And Little Sea Monkey Is A...

Thursday afternoon around 3:30pm was probably one of the most memorable moments of my life thus far. There is nothing quite like seeing images of the baby that one feels moving around inside. We hadn't had an ultrasound of Sea Monkey yet because we got signed on at the Birth Center a little later than usual.

Earlier on Michael and I had decided that on this day we wanted to find out the gender of Sea Monkey. I had wanted to find out all along, and Michael would have rather waited but didn't feel that strongly about it either so he let me decide. God worked things out perfectly. We were able to schedule the ultrasound for a day when my parents AND grandparents would be here.

I was so nervous beforehand - and I don't know why! Perhaps the excitement of seeing Sea Monkey for the first time. I drank my four glasses of water (they can see the baby better if the bladder is full - go figure!) By the time I was on the ultrasound table I was ready to run to the bathroom.

Rewind a little bit - we all got to the Birth Center - ALL of us. My grandparents, plus Sea Monkey's two sets of Grandparents and of course, Michael and I. Eight of us crowded into the small room and began the ultrasound. We were wondering if we should get some award for the most people to attend an ultrasound but no awards were given. :)

The first few glimpses of our little baby were so special! After about 2 minutes the ultrasound technician told us that she could already tell the gender of the baby. I could tell that she wanted to keep us in suspense and just kept referring to the baby as an "it" or "baby".


However, there did come a time when she dropped a "she" during her detailed description.

We all stopped.

And then someone in the room said, "Did you just say SHE?"

"Ooops. Did I say that? I didn't mean to tell you yet! Well, I guess I did say "she".

I couldn't move for a few seconds.

A BABY GIRL!

We are having a BABY GIRL!

It's still sinking in. We couldn't be more excited. Really, we'd be happy with either a boy or a girl! We just wanted a healthy baby and looks like our baby at least has arms, legs, and vital organs! It was wonderful to lay there for the next 30 minutes and watch and listen to the technician explaining everything to us.

By the end of our appointment it was a sauna in the room. All that excitement! All those bodies!

I was on cloud nine the rest of the day. When we left the Birth Center we started calling friends and family and giving people the great news! That evening we went to a church prayer meeting and were able to share the news with those that were there. It was quite exciting!

And now the big question. What will we call Sea Monkey? Sea Monkey is not a very girly name. Other people have given us options: Princess Sea Monkey, She Monkey, Little Miss Monkey and many more. For now, Michael seems to have settled on "Baby Girl". We shall see what sticks!

As far as real names go, we are starting the fun process of name picking. Now that we can eliminate all the boy names it should be a little easier. We have decided to keep the name a secret until birth - there has to be some sort of suspense!

So, Baby Girl, here we are, getting closer and closer to the day when we will meet you. There are just over sixteen weeks left until then! In the meantime, keep growing and getting stronger. We look forward to seeing you in another ultrasound sometime!