It's a....

complete mystery!

Yesterday was the day that I have been counting down to for so many months. It was our scheduled gender ultrasound and anatomy scan. One of the BIG days! My doctor is against telling the gender before 18 weeks, so we’ve had to wait a little longer than some. However, I would much rather be certain of what it is than know early and it turn out wrong. We’re at the half-way point now so we were of course pumped to find out. A lot of people knew this was the day and were anxiously awaiting. My classes even voted on what they thought it would be. (Boy won by 3 votes!) It didn’t turn out the way we expected though.

My appointment was in the middle of the day (thanks to Monday’s holiday), so Justin and I both took the day off of work. We were giddy on the way there! It felt like we were getting some big Christmas gift and we couldn’t wait! We have both been so excited to finally find out what we’re having so that we can start planning and buying things. It would also be really nice to stop calling our child “it” and begin using one of the names we have chosen. On the way down there, we stopped at McDonald’s and I got a Dr. Pepper since I’ve read several times that you need to have sugar and caffeine in you to be sure that the baby moves so you can see the gender.

Hmmm...

We got to the doctor’s office, and we were taken back pretty quickly to have the ultrasound done. I was to see the doctor after the scan to go over the results. When the ultrasound tech came to the door it was our friend Joyless Joy again. I immediately thought it was hilarious because we’ve had her for all of our big ultrasounds and she is the least personable person ever. We went in and she started the scan, only to tell us that our little bean was laying on its side facing in to me. She pointed out its head and little butt with its legs flailing behind. She measured the bones she could see, looked at the brain, let us hear the heartbeat, etc. Turkey Lurkey was wrapped up snug though with butt out and hands in front of its face. It did not want to move. She tried for over 20 minutes to get it to move one way or the other so we could catch a glimpse of the “parts” and see its face. She had me roll every which way to try to get something going. She poked and prodded it to move just a tiny bit. She angled the Doppler every possible way.

Nothing.

She finally told us that she would give me some candy and let me try again after I saw the doctor. I was so grateful for that! Based on our previous experience with her, I was thinking she would tell us “Sorry!” and that would be it. I sucked down that peppermint as fast as I could and sent Justin to buy me an orange juice to hopefully do something to encourage it to move the next time. I saw the doctor, who said everything they could see seems completely healthy so she has no concerns about developmental problems (WOOHOO!) and that she is betting on a boy since it’s being so lazy. (Her words, not mine. )

I went back out and waited for a few minutes until another ultrasound spot opened up praying that Turkey had moved somehow. Joy called us back, and…

nothing.

It was in the exact same position! We tried rolling and poking and prodding, and smashing again and again.

Nothing.

Finally, she apologized profusely and told us that there just wasn’t any way she was going to see the gender that day. I must say, I held it together really well. I thanked her over and over for giving us a second try. She promised to “try” to get me in at my next appointment--4 weeks later--so we can get a peek. I made it through scheduling my next appointment. I bit my cheek walking through the lobby determined not to be the crazy crying lady, but once we were in the car I lost it! Total Ugly Cry all over the place.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I am beyond thankful that we have a healthy baby on our hands, and even more thankful that I even have the opportunity to be pregnant. I know that’s a lot more than many people have. I am NOT taking that for granted. However, when you have the picture of finding out what your (very long awaited and difficult to conceive in the first place) child is, and it doesn’t go that way it’s hard. I was hormonal and incredibly disappointed.

Luckily, I have a wonderful husband who convinced me to go look at a crib we’re considering, and while we were there he thought of going to a private ultrasound place to find out before my next appointment. We tossed the idea around. Is it really want we want to do? It’s not how we imagined finding out. I don’t want to wait 4 weeks and then not be able to get in for an ultrasound or have it be a no-show again that late in the game. Finally, we decided to go for it! I called and they’re getting me in today to hopefully (finally) be able to tell what this bambino is! The great thing is that this place is a 3D and 4D ultrasound place, so we’ll get to see it up close and personal and maybe get good pictures since we didn’t get any yesterday. (Plus it’s cheaper than an ultrasound at my doctor’s office!) It’s not at all how I pictured this whole thing going, but I’m learning that pregnancy and babies are never going to go how you picture them to!

So, here’s hoping that Baby Williams will be outgoing enough to show its "goods" to the public this one time (and then never again!). We’ll let you know how it goes!