Last Impressions before Finding Out

So, I'm at the halfway point and tomorrow is the day when I get to find out the gender of the baby...that is if the sonographer is able to catch it because the baby will cooperate for them. As of right now, my mothers' intuition has not kicked in, and I really have no idea if it's a boy or a girl.

People ask which gender I hope for, and I honestly tell them that both Mark and I would prefer a girl, but I think it's a boy. Now, the reason I say we would prefer a girl is simply because we've been having a hard time coming up with good names for a boy, not because we completely think that it would be better to have a girl...it's purely for name's sake at the moment. It's true that I think it's more fun to play dress-up with a girl because they have some really cute clothes for baby girls, but that doesn't mean I can't find fun stuff for boys. Mark also thinks that a girl would be more naturally inclined to nurture the younger siblings and help out Mommy, but I personally always thought that a boy first would be good because it always feels good to have an older brother to protect you from neighborhood bullies. So it really doesn't matter which one comes first; there are pros to both genders.

The reason I think it might be a boy is because every dream that I've had about my baby showed it as a boy. However, that really can go either way...I know of one girl who dreamed of hers being a girl the whole time, but it was a boy. I also know of a girl who dreamed of a girl the whole time, and it was a girl. So, I guess I'll just have to wait and see. All I know is that I can't really take dreams too seriously. (Both Mark and I had dreams about me having complications. Mark dreamed that I had a miscarriage because I tried to pick up his dad at around 22 weeks. I had a dream that I was going into a premature labor at 20 weeks because the doctor's office forgot to pay attention to my weight gain and didn't tell me that I hadn't gained enough weight yet and the baby was too malnourished. Weird, huh?)

The other reason I'm thinking it's a boy is because I've read that women who are pregnant with boys are statistically more hungry than women pregnant with girls...meaning they eat more. I've been thinking that I'm really hungry, but when I think about it a little more...it could just be because I'm pregnant and therefore I'm more hungry. I've never been pregnant before, so maybe this is just as hungry as I would get with having a girl...there's no way for me to know right now. Then that thought gets me thinking that maybe it really is a girl, which would make sense because I hear that girls ride higher in the womb than boys do, and I feel like I'm not ballooning out very far at the bottom of my belly. I feel like as soon as my rib cage ends, it starts to pull out from there, go straight down, then back in. I feel like it's riding high...but I didn't think that my uterus was that high yet, so that can't be the baby, can it?

Like I said, I have no idea and thinking about it only gets me totally confused, but I'm getting excited to find out! I think my favorite part about this stage is that Mark is getting excited too. Last night in bed before we went to sleep he rubbed my belly and said, "only two more days!" with a big smile on his face. He says that it's like opening a birthday present and it's a big surprise! Once he mentioned that if it's a boy, then he can tell people that he's so masculine that he got a boy when he wanted a girl; and if it's a girl, then he got what he wanted. So either way, he wins! Honestly, it just makes me so glad that he is showing some excitement because he didn't really know what to think at the beginning of the pregnancy. I can't blame him because we didn't have the details all worked out...still don't...of how we could afford the baby. He was in denial for a little while, refusing to act like I was really pregnant until I had my first prenatal visit and had been "medically diagnosed" as pregnant. Then he reached the acceptance stage, but now I see him turning around to the excitement stage, and it makes me all the more excited for what's to come.

So, Little Peanut, today is the last day before I know how to picture you, but don't worry. No matter whether you're a boy or a girl, we still love you the same. I hope you will know that your mommy and daddy are excited to meet you. See you tomorrow on the ultrasound screen. I really hope you cooperate for the nice sonographer, so be good! Now, that doesn't mean you can't jump around a kick and stuff. You can have fun in there! See you soon!