Thursday, September 16, 2010

Hearts A'Fire

The 20-week ultrasound has come and gone. I can't believe it was yesterday. It was a thrill to see Cherry's heart and spine and feet. Oh the feet! They are so cute. The baby was wiggling and wiggling all during the ultrasound so it took a while. We even had to see 2 different technicians, because the first one was having trouble getting the picture of the heart she wanted. It was a little nervewracking, because I was wondering if there was something troubling she saw, but mostly it was surreal and serene to sit there in the dark watching the four chambers of the heart pump, pump, pump.

We told the office our gender party plans and created a little buzz of excitement. It's a busy office in downtown Chicago, so I figured they had seen it all; heard it all. I think we were the first gender party for them, though. I made a little envelope and a worksheet for the doctor to check the box for boy or girl. The u/s tech provided a picture of the private parts to stick in the envelope. Jeff dropped me off at work after the appointment and I have no idea where that envelope is now.

I can't wait until our party on Saturday! We are going to have our guests sign in on the gigantic white envelope that holds the gender information. The sign in is also a prediction: If you think it's a boy, you have to sign in blue pen on the right side; if you think it's a girl, you have to sign in on the left side with a pink pen. Jeff is going to set up the tripod to capture our reaction. He wants us to open the envelope and read it to everyone. I was sort of picturing someone reading it to us, but Jeff makes a good point: He wants us to know first, even if it's literally about .0001 seconds before the party goers.

This morning when Sadie and were eating breakfast together, and with Sadie, let's use the very loose meaning of eating, I was picturing her with a sister, and then with a brother. I have visions of us all snuggling on the couch under a blanket, but Sadie really has only been up for that type of sedentary activity when she had a fever of 102, so I should probably just be open minded and undertand the difference between fantasy and reality.

I have visions of the baby's nursery. Large swaths of color and not too much clutter. For some reason I am visualizing deep purple and sunflower yellow. I have no idea where that is coming from, but it seems fresh and bold. Not sure how that translates to a baby, but there are worse things than a fresh or bold baby.

People have asked me if I looked at the screen when the baby's images were there. Honestly, we were there for so long and I am so committed to finding out the gender on Saturday, that I wasn't looking for anatomical cues about gender. I was really more interested in fingers and umbilical cords and heartbeats. At one point, pretty early into the session, the tech said, "he's squirming away from me." I am tempted to believe that means she saw the boy bits and slipped out with the gender pronoun. But, she told Jeff, a few minutes later when I went to empty my aching bladder, that she didn't know the gender yet. She looks at baby parts all day long so she probably saw a few boys yesterday, but it doesn't mean she saw my baby as a boy.

In any case, we will find out soon enough.

I can't wait to get my decorate on!

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