It's a...

BOY!!!!!!!!!!

Our big u/s was yesterday at 3:30 pm and I was 18w5d along. I was so anxious all day long that it was all I could think about. I drank a can of Mountain Dew and ate a small bag of Peanut Butter M&M's to make sure Baby V. was awake and active...we didn't want the baby to be camera shy! We were scheduled for about 30 minutes with the u/s tech and then my doctor's appointment was immediately following, but we ended up being in there for 45 minutes! After the regular u/s, she needed to do a transvaginal one to check the length of my cervix, which looks great, so no cerclage needed for me! Hooray!


She did a bunch of measurements of the head and abdomen, and I swear, after what felt like an eternity (but was probably only about 15 minutes), she pointed the u/s wand underneath the baby's bottom to get a view with it's legs spread, and there they were, boy parts! I had a hard time seeing them, since the tiny u/s screen was on the wall 10 ft across the room from where I was laying on the table, and I kept saying, "I can't see it!". Of course, she and DH could both see it because they had a screen right behind my head that was only a foot away from them! Once she did a still shot, it was clear as day. Definitely all boy as you can see!


It was a little bit of a shock to DH and I because we were completely convinced that we were having a girl. I don't know why, but we just got it ingrained in our heads somehow. Everyone else we knew seemed to think it was going to be a girl too. I don't want to say that I was disappointed when we found out, but I think I was just so surprised that the news required me to reframe my thoughts a little bit, that's all. I am absolutely thrilled that we have a healthy and active baby and truly, that's all that matters.


The u/s tech did all of the measurements and everything appears to be on healthy and on track. My fluid levels look good. Our little man was measuring 3 days ahead at 19w1d and weighed approximately 10 oz. He was incredibly active from all that sugar I fed him! There were moments when she had to keep doing the measurements over and over again because he was moving so much and she couldn't get them! Haha. He put his hands up near his face a few times and it looked like he put them in his mouth. It was so adorable! She measured the femur bones, which looked really cool on the screen. DH's favorite part was watching the 4 chambers of the heart beating. We saw the unavoidable creepy Skeletor shot when she looked at his face from straight on. So weird! The profile pictures are much cuter. She recorded a DVD of him moving all around that is about 3 minutes long and printed out a few pictures. We watched the DVD as soon as we got home, and it ends at the cutest part ever...our little man poses and puts his little hand underneath his chin! So precious! He has the most adorable little nose (hopefully mine, sorry DH) and lips I've ever seen.


DH and I were torn on the boy name before we found out. It was either going to be Braden Christopher (my #1) or Carter Aden (DH's #1). Over the weekend, we talked about it, and he said that he was 90% sure that he wanted to go with Braden. Woo hoo! After we saw him, DH was completely sure that he wanted to call him Braden. I'm still a bit unsure. I don't know why. I guess it's because I was 110% positive on the girl name that I had chosen that it's been the only name in my head! I think I just need to ponder and reflect on the boy name a little more, but I'm definitely about 95% sure on it right now. I'm debating spelling it with a "y" or not (Brayden). What do you think?

One interesting thing to share about a discussion that DH and I had after we left the doctor's office...Before we got married, DH had told me that he only wanted to have one baby whenever he got married (in addition to his son from a previous relationship). I always wanted to have 3 children, but I told him that I could compromise at having only 2 babies since we already had my SS, which made it equal out to 3 children total. After we got married, DH said that after our first child, if I really wanted another (which I knew I would), he would be okay with having another one, even though it really wasn't his preference (that was his compromise). Well, he told me yesterday after our appointment that he knows it was God's will for us to have this boy first, because if it had been a girl, he admitted to me that he was really going to put up a fight when the conversation came around in a few years about having baby #2! I had no idea that was going on in his head! I just thought we had already decided and compromised on 2 babies. He truly wants to have a daughter someday, so he told me that having a boy first pretty much just guaranteed my shot at having a second baby! Haha. It's amazing how God works sometimes! He knows our hearts, and knew that DH was having those thoughts, even though I had no idea. But He also knows the desire of my heart, which is to be pregnant more than once in my life. God is so good!