20 weeks!

Yesterday was officially the half-way mark in our wait to meet this sweet little baby!  Although the first trimester seemed to drag along at a ridiculous pace, the last eight weeks really have flown by.

20 weeks pregnant with Ben- December 2010

20 weeks pregnant now!

Yesterday we had our first sonogram.  Praise the Lord that this little one looks to be in great shape.

"Hi, sweet baby!"

I had to snap this picture of my unwavering, supportive husband.  Tim is there for me (and the baby!) every step of the way, despite his intense aversion to hospitals.  Sometimes I catch him rubbing his head and I get a little nervous, but he hasn't passed out yet!

   

We left our appointment with lots of pictures of this little baby, but one major question remains...

 

We have gone back and forth about whether or not to find out if this baby is a boy or a girl.  Our original plan was to wait until the baby was born.  With Ben, I just had to know.  I was having so much trouble imagining us with a baby that being able to fill in details ahead of time really helped me bond with him and feel prepared for what was coming.  We had the sonogram tech write Ben's gender in a sealed envelope and we took it to breakfast after our appointment and opened it together, just Tim and me.  It was a sweet, intimate moment that we still remember often, and I truly don't feel like we missed out on anything by finding out early.

This baby feels different, though.  Now that I can anticipate how it will cause our world and our hearts to explode with love, I feel much less concerned about the gender, the name, etc. So, we planned to wait...

When we made the decision to wait, we were planning to move and I intended to just set up a neutral nursery in the new house.  Things have changed in the last few months, and we're staying put.  Our nursery currently looks like this...

Cars and trucks and buses and motorcycles everywhere!

Still, I reasoned that the baby doesn't actually sleep in the nursery for the first several months, so if this baby is a girl I will just re-do things after she arrives.  That plan sounded great until a few friends who actually have more than one child informed me that the last thing I will have the time or energy to do when I have a newborn and a toddler is re-decorate a nursery. I can see that...

So, we decided to find out.  We went back and forth a few times (neither of us felt really strongly one way or the other) and ultimately decided just to make things easier for ourselves in the long run and go for it.  If this baby is a boy, we really won't have to do much except buy some tiny diapers and change the name over the crib (which would require us to agree on another little boy name, which may never happen...). If this baby is a girl both the room and the wardrobe will need an overhaul, and I think taking some of that on now will make me less insane, emotional, overwhelmed, weepy allow us to relax and enjoy the baby after it arrives.

At yesterday's ultrasound we had the tech write the baby's gender in an envelope and seal it up for us.  Our plan is to open it on Christmas morning, which we think will be so special and memorable!  What a great Christmas surprise.    We've had the envelope in our possession for 31 hours, and so far so good!

 

 

  Just nine and a half days to go!