Our latest sonogram

This is our baby boy at 23w5d.


I think he's flipping us off.

But everything looks good otherwise. Yay.

We're having a boy!

Okay, I'll admit that I've known this for quite a while. In fact, we’ve known since the 13w check-up that we’re having a boy. Well, we’ve known since we first got pregnant that we’re having a boy, but the ultrasound tech confirmed it at 13w. And we actually kept the secret. Can you believe it?

Anyhow, we were in for our routine visit at 13w, the one where the tech checked for Down Syndrome by looking at the baby’s neck (the NT test). The tech (a guy) was chatting with us to put us at ease (I was quite worried about our risk factor). He asked if we were planning on finding out the baby’s sex. We told him that we were. He asked if we wanted to know now (then). My stomach jumped a little, and we told him that we did. He told us that it was a boy. I asked him how he could tell. He said — and this is almost a verbatim quote — “because of the giant penis”.

Well now… it seems that our baby has a giant penis! SM should be proud.

Anyway, we were still a little skeptical, giant penis aside, so we wanted to wait until another ultrasound when the baby was further along to really confirm it. Unfortunately Li’l Pea didn’t cooperate at 16 weeks, but we've had two more sonograms since -- and he is definitely a boy. One tech even said he was "a proud boy" (another comment on his giant penis?).

Maybe we’ll have to change his nickname. ”Li’l Pea” just doesn’t seem appropriate anymore somehow.

Some historical perspective

On the baby's gender, that is...

As everyone knows, we are going to find out the sex of the baby, as soon as the baby lets us. Both SM and I believe our kidlet is a boy. Most everyone else seems to think the baby is a girl. As one friend said, she pictures me with a girl — but then she went on to say, “But I’m always wrong, so that means it’s probably a boy.”

But here’s some food for thought. If you look at the biological parents of each generation, we seem to have a bit of a family tradition: first-born boys.
* SM's and my generation, circa the late 1960s: both sides (two families), our parents’ first-born were boys — SM, my brother
* Our parents’ generation, circa the late 1930s: both sides (four families), our grandparents’ first-born were boys — SM's uncles J. and C., my dad and my mom’s older brother J. who died as an infant
* Our grandparents’ generation, circa 1910: okay, this is where some first-born were girls

I find it curious that we have to go back one hundred years, literally, before you can find a first-born girl on either side. I believe that my maternal grandparents were both younger siblings of first-born daughters. I’m not sure about my dad’s grandparents or SM's side.

So it’s a tradition for both of our families: first-born boys since the early 1900s.

I wonder if this observation will change anyone's mind to thinking we're having a boy...?

The great expansion...

of my wardrobe and my waist.

Yes, today, for the first time ever, I am wearing maternity jeans, one of two pairs of pants I have with a belly band. I don't really look pregnant yet (just fat); I'm in that awkward place where my clothes are tight, but I'm also not really big enough for maternity yet. And even though the jeans are the right size, they don't quite fit...yet. They keep sliding down because neither my butt nor my belly are big enough to keep them up! I know that will change in the coming weeks, but for now, I have to keep hiking them up because I can't exactly wear a belt with them. Hmm, maybe suspenders? LOL.

But these jeans are a welcome relief from the pinching my belly has been getting from the waistband of my pants. Even when I wear the stretch knit pants below my belly, they still press on my pelvis. It's so nice to be this comfortable in clothes that I can actually wear outside of the house.

I can totally see how I'm gonna wanna keep wearing these pants long after the baby comes. All-you-can-eat buffet? I'm in. Just let me get my favorite jeans!

Told folks at work

That I've got one in the oven. When I told my boss, a look of panic spread over his face, but then he smiled.

Of course, everyone that I told (about 1/3 the office) was very happy and supportive. I told them all that mum's the word (um, literally!) and asked them not to spill the beans to anyone else.

We'll see who blabs inappropriately first. I'm betting it will be my boss. Seriously. ::sigh::

Best reaction yet

We've started to tell our families about the baby. We decided to do it all over Christmas (when we'd see people in person) using Christmas presents. As predicted, both my and SM's dad were kinda thick about figuring it out. Took them a while to get it. But SM's aunt (his mother's younger sister) had the best reaction by far so far.

