Week 20: Baby Is A...

...BOY!

Oh, dear God, another boy.  We're going to have our hands so full...so full.

Our Level 2 ultrasound was scheduled for last week, so Scott took the day off from work.  We dropped Bailey off at school, packed Gerry up, and headed over to the hospital.  My gut had been telling me that this baby was a boy for a few weeks now, so I wasn't surprised when it showed up nice and clear on the screen.  He's healthy and growing just perfectly, and I couldn't be happier.

I'll admit, I'd been fairly worried in the weeks leading up to this ultrasound.  This pregnancy has been 100% completely different than my last two.  With Bailey and Gerry, I was starving all the time and had gained a fairly decent amount of weight by week 20 {think double digits}, and was having very specific cravings from very early on {Slim Jims and canned peaches with Bailey; Twix candy bars with Gerry}.  With this little guy, I haven't had a single craving and my appetite for the most part has remained the same as normal.  Some days, I have less of an appetite than usual.  My weight gain has remained under 10lbs so far.  I'm also not feeling much movement at all with this pregnancy, thanks to an anterior placenta.  I felt those first little flutters with Bailey at 11 weeks, and at 13 weeks with Gerry.  By the 15 week mark with both of them I was feeling honest-to-God kicks and pokes.  So when week 12 came and went this time and I hadn't felt much more than a teeny little stroke, I started to wonder.  When I hit week 16 and still hadn't felt actual movement I was legitimately freaked out.  I'd been having awful, awful back pain and headaches from the very beginning of this pregnancy and was worried that that, combined with the stress of Bailey starting Kindergarten and the craziness of running a home daycare, had somehow stunted this baby.  I would walk in for my monthly OB appointments and say a prayer over and over again until the doc found the baby's heartbeat with her doppler--then I could breathe a sigh of relief.  Until the next day, when my freakouts happened all over again.  I've never been more relieved than I was when the ultrasound tech pointed out the baby and said, "And your placenta is anterior..."  Finally!  A reason for the lack of movement!

Baby was wiggling all over the place during the ultrasound {not that I could feel any of it}, and we were able to get some great photos.  There's no doubt that he's a boy, and he looks perfect in there.

Baby #3

Gerry was pumped right away.  In the weeks leading up to finding out the gender, whenever we asked him what he wanted he said, "A baby brudder".  Being that he's the only boy surrounded by a sister, all girl cousins, and all girl daycare kids, I'm thrilled that he'll have a little buddy to play with soon.  Bailey is another story.  She wanted a baby sister.  Badly.  Scott and I have been preparing her for the possibility of another brother, but she just wasn't hearing it.  When she got home from school the afternoon of my ultrasound, she walked in the door with this giant smile on her face and said, "So do I have a baby sister?  Is it a baby girl?!"

I almost lied to her.

Instead, I plastered a huge smile on my face and said, "You're getting a baby...brother!"  I could see the instant it sunk in that she wasn't, in fact, going to have the baby sister she wanted.  Her little face crumpled up and she threw herself into the couch.  She cried for a solid 15 minutes before we were able to calm her down a bit.

These two have very different feelings about the news that they're getting a baby brother

She's had a week now to come to terms with having another brother.  We've pointed out all the best parts about having only brothers-- they won't want to play with her makeup and hair stuff, she won't have to share her clothes and shoes, she gets to have her very own room and the boys have to share.  She's coming around and getting excited again, and has even thrown out a few name ideas.  And I know that once he's here and she can actually meet him she'll fall in love, just like she did with Gerry.

So that's where we're at right now.  I'm 20 weeks along {as of yesterday}and according to the ultrasound my due date has stayed the same.  My hips ache in the morning and I have wicked heartburn starting in the afternoon and lasting just about all night long, but other than that, I can't complain.  And-good news- I'm feeling some actual movement!  Not often.  Not even daily, really.  But just about.  And it's awesome.