On June 4th, I had my ultrasound to find out what the baby was. I had been waiting for this day for a while now and was anxiously anticipating the results. Of course, the baby already is what it is and it doesn't really matter that much. Either way, we would be excited. But, I still had my hopes. The funny thing is that with each of my other babies, I have gone in with a secret hope for either one gender or the other and didn't really want to say it. AND, for each of my previous 5 children, it ended up being the opposite of what I wanted- crazy, huh? And, of course, I was still very happy and love them all so much. But, this time I got lucky....
It was the first time I got what I wanted. Yeah- It's a GIRL!! Three and three- YEAH!
After the tech told us what it was, I had to ask her a few times, "Are you SURE?" I had actually been holding my breath for at least 5 minutes after she had accidentally said "he" at one point while looking around. Of course, there is a 50/50 chance and you have to be prepared for either one. The most important thing is that the baby is healthy, of course, but knowing the gender is also very exciting.
With our last baby, we did the "surprise" that some people rave about. When Jordan was born, I was excited, but I think I would've been MORE excited had I had 4+ months to think about it. So we tried it and it was okay, but I am really not much of a surprise person at all. I even feel bad for Aaron when he will surprise me with something that I really should be excited about and the reaction he gets is not nearly what he had hoped for. But, the more I think about the idea, the more excited I get. That's why this time we opted to find out earlier. And, as with all of my other pregnancies, the more I think about the baby (knowing the gender), the more excited I get about it. Besides, then you get TWO exciting days with big news instead of one!
We decided to do something fun for the kids this time to announce the gender. This is a new thing that a lot of people are doing now-days. I had really never thought of it before with any of my others. I wanted to do something that didn't require a lot of work. We gave the kids each an ice-cream cone with strawberry ice cream at the bottom and vanilla on top. Then, we let them go and said, "The first one to get to the bottom will find out what we're having!" (I had told Aaron- "What are we going to do if it's a boy?" It would have been a lot harder to find blue ice cream.) Erika got to the pink ice cream first and was really excited. They each had different reactions but I think they're all really excited to have a new sister. Knowing for a few months before the birth will give them all time to adjust to the idea, too. (Heidi has been telling everyone for months that the baby is a girl- so I'm glad I didn't have to tell her otherwise. I'm sure she was just thinking, "It just makes sense- Jared and Jordan... what comes next?) In my universe there is perfect balance- Aaahhh. :)
The kids playing out back in the "Parkinson Reservoir" |