We gave my dad a picture frame that spelled out B-A-B-Y. In the picture part, we wrote, "Grandma & Grandpa -- See you in July!" He thought it was a frame for my niece (who just turned one). It took my stepmother looking at it and then looking at us for confirmation to get it. Silly dad. SM's dad was similarly dense. We gave him a book "Memories for my Grandchild" that has all sorts of prompts for the grandfather to fill in details about his life for the grandchild. On the cover of the book, under the words "Memories for my Grandchild", we put a sticky-note that said "ETA July 2011". He didn't get it. SM's brother-in-law did, however, and told us, "Congratulations!" That's when SM's dad got it.

As for SM's aunt, we decided to tell her covertly by giving her a framed picture of Gidget. She is an animal NUT; she has more pictures in her living room of her various pets over the years than her children, and she loves Gidget even though she's never met her (go figure). The picture said "Only child" in large print under Gidget's face, and in smaller print, to the side, it said "Until July".

When SM's aunt opened the present, unfortunately, the glass in the frame had broken so she couldn't get a good look at it. I had to prompt her to really read what it said. At first, she was confused and wondering if what she thought we were telling her was in fact what we were telling her. Then she half whispered, "You're pregnant?" When we confirmed, she shrieked -- and I mean SHRIEKED -- for at least 30 seconds straight. Then she burst into tears and was beside herself, alternately mumbling and covering her face, for several minutes.

Even funnier were other's reactions to SM's aunt (who is well known to be melodramatic). A couple of people didn't catch on why she was going berserk, so they were just confused and probably shocked at all the hysterics. SM's aunt kept saying, "We're having a baby! We're having a baby!" Then it became, "I'm having a baby!" (Silly me for thinking this was more about me/SM!) LOL. Then I kept thinking -- hmm, none of our other Christmas presents are going to be nearly as good as that, so she may as well quit opening them now! It was great fun for us, though.

When SM's dad came to pick us up later, SM's aunt went up to him, gave him a hug and said, "We're having a baby!" He kinda did a double-take and then laughed. She also told us she was going to come down to DC when the baby came and move in with us to help out.

I'm just glad she didn't invite herself into the delivery room!

Another interesting, but not nearly as dramatic, reaction was SM's grandfather. When SM told him that we were having a baby and expressed our cautious excitement (because of my "advanced maternal age"), SM's grandfather started comparing our pregnancy to George Bush's experience, that George and Laura were trying to have children but were almost ready to give up and try adoption when they got pregnant with their twins, etc. SM's grandfather (a staunch R, can you tell?) then went off on a tangent about what a wonderful man W. is, etc. SM's grandmother kept trying to steer him back by saying, "I think we should be talking about SM, not George Bush." But SM's grandfather would not be deterred easily. He wanted to tell SM all about W. Ahh, grandparents! LOL. But, of course, they were very happy and excited for us.

Hi Guys!!!

I'm sorry for the long absence, even after my teaser post a few weeks ago. I do have stuff to blog about, and I've been wrestling with how to much to tell.

Ya' see... we learned some news about a month ago, and we've been keeping it mostly under our hats. Haven't even told our families yet...

So on the one hand, I feel terribly guilty about letting the cat out of the bag here, before telling my fam. And I've also been terribly anxious... and superstitious and, therefore, cautious. But, on the other hand, I'm just about bursting..

I'm sure you can guess what I'm getting at. And you're right.

As of December 15th (one month after finding out), I am now 9 weeks preggers. Yup, I'm with child. Got a bun in the oven. Knocked up.

Way to go, SM!!!

Given my age (and this being the first kidlet to be hatched), I spent the first month worrying incessantly about everything. It got to the point where I had to tell someone because the anxiety was just overwhelming. That's why I came back to my hibernating blog. I needed an outlet, but couldn't discuss it with the usual suspects. But you'll keep my secret, right? We aren't broadcasting this yet, and we aren't telling the fam (except my mom) until next week. It's going to be a Christmas surprise for our families. So, shhhhh!

What made for the change from anxiety to excitement? I had my 9 week check-up on Wednesday, and the sonogram showed that Li'l Pea (making SM Li'l Pea Daddy) is doing his thing on schedule. At the prior 6 week picture-fest, he wasn't quite where he should have been -- thus the crazy worry. And believe me, I know how to worry. Now that he's back on track with a good heartrate, I feel more reassured and am actually starting to feel excited about our future tax deduction!

So that's my big news. I don't intend to spend the rest of my blogging life talking about all the fun things involved in being pregnant, but I am finally interested and excited about writing again. Yay!

And here's a picture of Li'l Pea, who is due to make an appearance on July 20th.