Sweet News

A couple of days ago I hit my 20 week mark, which also meant that last week we were able to have an ultrasound and find out if we are going to have a boy or girl! I was SO anxious to find out. I felt like that would be a big turning point for me in feeling like it was all real, and starting to visualize a real baby. Before we found out, I was getting very tired of saying "he or she" or "it" because that felt so wrong. 

So without further delay... we found out that we have a little 

GIRL inside of me!!!

Out of my family (my husband, parents, siblings and their spouses), only 3 of them guessed right (including Bryndon)! At work, the majority of my coworkers also guessed that it would be a boy. I had them write down their guesses. I wondered why... was it trendy to say "boy"? Am I giving off masculine vibes? Am I just not girly enough for them to imagine me with a precious little girl? Who knows... The funny thing is that I also guessed that it would be a boy--not because of any strong feeling or spiritual prompting, but just because I thought it would be. Even when the ultrasound tech was about to tell us, I thought, "It's going to be a boy." I did have several dreams about babies before then, most of which had baby boys in them, but I did have a number of dreams with baby girls too, so I didn't have anything significant to base my guess from.

Anyway, we are SO thrilled and happy, and anxious to meet her!! I LOVE being able to say "she" as we talk about her, pray for her, and tell people about her. She is moving around quite a bit, and Bryndon felt her kick even as early as a couple of weeks ago! I think it's pretty rare that someone else can feel a kick externally on your belly that early on. We have two hypotheses: either she has Bryndon's huge feet (poor girl) or she is just full of energy and is a strong baby! I hope it's the latter. :) It makes me happy to feel her moving around because it reminds me all the time of what a huge blessing she is to us, and that she must be strong and healthy.

Last night I felt what we assume was my first Braxton Hicks contraction. I woke up in the middle of the night (as usual) to go to the bathroom, slipped gently off the bed, and when I put my weight on the floor, I felt a pretty sharp pain all through my belly that lasted until after I got back into bed and laid their for a while. It was interesting and a little scary because I didn't know what it was at first. I figured if it didn't go away then I'd wake up Bryndon, and luckily it was gone after about 5 minutes or so of lying there. I looked up BH on the web tonight to see what I found and there are plenty of people writing about how they felt them at 20 weeks or sooner. Apparently for some people they don't feel them at all even though they happen all the time after the first trimester, and for others they just feel their belly tightening, and still others feel stronger "discomfort" with the contractions. I can't use the word pain, apparently, because "these don't even compare to the real thing," according to Bryndon. I'm going to pray that my real labor contractions won't be much worse, especially if they're continuous over many hours. :( 

I think I must be a wimp!

We bought a crib and a little baby backpack thing so far, and we'll probably be doing more shopping in the next 6 weeks as Bryndon is in a relatively calm rotation. After that I'll hardly see him for the next 6 weeks of his Surgery rotation, which is supposed to be the hardest. I have a feeling time is going to continue to move slowly through the rest of my pregnancy, because I'm barely past half way! It's hard to believe. (Except for the fact that I've been gaining quite a lot of weight and my clothes don't fit anymore...)

We are so happy about our little girl!!!