Week 17: Baby brother or sister?

By Published On: February 28th, 2014

“So you’re finding out what you’re having today, right?” The […]

64a4a0949bcd11e3a8f50e3d6002ad82_7“So you’re finding out what you’re having today, right?” The ultrasound tech asked as she booted up the computer.

I settled myself on the chair and smiled. “We are, but my husband couldn’t make this appointment. So I brought an envelope … I was wondering if you could write down what we’re having and put it in there?”

She gave me a big smile, “Sure. So you don’t want to know either?”

“Oh, I definitely do. But he wants us to find out together.” Blast him and his sweet, sentimental ways.

As she squeezed the warm jelly onto my stomach, she explained that she would take a picture showing off the “goods” and label it with the sex. “I’ll draw an arrow to it, but if it’s a girl? It’ll look like three little lines. And if it’s a boy, it’ll look like a turtle poking its head out of the shell.”

I love her. She’s so scientific.

For the next few minutes, I watched the screen in awe as our little baby kicked its feet, flexed its hand in the air to wiggle its fingers and even brought both fists down to rub its eyes. The heart was beating perfectly, but this was the first appointment where I actually heard it.

What a sound, right?

The tech printed off several pictures for me, but then made me laugh when she told me to shut my eyes so she could get a “between the legs” shot. A few minutes later, she put the picture into the envelope, and sent me on my way.

You guys. I carried that envelope around from about 9:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. that night without a single peek. Not one peek. But the thought of finding out before my husband was heartbreaking, and knowing that we would be getting my stepchildren that evening made it a little bit easier to wait. All four of us could find out together!

So that night, I set up our camera and got ready for the big reveal. My stepdaughter sat in Daddy’s lap while my stepson sat in mine. David held the envelope and I went around our little group to ask what everyone thought.

“Boy!” Trey said, pumping his fist.

“Girl,” Chloe whispered. This sweet girl has been praying for a baby sister since the day she found out we were pregnant. My heart hammered at her little voice and the uncertainty in it.

“What do you think?” I asked David, but I already knew. The day I showed him the pregnancy test, he has been calling this baby Jack, our boy name. He has been so convinced it’s a boy that he wouldn’t even entertain the idea of a daughter. Oh, God knows he would love another little girl, but he was just SO certain it would be a boy that it was almost unnerving, like he just knew something I didn’t.

“You know what I think,” he said. “Boy.”

I paused for a moment. “Okay, I say boy too.” I could see the word ‘boy’ written across the ultrasound picture, could envision blue rompers decorated with sailboats and tiny, metal trucks lining the nursery shelves. Here we go. Baby Jack is on his way.

David slowly opened the envelope, his eyes got wide, and then he said it.

“Girl!”

Oh, Chloe shot up like a rocket. That little girl went absolutely nuts. I screamed and immediately cried while Chloe jumped into my arms. “A little sister!” I yelled.

The video is priceless. David is still sitting there, staring at the envelope in complete disbelief. Trey throws his head in his hands and yells, “We were WRONG!” before bolting from the room. Chloe and I can’t stop screaming.

A few minutes later, we found Trey crying his sweet eyes out. He was so upset about having a baby sister. “But you have a baby brother at Mama’s house,” I told him.

“I know, but I want one at DIS house,” he cried.

(For the record, he was totally fine the next day.)

It didn’t take long for the shock to wear off. The next day, I bought a tiny pink outfit and little socks with ruffles and sweet polka dots. Most of our family was in complete shock, but Chloe says she just knew.

“Big sisters know that kind of stuff,” she said.

Oh baby. What a bond you and this girl are going to have. Our sweet little Alice has no idea just how lucky she is to be the little sister to these two big kids.