intimidating. But when she slipped a condom on it... I didn't know whether to laugh, or worry that I was about to be raped. Thankfully, that part of the procedure only lasted less than a minute, and was used to measure my cervix.
Then she went and got David and went back to the normal ultrasound, and it was our chance to see the baby. It was so much more detailed than the first one, and of course I teared up again. David did too. You could see her little spine, rib cage, heart beating. And then her facial features, little hand at her mouth, and her tiny feet. It's just incredible, and makes the whole thing feel much more real. The tech asked once more if we were both in agreeing to knowing the gender, and told us it looked very much like a girl. My little outburst of "What? Really?!" was louder than I had intended, and I started to cry. I didn't think I had a preference, and was quite sure I was having a boy, and I was shocked to hear that wasn't the case. I was thrilled, and David seemed to be beaming.
He told me on the drive home that in a way he was hoping for a girl, for many reasons. I agree with him that it is hard for us to pick a boys name that we both like. I had always liked the name David growing up, but neither of us want a Jr. Although neither of us had ever been pressured to do so, it still kind of felt like we should have a father-figure's name in our male child's. So far, the only boy name I liked was that of my grandfather's, Jack. David was unsure about that one at first, but it had grown on him. His father's first and middle names are old fashioned and neither of us want them. But there never seemed to be a boy name out there that really spoke to us. But girl's names on the other hand... there are so many cute ones.
For most of our relationship we had agreed we both liked the name Sophia. But on that drive home today, he told me he wasn't sure about using it for her first name since it was a name one of his ex-girlfriends and him always talked about! I was shocked at this sudden turn of events. I suddenly felt weird about the name, and although I know this ex, and like her very much, I had no idea they were talking about having kids and he never mentioned that story when he suggested the name Sophia to me years ago. It was a total game changer. So I said we could maybe use it as a middle name, but I will certainly be looking for alternatives. Otherwise, he told me about the name Adeline. He had never mentioned it before, but I really like it. Despite that, I don't want to write her name in stone just yet, there are so many nice girl names out there, and I would like to shop around for a bit. But it is definitely on the list.
I also had another monthly prenatal appointment today, where we learned that our IPS test results came back negative for Down Syndrome or any other abnormalities, phew! It was lovely to hear that. Also, the baby is developing perfectly and on track, has a perfect heartbeat and measurements. I'm also gaining weight normally, not too much and not too little, which I find surprising since I feel like I'm eating like a cow. And my stomach is growing normally. I couldn't believe all the good news. I felt like there HAD to be a "but" in there. After all, I'm ashamed to admit, I am still smoking. That's a whole other story before you attack me. I'm not proud of it. But obviously, things are going very very well for the baby and I right now, and David and I are super excited and relieved.
I can't wait to start buying tiny dresses!
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