Drum roll please.....

And here my friends, is your very first look at our lil' baby GIRL! We couldn't be more excited. She is measuring a few days ahead of the expected due date which means she is growing healthy and strong! She's just a few days past 20 weeks which means half cooked! Not to my surprise she was busy doing gymnastics while the technician was trying to get the appropriate footage of her, looks like this one is going to keep us on our toes! I couldn't have asked for a better technician but she was killing me with the suspense. I wanted to be polite and allow her to do her job. I let her know at the beginning of the appointment that we wanted to know the gender and she definitely savored the power of suspense. Right before we ended she said "oh yeah, you were interested in the gender" as if it had slipped her mind... We weren't hoping for one over the other but we are so glad to know that we are going to be the proud parents of a perfect little girl.

I barely slept last night, the anticipation was killing me. The appointment was at 8:30 and I was up by 6:45. I followed the 'pre ultrasound instructions' and then took a shower and got ready to go to the doctor. I thought I'd be ready to go with time to spare (as is usually the case for me) but found that it was a quarter after 8 by the time I was ready. ACK! I believe this 'where did the time go' phenomena has only just begun. My first glimpse of her was indescribable. This was the first, and most likely the only, ultra sound of the pregnancy and it was such a joy to see our little baby in there. When I finally stopped crying I was able to just lay back and take in the moment.

I had a feeling from the get-go that it was a girl, but that was prior to the barrage of stories as to how "I was sure I was having this or that and ended up with the opposite every time". My earliest dreams were of a baby girl but recently I had a dream of a little boy so I threw dreams out as a reliable source. I thought I was carrying low so that also tipped the scale towards boy. In fact, I always thought I would have sons... I think this was due in part to the fact that girls were always a challenge for me growing up. I never really understood them and consistently ended up in situations where I just felt like I could never get it right. I had three brothers... I knew boys. But this. This is going to be the best thing I ever did (and will do) in my entire little existence. I can't wait to meet her. I can't even put into words the excitement, joy and hope I feel about her future... our future.