"A Perfectly Healthy Baby"

Despite various nightmares the night before of running late, missing my appointment, and begging various siblings to go with me to see the baby, Tuesday morning saw Patrick and I on our way to the Perinatal Center to have my 19 week ultrasound! True, we were . . . a little late.

My efforts to push for timeliness failed to foresee half an inch of ice coating every exposed part of our car. Unfortunately, my pleas of "Come ON, Honey! I would drive with the car like this!" after small holes had been scraped into the ice on each window got me only eye rolls from my husband. Yes our vehicle was much safer by the time he finally finished, but we were five minutes late. Thankfully, it seemed that everyone was running a little behind, and our slight tardiness was not a problem.

Before leaving our house, I had poured myself some lemonade in the hopes that the sugar would energize my little mango so that we could determine the sex. I really didn't drink very much, but the baby moved and squirmed throughout the entire procedure. I was beginning to get slightly concerned that we would not be able to discover the sex: we were in there for a LONG time before the technician finally managed to find and snap a quick shot of the underside of our baby's already cute little bottom.

"I know what THAT is!" Patrick exclaimed. "It's a GIRL!"

He amazed the technician with his ability to correctly ascertain the sex without her even having to point anything out. Apparently this was some feat. Sure enough, it WAS a girl!!!

Throughout the rest of the ultrasound, I watched the screen in kind of a daze. I had secretly hoped for a little girl--cute little dresses, ruffle-butt leggings, and floral headbands filled my mind. Don't get me wrong: a boy would have been AWESOME! But, as one used to living in a house full of women, a tiny little part of me wanted a girl that we could all dress up and love on.

All of this was super exciting, and it left me filled with praise for God. After all that I went through early in my pregnancy with bleeding and bed rest, He has given me what the doctor called "a perfectly healthy little girl" so far. All of our prayers were answered in a tremendously happy way, and we are both so thankful to the One who has given it all to us.