Gender Reveal (Finally!)

   Yesterday I took these pictures after feeling impatient and really wanting to meet our baby. Partly because Lindsey was sending me all these cute pictures of when Luke was born (we were discussing how we like when babies are born with hair). I am trying to enjoy every day during this pregnancy and luckily for me most of it has been very easy, but sometimes I want to give Chip a big hug. Only 15 and 1/2 weeks left now - if the July 2nd due date is correct and my pregnancy is not prolonged an extra two weeks like my birth was. I've heard that is common for a lot of first babies. The only new minor.. "symptom" isn't even the right word.. adjustment (?) is that I am more aware of needing to sit up straight since my bump has grown and slouching is now uncomfortable. 

   Then I sent a picture of more lists that I made (questions to ask the daycares we toured) to my work friend Kristen because she mentioned how my brain never stops scrambling for answers. It's true. She even got me a small baby shower gift basket including Dr. Seuss's book "Oh the Thinks you can Think" and specifically told me, "I got you this book because you think too much."

   This morning I was complaining a lot about how cold it was: 45 degrees outside and 65 degrees in the house. I was mainly "upset" because for the past month (?) it has been in the 70's and 80's, so why the heck did it suddenly flip back to being so cold? And my clothes were icy since our closet gets zero heat. #HardLife (Insert a book of orphan photos to slap myself out of all the whining.) I got ready later because I kept snuggling back in bed. Michael said, "If we leave now we can stop by Dunkin Donuts". I previously told him that I had been advised by my co-workers who are moms to eat a sugary breakfast today to get Chip moving. However leaving "right now" ended up being at least 5 minutes later since Sasha hadn't been out (also still snuggling under the warm covers) and I had to put my shoes on. We stood in line for a few minutes, but left before ordering since it was 8:18 and Chip's doctor appointment was at 8:30. I at least had my chocolate instant breakfast to drink in the car with about 10 peanut M&Ms. 

   Attempting to change my negative focus in the hospital parking lot, Michael said, "Think about Mia and all the times she has to stand in colder weather than this waiting for the train" (which she takes to get to work in Denver).

   I answered quickly, "Yeah, but she doesn't have a bad attitude like I do right now. The sunshine in her heart keeps her warm." I love you, best friend! 

   We waited in the lobby for at least 15 minutes before I got weighed and my blood pressure checked as always. Ten minutes after that we got called back for the ultrasound. Right when we walked in (we've had a different technician every time), I told the girl, "So no pressure but we still haven't been able to find out the gender and we really want to. What's your name?"

   "Kristen," she told us.

   "Great. If you can tell us, we'll name the baby after you," I said.

   She said we could use Christian for a boy because sometimes people call her that for some reason.

She seriously had only rubbed the scanner over my stomach for about three seconds, and bluntly pointed out, "Yeah, that's a vagina."

   I instantly looked at Michael to see his reaction. He told me that last night he had a dream that we found out it was a girl (his mom told us) and he cried from being so happy. But neither of us cried in real life, we were just happy. He was smiling a lot when we walked out of the office.

   "Yay! Baby Kristen it is!" I exclaimed jokingly to the technician. Then we told her we already had a name picked out for a girl: Emma McKenzie. 

   Then I busted out laughing when Kristen tried to get a good updated picture of her face, but we just got this creepy precious teddy bear face smile. Better than the usual looks of bother! Her heart rate was 162 BPM today.

   For the past five years (up until about two months ago while eating at Macaroni Grill and writing names on the table) we had talked about using the name Ailyn McKenzie. Ailyn -according to the Star Wars database "Wookiepedia" -is Boba Fett's granddaughter (Michael thought it was his daughter). Emma was always the name we liked for a second girl, but after deciding he only wants one kid, Michael suggested we name Chip Emma instead and I was perfectly fine with that.

   My doctor told us that the spot in the brain went away (the one that they thought might-maybe-could be Trisomy 18). She labeled it as "no choroid cyst seen". Michael told my doctor that he had been really worried about it, which I was unaware of. He later told me that he had looked up a lot about it -which is exactly what he tells me not to do- and talked to his mom about it. So she cried with relief today when he assured her that everything was good and that Chip is a healthy baby girl. So far everyone has told us that they love the name Emma McKenzie. 

   The doctor also said that my weight gain was good (probably bc of the 4 layers I was wearing) and measured my uterus which came to 23 inches vertically. She said that was "about right" for me being 24 weeks and 4 days pregnant. We told her about our upcoming trip to the North Georgia mountains. She said it was fine, but to stop frequently so I can walk around and to not cross my legs to avoid blood clots. I'm now realizing that's something I should definitely be more aware of at work, sitting down for most of 12 hours. Next month I have to take the glucose test and get a Rhogam shot for having O Negative blood, as well as one for whooping cough/ tetanus so the antibodies get passed along to the baby. 

   After the appointment we had a breakfast date inside Chick Fil A, then drove to our first daycare tour. We both like that one the best and will be enrolling Emma there starting at the end of September. After that we went to Publix for gender reveal balloons & cupcakes with pink frosting. I told Michael that it was kind of nice that I had forgotten my phone at home because for 2 hours we were the only ones who knew Chip is a girl (plus the sonogram tech, our doctor, the bakery woman, and the balloon guy). 

   I did grab my phone when we dropped the balloons off before going to the second and third daycare tours. Then we came back half-napped, and took the gender reveal pictures. I originally planned to wear this dress, but with it still being around 50 degrees, I kept my comfortable layers on. And of course I couldn't finish the "gender reveal day" without finally buying a few girly pieces of clothing for our daughter! 

   So since we have this baby girl's name and I often felt like Shrimp was a boy, I am unofficially naming him Christian Bellamy. Michael agreed that it was a good idea. That was the name we had picked out last year before I got pregnant again. However we did talk about changing it if we found out Chip was a boy, but Michael said we didn't need to discuss it unless it was. (Sorry in advance, Shrimp, if you're a girl. We'll find out eventually when we get to Heaven with you.)