By now, several of you have taken the challenge and stumbled upon our subtle announcement here.  Now at 21 weeks, we have our life changing information that makes things all the more real.

Monday, Adam and I went to the doctor for a routine checkup, but hoped that it would end up being more (i.e. my 20 week ultrasound that I had argued with the lady on the phone about and ended up crying and hanging up with frustration).  Adam took the morning off anyway, though, because both of us knew it could be stressful, so he came as moral support.  The first thing that happened was me getting called up to the reception desk for them to try and tell me my appointment wasn't that day.  Good thing I brought my appointment card with me that THEY wrote out to prove them wrong.  They were like, "Well, I guess we have to fit her in."  You'd better believe you do!!!  So of course, if it wasn't already, my blood pressure started soaring!  

Then they took by blood pressure and it was 140 something over 90 something.  After she exclaimed, "WOAH!" I started to cry.  She asked if I needed a minute before she took it again.  I was pretty sure that wouldn't help, so we just did it again.  It went down...but only to 135 something.  At that point, I was grateful that I had taken my BP at home and brought a picture with me to prove that it was the office that stressed me out and not some condition.  After waiting a while longer for a room to open up, they had a new nurse training come in and try to find the heartbeat.  To be perfectly honest, I wanted them to not be able to because I knew that the baby was okay.  I had felt it moving around not too long before that, and I wanted an ultrasound.  One of the more experienced nurses, though, came in and found it pretty quickly.

Then Dr. Warren came in.  She looked at my chart, measured me, etc.  Then she said that everything looked good...except my blood pressure.  That's when I went on my verge of tears rant about how frustrating her staff was, how rude the lady on the phone had been, and all the confrontations I'd had there that made me dread my appointments at their office.  She was very empathetic, apologetic, and told me we'd get my ultrasound scheduled this week.  It actually ended up being the next day.  That afternoon, I kind of freaked out at the idea that I'd know what the baby was the next day and second guessed our decision we had made a long time ago to find out.  Pretty sure my mom wasn't too thrilled with that :-p.

So we went in on Tuesday for the ultrasound.  It was VERY anti-climatic.  First, Adam and I had to sit in a waiting room with just one other lady who was watching an informational DVD about her upcoming hysterectomy.  Awkward.  Then we were called in for our very short and not too compassionate ultrasound.  We were asked what we're having.  I told the lady I didn't know...I was hoping she'd tell us.  Then, moments later, she just said, "It's a boy."  And then tried to get a good picture.  No more than 10 minutes passed before she sent us on our way....without good pictures, and without the DVD we had been promised by the movie I once had to sit in that empty waiting room and watch.  She told us we had a very UNcooperative son...which Adam says I make too much out of because she was just joking...but I was kind of annoyed by.  Oh well...chalk it up to pregnancy hormones?

So then I decided it would be more fun to tell people one by one as it came up about the gender.  Well, that got old faster than I thought it would.  It was nice to tell certain people before the general population knew, though.  The excited ones made it seem more fun and helped me get more excited myself.  However, being that I thought it was a girl (and so did Adam), there was also a good sect of people prepared to rejoice over the "It's a girl" statement, and though they tried to have the same amount of excitement about a boy, telling people individually wasn't as fun, anymore.  (If this applies to you, this is not meant as a guilt trip...just sharing my feelings.  The boy thing will grow on you when you see how amazing the combination of Adam and my charm and good looks turns out :)).  

So that's where we're at now...I'm super bummed that the ultrasound wasn't longer, more fun, or more compassionate like other people's experiences seem to have been.  I wanted a DVD pretty badly, though our "uncooperative son" didn't make for much of a good session, so maybe it's for the best.  I didn't really mind either way on the gender, though I'm a people pleaser by nature, so I wish everyone was through the roof excited, but they'll get there.  I'm glad it's a little more real, though...and that we can call him a he.  Adam and I do have a name, to answer that question, but we're not sharing it with anyone (Seriously...not even my mom.  You can ask her, if you don't believe me...I'm sure it's driving her nuts :)).  You'll just have to wait until April.  Other than that, we can now start registering.  We probably won't need (and thus won't register) for many clothes since we have at least a couple friends anxiously awaiting handing down their boy clothes.  If you feel compelled to buy them, I won't stop you, but we're only going to register for things we know we will need.  

So...other than that, I'm grateful for those of you that read this.  I'm grateful for everyone, actually, but it's nice to know this journal isn't in vain.  I'm hoping to keep it updated more often (especially with our son on the way) so that people keep up on it without me asking them to.  Regardless, it has been nice to record and share my feelings and to have you along for the ride.  Thanks for everything.