We're Having a... BABY GIRL!

20w3d- Yesterday was a day that I will always remember.

For the first 20 weeks of my pregnancy, I’d visit the doctor and come home with tenuous, gray answers, or, even worse, no answers at all. My doctor, who I really do love, never gave the enthusiastic, “Everything looks great!” answers that I needed as a newly pregnant, first-time mom. “It should be fine.” “We’ll do more blood work next time to check.” “Come back in 4 weeks and we’ll see if it still persists.” It was even worse with the ultrasound tech. She was, to say the least, not very warm and fuzzy.  I learned to adopt the no-news-is-good-news attitude, but I so badly wanted some serious positive reinforcement.

 That finally came yesterday at my 20-week ultrasound. I walked into the appointment expecting nothing (the opposite approach to every other visit I’d had thus far).  I was hoping we’d be able to find out if we are having a boy or girl, but even that really wasn’t promised. It was only if the baby was in the right position.

 Nonetheless, I was very excited to see our baby up on the screen and see how he or she had grown from the previous ultrasound 7 weeks ago. I was shocked (and thrilled!) when the first thing the ultrasound tech said was, “Before we find out gender, I’m going to check every vital organ starting at the head and work my way down to the toes. Then we can have some fun.” What? Definitive answers? Woohoo! Let’s do this!

 I don’t think I’ve ever been so giddy. I’m a black and white kind of person. I’m not good at gray (even though it’s one of my favorite colors).  The ultrasound tech started by checking the circumference of Nugget’s head, checked the brain and then kept going down… eyes, lips, spine, heart… Check, check, check, check. “There are the two little kidneys.” Check. “And here you can see the blood flow and umbilical cord.” Check, check. With every word, I felt 100 pounds of pressure come off my shoulders. I was giggling.

 Luckily, the baby was in the right position, and we got another definitive answer: “It’s absolutely a girl!” Now that’s the kind of confidence I like to hear. We are absolutely having a girl. My husband and I both had tears in our eyes. Twenty weeks. This moment was worth way more than 20 weeks. We truly did not have a preference for a boy or girl, but now that I know it’s a girl, all I can think about is decorating the nursery, taking millions of pictures in millions of different outfits and cooking with my daughter. Daughter. What a crazy word.

 The cutest part? We got to see our baby girl yawn! I’m so in for it. If I’m that proud and excited about a little yawn, I can’t even imagine how much I’ll melt into a pile of mush when I see her take her first steps, play in her first piano recital, graduate from high school. I’m toast.

 That visit was the fire I needed to be re-inspired for the next 20 weeks of pregnancy. While there’s still half way to go and things can certainly change, right now I have a healthy baby. And that is a first-time mom’s greatest blessing.

 Did you find out the gender of your baby? What funny things did you see your baby do on the 20-week ultrasound? Did you see a yawn or your baby suck his/her thumb?