Friday, March 6, 2009

Girly Girl

So, it looks like we very well may be having a girl in the family come August. I really had no expectations of what kind of child I wanted before this time. Given the 85% chance we have that the baby we saw on the screen yesterday is of female orientation, it's all making sense now.

Yesterday was a crazy busy day (sorry to any of you who wanted more info or a phonecall - it was just impossible.) I got up and got Soren ready for school, dropped him off at school, ran home and made a fairly complicated cake in just the exact amount of minutes I had to get back in the car and go to Cal Poly for the first appointment of the day. From that appointment we had just enough time to stop at Jamba Juice, pick up a smoothie to share on the way to our ultrasound appointment. From there we had just 45 minutes to get something to eat, open the card that told us what the tech thought we were having, talk about it and make copies of the ultrasound pics. We then got back in the car, headed to Cal Poly for the third time to have a Parent/Teacher conference with Soren's teacher. It went longer than expected, so Karl took Soren downtown while I rushed home, made the filling for the cake, frosted the three layers, garnished it with blackberries, got changed and rushed out the door to my mom's birthday dinner at the Apple Farm. We were there until 8:15, so by the time we got home Soren was a crazy tired child and we were both beat. We went to bed at 9.

Soooo, back to the ultrasound appointment. We saw the same tech who determined our first baby died at 14 weeks, and I was a sobbing mess on her table. She's also the one who told us that Soren was most definitely a boy too. Now she's the one who is giving us the 85% probability that we're having ourselves a girl this time. We've come full circle with this super sweet woman.

I found out that my placenta is on the anterior side of my uterus (translation for all you non-anatomy taking people...it's on the front of me) which makes TOTAL sense because the movements I feel with this baby are way different than what I felt with Soren. I was starting to think that my baby was paralyzed because I wasn't feeling any kicks yet. Turns out there's just a big cushion between my belly and the baby. She had a strong heartbeat of 145 bpm and didn't enjoy the ultrasound too much (who would??) She was moving a lot and kicking her little legs up - I must admit, pretty cute. She is lying sideways in my belly which is a relief since Sor-Dog was wedged head down at my ultrasound (17 weeks) and stayed put till he was born. Yeah, not fun. The tech couldn't get a great look at the genitals because she (we think) was curled up so tightly. She tried a few things and finally told us that she could only give us a percentage of how sure she was. That pretty much gave it away for us. We asked her to write her findings down on a card that I gave her so that we could open it during lunch. We got to our restaurant, ordered our food and I handed the card to Karl so he could open it. I saw the words right when he pulled out the velum paper...."GIRL!"

I guess this is why I have not been feeling so terrified of having a girl. Before I got pregnant the thought would almost make me sick to my stomach. I could not imagine having to raise a girl, which I know is unusual and not many of my friends understood this. I did not want a girl after I found out I was pregnant, I was just feeling like it wouldn't be the end of the world. Looking back, it makes sense that I was more sick if I'm pregnant with a girl. Karl and I talked about how this is probably the best scenario for the situation we're in. Having our boy first and girl second. They'll be close enough in age to have a good relationship but he'll be able to be protective of her. Plus, I feel like it's better for my heart knowing that this is a new kind of pregnancy and baby. Not like I'm just having to do the same thing times two. Also, we're realizing that this very well may be the end of our babymaking days so it feels complete to end with a boy and a girl. No matter what percentage the tech gave us, I truly feel like it's a girl now because of all the factors that are adding up (we still have to think of boy names just in case though.)

Sorry for the rambling, just trying to give details that couldn't come yesterday in the short time I have during a nap. Now I must feed myself and my little GIRL...yikes.

8 comments:

skylana said...

im so happy for you and karl... and me and flo! hahah.. but really, you are our best friend and im glad we'll have that bond of having some kids that are the same sex. you're going to be an amazing mother for this girl, i know it... and imagine how cute soren is with nola... he will be the cutest big brother for a little lady. ... karl will be cool too ;) love you guys.

The Talley Family said...

Congrats!! I'm so excited for you all! Soren will be a great big brother. Girls are lots of fun...but I'm sure boys are too. Someday I might know what it's like to have a boy...until then I will have to just enjoy my two girly girls.

Annie+Seth said...

Wow, this is so great! Congrats guys. I glad to read you're feeling good about all this. Post a belly pic one of these days!

meg said...

to come full circle like that with your ultrasound story is really amazing. congratulations again, I can't wait to hear who the new edition ends up being.

Fig+Sage said...

I love your little girl (or boy) already! Boy or girl though...let the spoiling begin (for me of course) ;) Love you!

Ryan said...

Girls are fun. Lundeens are fun. So, either the fun will multiply for a double-fun Lundeen girl, or they'll cancel each other out and she'll be, well ... our baby will still play with her.

Julie said...

So fun reading all your posts!! Thank you for your honesty in opening up in your posts. I feel like you are right here next to me telling me some of your story. Glad to hear that you are most likely having a little girl. We definitely want to have at least one of each, so how fun and exciting. I am actually 14 weeks along, so I got a little shaken up after reading your post, but I know everyone has a different story to tell and I have to be at peace with that. I pray that you continue to have a wonderful pregnancy.

Erin said...

Woah, how bad am I about responding to my blog comments??

Thanks to everyone who shared their excitement about our news! After going through half of this pregnancy already and just now starting to feel like this is real...I have some excitement of my own to catch up on.

Skylana - I know. I can't even imagine how cute Soren is going to be with a baby sister. Except when he does things like push little girls down when they try to take his toy cell phone. Scary.

Annie - I am the worst about getting pictures of myself. Seriously, the last picture I have of me is probably 5 months ago. I will get on the belly posts soon though...promise. :)

Meg - I was thinking the same thing as I was looking at the tech from the table. For a second it was hard to tell which year I was in. Thankful that this time around there was no sadness or worry. Just awe.

S - I think you get the "Best Auntie Ever Award"...funny that you already knew she was a girl.

Ryan - I hope our girl is fun, but not too fun. I've already got all the fun I can handle right now. I'm going for words like "peaceful", "mellow", and "cuddly". Thanks for being open to whatever kind of kid we end up having. We love the Millers!

Julie - Thanks for stopping by the neglected personal blog! You are right, every one has their own story and God has a plan for each and every child (born or unborn.) You are wise for trusting that and knowing you are doing the best you can to grow that little one in the safest way you can. Don't let anyone's story scare you because everyone's path is different for a reason. Enjoy your first pregnancy!