June 18th, 2009 - Guess the Sex!

Paul is writing first for a change...

Like most parents to be, we have been trying to guess the sex of our baby from day one. Research, movement, baby position, family history, caffeine intake, and even the Chinese Calendar have been part of the discussion. After all of this "scientific" research, we concluded that it was most likely a boy, which meant it was probably a girl. Guess what... we were right!!! (and as you can tell from our conclusion, we would have been right either way ;)

Tensions were high on the way to our scheduled sonogram today. I don't know why we were nervous, but I guess that's how people react when they are about to find out the sex of their baby. Nerves subsided (for me anyway) once we sat down and watched the first images of our baby. Its amazing how far technology has improved in just the past couple of years. After talking to friends and family about their experiences, I wasn't prepared to see the detail we were about to witness. WOW! Not only were we able to view and count vertebrae and digits, but could see detail down to the spine structure and metacarpal. We didn't just watch the heart beat, we could see blood flow in and out of separate heart valves. Its also kind of freaky to look into a live skull and see moving brain and skeleton.

So about the sex... after 15 minutes or so we finally got to the "privates". Sure enough the first phrase out of the technician's mouth was "now here is the labia..." AND THEN IT SUNK IN! "We are having a girl!" We were excited and shocked at the same time. I wasn't going to run out and buy a Minnie Mouse dress just yet because we did not get a definitive shot. But then the shy little girl who spent the entire time on her stomach decided it was time to flash. YEP I'm pretty sure she is a she! Now its time to get some paint, buy some pretty bedding, and look for a prom dress.

I will be putting together a list of banned TV shows and any help would be greatly appreciated.

So far I have:
My Super Sweet 16
16 and Pregnant
RuPaul's Drag Race
(and most likely any other show on MTV or VH1)

Before I go, I need to briefly discuss the photos.
1st is a profile showing full lips (uh oh)
2nd is a brain/skull shot (just not as good as the live view)
3rd 3-D face (might have my nose, poor girl)

Apparently the baby likes to use Shonna's placenta as a pillow and spent all day on her stomach, so it was a long day for the technician. Shonna can tell you how she was finally able to get the baby to flip after an hour... My ADD is kicking in so I must go.

Shonna here:

Okay, I've been asked repeatedly to share how I got the baby to turn around...

The doctor suggested that I try walking around the room. Keep in mind that this was a very small room, very full of furniture and medical equipment. What's a girl to do? Not ready to give up but also not willing to go into the hallway with my front-opening gown and no pants, I decided to use a variety of jumping and dance moves to try to motivate her. I bounced, jumped, twisted, skipped... and thanks to the suggestion of her daddy-to-be, I also attempted the running man, the chicken dance, and the butter churn. I'm not sure which of these fabulous moves did the trick, but she did finally move.

Some additional details... She is 10 ounces right now and her heart beat was 155 bpm this time. She seems to have long limbs (no idea where she gets that from) and likes to keep her hand in front of her face. They had a really hard time getting a good shot of her face because she was either lying on her stomach or had her hand in front of it! They gave us a few 3D shots, but they aren't very clear. She definitely has pretty full lips, but otherwise it's hard to tell!

Paul is very concerned about spoiling our little girl. He's pretty darn good at spoiling her mom, so I'm pretty positive that we're going to have a daddy's girl on our hands. SO... now the big issues... What to do about the nursery? What do we name her? How are we going to get through the teenage years?!?