We are both so happy!! We would have loved to have a little boy too, but it is so amazing to be having a girl! Keith is already hopelessly in love with her, and I am so looking forward to seeing them together! He is going to be such a wonderful father to our daughter.
I think I'm more excited to have a girl than I would have been to have a boy. I have been around little boys my whole life, it seems. When I was growing up, all the kids in our neighborhood were boys except for me, and all my mom's friends seemed to have younger boys and babies who I would play with and take care of. When my mom got remarried and had my two little brothers, there were seasons when I spent more time raising them than my mom did. I loved it, and I love them, and I will love having a little boy someday, but having a little girl will be an entirely new experience for me, and I am really excited about the newness of it.
So the plan was to keep the gender a secret, but we got too excited to hold it in. I think I might have been able to, but Keith tried a couple of times and ended up lying and telling people that we weren't finding out (even though we just had). It was actually quite hilarious to both of us that he sort of froze and lied... so we just decided to tell people after all. And so there you have it! We're having a little girl.
2008-09-22 (27 weeks)
a birth dream I had a really vivid dream about birth this morning. It didn't seem scary or ridiculous, just kind of realistic. In my dream, I was surprised by all the gooey birth stuff, and nursing seemed kind of awkward, and I felt nauseous after our baby was born even though I was so happy. Our little one had Keith's cheeks and I was so glad. The nose was squished funny from delivery. I woke up to find our baby wiggling like crazy... I think 3-6 am is playtime... and I was rather nauseous from having an empty stomach. I think I'm dreaming about our baby a lot now, but I'm sleeping a little better so I'm not remembering my dreams so well.
2008-09-18 (26 weeks)
little gymnast Our little one is moving constantly! He/she is like a little gymnast in there. Last night I think the baby was moving for like two consecutive hours. I was completely worn out from a long day and just kept thinking, how does he/she possibly have so much energy?? This morning I am sitting and watching him/her kick-boxing the side of my stomach.
It's a lot harder to blog now that we know the baby's gender. I don't think we'll keep it a secret very much longer... we are just too excited... but I have already had to revise this entry a few times because I kept giving it away! It feels really weird to write "he/she" when the baby is definitely only one of those genders.
I am glad that we decided to find out the gender, even after months of planning not to. We felt that we would be equally excited about having either a boy or a girl, and we didn't want to find out just so we could have the right clothes, but it was frustrating to try to pray for our little one and find myself saying "him or her" all the time. I think it was also important for us as far as bonding and so that we weren't tempted to say "it." There were some other good reasons too, but anyway I am happy with the choice we made.
2008-09-12 (26 weeks)
26 weeks I can't believe how hairy my belly has become. I feel like James and the Giant Peach. A poll I saw somewhere showed that about 50% of women experience a lot of hair growth on their abdomens during pregnancy. I am definitely one of them.
We bought a Belle baby carrier for our baby yesterday!! I've been bidding on these carriers on eBay for a while and finally nabbed a new organic one. It was half the cost of buying it from the retail site but still quite a lot. It feels kind of odd to have another member of our household for whom we must buy things. This is the only thing we've bought for our baby so far besides the yard sale carseat, which is probably why I'm so excited about it. Plus they are supposed to be amazing. I hope our little one loves it.
Our baby has been moving like crazy this morning. I can just sit and watch these little pokes and prods coming at me from every side. It is really neat. Every time I get up to grab the camera, though, he/she stops the action until I've moved to a new area, away from the camera. I am beginning to wonder if we are playing a game. Are you camera-shy, little one?
