Sweet Pea is a...

GIRL!!! Chance and I found out the gender at our ultrasound Thursday afternoon. It was such a sweet day, and we made so many cool memories together. It was also really fun to keep our secret and tell our families to share the excitement.

We both took the day off on Thursday because my appt. was at 1, and we figured we'd have lots to do that day. We slept in a little, went to Schmaltz's for lunch, ran a couple of errands for gender party supplies, all while I drank my 36 oz. of water in 30 minutes, but still 1 hour before the appt.--brutal!

I had been warned by my doctor and friends that this U/S at the clinic could be awkward, tense and slow because it's just with a technician who can't make any reports or diagnoses. I'd been warned it would take almost an hour in a dark, quiet room and I wouldn't get much information. Well, we were so blessed to have a different experience! I had to be rescheduled from the clinic to the hospital's imaging center, and we had THE nicest radiology tech. She took a few images of my belly and then asked if I had to go to the bathroom (my squeaks of pain might have been her first clue...). I nodded YES, and so she let me go and then come back to get more images. She continued with the U/S and took a few more images before she turned the screen toward me to talk to us.

Chance had asked for a warning before she told us the gender, so she showed us all the organs first--4 chambers in the heart, 2 kidneys, a bladder, good spine, hands, feet, profile, heartrate of 153 bpm. She asked if we were ready to know the gender, and I said, "I think MY heart is beating at 153!" I was so nervous and anxious and excited. Chance squeezed my hand, and then she showed us an image. She pointed and said, "Do you see that?" and I said, "Are those boy parts?" (because what do I know about reading an ultrasound?) She said, "Nope! It's a girl!" We got so excited and laughed and cried and then looked some more. She said it was "textbook" and wouldn't be changing. Hooray! My intuition from the beginning was correct, despite my second guesses toward the end.

She let me get cleaned up, and Chance and I hugged big and were just giddy. She printed about 10 pictures on a CD for us, and that was it. Probably 20 minutes start to finish, and helpful conversation. We felt so fortunate for this experience!

We left the hospital and drove straight to Carter's. It was so fun to know what side of the store to go to, and we bought about 4 pink outfits and some pink things to wrap to give to our parents. We went to Target, CVS to print pictures and tons of other places to run errands to buy her things. That night, we planned to go see Chance's family and tell them about the appointment. We also had to help move Nanny from her home to assisted living, so we made a late-night visit to the Edison's to tell Cari, Ricky and Mase, and then down the street to Mike & Cindy's to tell them and Cayce.

Mase was about to go to bed, and he was full of energy. We told him that his baby cousin was going to be a girl like his baby sister, and he seemed to be excited. Cari and I will have 2 little girls to add to the family by the end of the summer (She is having Murphee Leigh in mid-June.)!

Then we went to tell Mike, Cindy and Cayce. We got a gift to let them open and remembered to take the FlipCam with us. Check out their reactions and excitement in the video.

The next day was so long and awful. We had to go back to work and still wait for my parents to arrive after work from Irving. I could barely talk to Mom because I was afraid I'd spill the beans or that she'd ask something. I let my students sign posters to cast their gender vote and promised to tell them Monday (They couldn't believe I wanted to wait until I'd told my parents before telling them...).

Finally, the day was over and M&D were on their way. I was antsy to say the least by the time they got to our house. The immediately dropped their bags and sat down to open their present. It's a funny video too.

Once our families knew about our girl, it was so much more fun. She feels more like a real person, she has a name (shared in the next post!), and we can start buying things and making plans and loving her specifically. What a great few days we had!! All that was left was to tell our friends and have a gender reveal party!