If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile now, you know I was kind of on the fence about finding out the sex of the tiny babe currently hanging out in my midsection.  However, KC was resolute that he “had to know;” and given that I didn’t have a lot of confidence in his ability to keep the secret to himself for 20+ weeks, I determined that if he was going to find out, I would find out too.

KC thought it would be fun to try and find out the gender before Christmas and surprise our families, so we made an appointment to get an ultrasound on December 21.  We went into the appointment and asked the tech to write the gender down for us so we could look at it later.  The tech complied, and we left the appointment with the info sealed in an envelope.  The next day was the 10 year anniversary from our first date, so we had discussed opening the envelope then as a little anniversary surprise.  However, KC and I were so anxious and excited to know (keeping a secret is not exactly my strong suit) that we decided we would open the envelope that night.  We decided to head to a local Starbucks to get the news (don’t hate, we have a lot of history there).  We arrived at the cafe and took two spots in front of one of the windows.  I asked KC to look and then tell me the news.  He opened the envelope and turned away from me as he looked through the pictures.  What felt like an eternity passed and KC finally said, “I don’t know… I think it’s a boy?”  He looked confused and handed me the stack of ultrasound photos saying, “I don’t know what I’m looking at.”

I looked through the pictures — most were photos we’d already seen — the face, the profile, etc. then the one.  A foreign, grayish shape and in very small print towards the top: BABY GIRL.  KC had missed the text (it was really small, to be fair) and he wasn’t familiar with the way gender ultrasound photos are taken (y’know — “is that a leg or something else?”), so it wasn’t all that surprising that he wasn’t able to determine whether the answer was pink or blue.

I looked at him wide-eyed and said, “No, it’s a girl — look!” pointing to the BABY GIRL typed on the photo.  (And then explained what the picture was actually showing.  Yes, that’s a leg.)

I had a dream early in my pregnancy that I was having a girl and since then had not been able to shake the feeling that I was carrying a little lady.  KC had been not-so-secretly hoping for a girl (we’ve only got nephews on both sides of the family so far), so seeing the confirmation on the little ultrasound picture was both thrilling and overwhelming.  I teared up as I stared at the pictures of her, and suddenly everything felt a lot more real.  It’s been so exciting going through each week, watching my belly grow and feeling her start to move, but finding out that she’s a she has brought a whole new sense of reality to things.

We’re so excited, and while having either a boy or girl would be amazing, all we really hope for in the end is a happy and healthy baby.

PS: To reveal the gender to our parents, we wrapped up a little girl’s shirt and dress like a present and had our mom’s open them up on Christmas morning (we didn’t tell them that we found out the sex 2 weeks earlier than anticipated).  Seeing everybody’s surprise was kind of the best thing ever.  (I mean, because hello, is there anything cuter than teeny-tiny baby clothes?  I’m going with no.)  🙂