Is this what you've all been waiting for?

I had a feeling my comments box would be full by the time I got to this. Sheesh! Let me just remind you, dear readers, that I did say I had family coming into town -- parents, aunt and uncle. That does make it a little more difficult to sit down and blog (especially when you have dial-up). The blog went on the back burner, but I knew that I needed to let you know, since I'd been keeping you updated thus far.

I'll say first that the appointment went very well and that the baby is growing well and all of that. The very first thing that came up on the screen were these little legs kicking away like a frog, and I was already in awe. I think I could have sat and just watched any and all movements on that screen absolutely all day (okay, it was a little uncomfortable, but still). The technician decided to take all the measurements first, saying that by the time she did that, the baby probably would have moved around more to give her a better view of...what it was we were looking for. So that took a while, but it was just amazing the way she knew exactly where to go, just on my stomach, to find the top of the head, a cross-section of the abdomen, and so on. Those techs are awesome.

I barely had time to realize what was going on before she said, "Okay...it looks like it's a..." and I was searching the screen, thinking, "What in the world is she seeing?!?" and trying to catch my breath and get myself prepared for a moment I wasn't prepared for. The tech was typing the words "It's a..." on the screen as she spoke, and her words seemed to just hang in the air before she finally typed just three little letters: "boy!"

I looked over at the daddy, who was grinning from ear to ear. Then the tech was getting another angle, one which made things much clearer to me. Ah, yes, now I could see that it was definitely a boy! We could also see that, although he had started out almost upside-down at the beginning of the ultrasound, he was now lying comfortably on his back. And when I say comfortably, I mean the kid actually had his ankles crossed and his arms back behind his head! We could see his profile -- his little nose and mouth, and I saw his mouth open and close! Then we heard the heart beating, going a very strong 160 bpm. We were handed seven or eight pictures to take with us, several which hold the proof that he is a boy.

Thanks for being excited with me. How fun is this? And another truly wonderful thing this week is that I have already started feeling some tiny, tiny kicks...just like a little bump. He keeps reminding me he's there, but I won't forget. Still...I don't mind him telling me every now and then.