Wholly Outnumbered!

   It has taken me a few days to get it together and post about our big ultrasound!!  Three days ago, we went for our Level II 20 week ultrasound in Lexington.  I was 20 weeks exactly.  I hardly slept the night before, though only partially because I was anxious about the upcoming ultrasound.  Carl and I took the girls with us, and they were (mostly) very well behaved and very curious about what was going on!  The technician was amazing and explained everything she was measuring and taking pictures of.  She'd say, "there's the baby's hand, or head, or kidneys, etc, etc."  Thankfully, the tech was able to get great pictures of the baby's heart and it looked completely normal!  My husband has a sister who died as a newborn from complications of a congenital heart defect.  Because it is hereditary, and despite the fact that Carl is healthy, he could still potentially pass on this defect to our children!  Since I have a decent medical background, I had huge tears rolling down my face as the technician scanned and measured the baby's heart.  I could see all four chambers and all four valves working away!  I could see the blood flow coloring going in all the appropriate places!  It was truly a relief!  The baby measured right on schedule, not effecting the due date at all!  The last pictures the technician printed for us were between the baby's legs.  She said, "I'll bet mom and dad know what those three white lines mean!  Its a girl!" 





Here is a picture of her profile!  It reminds me of

 what Lilly's looked like when I was pregnant with her!

   I have to be honest here, and I know this sort of opinion is usually scoffed at.  I was really hoping this baby was a boy.  I actually don't mind the idea of having three daughters, in fact, I am really looking forward to it!  Its just that we are pretty much done having children and it was very sad for me to think that I will never have a son.  I felt guilty for feeling disappointed in any way, because she was beautiful, healthy and perfect!  But emotions are emotions, and to say I was thrilled Tuesday afternoon wouldn't be honest.   I am just sad I may never have a mommy's little boy.  It wasn't an easy afternoon for me, but a few days and a little perspective really helps.  Also, buying her an adorable girly newborn cloth diaper really helped me bond more with the idea of having baby girl #3!!  My husband was outnumbered before, but now, wholly outnumbered!  Tonight, he was leaving to go camping with my brothers for a bachelor celebration, and my girls were both begging him to stay home and giving him teary puppy dog eyes.  They both adore him, and he said, "how could you not want three of these little adoring fans?"  He makes my heart melt!  He is, however, already planning his basement room next door to the existing man cave so he can retreat when the girls are teens and its "that time of the month"!  Also, there has been much discussion between Lilly and Ryley about whether the baby will have brown eyes or blue!  This is the tie breaker we are all going to be looking forward to! 

   After a few days of discussion, we've settled on a name.  Circumstances caused us to change our girl name choice earlier in the pregnancy.  Despite that, she was easier to name than Ryley was.  We started calling the baby this sooner than we were ready to say, this is definitely her name!  I wish I was a "surprise" kind of girl, and we could keep the name to ourselves until she was born, but I just can't do it!  Tiny and perfect, Avery Pearl will join our family sometime in February or March, and I am really looking forward to meeting her!