IT'S (will be) A GIRL

I'll post more soon. My brain isn't working after Babies R' Us.

--A day passes--

Wow, I really needed that time. My brain was so foggy that I actually felt like a newborn myself, overwhelmed by my surroundings and seeing things for the first time. It made me very tired, and I wanted a boob of my own. But now I am refreshed and can put sentences together enough to announce that some time in mid to late February, we will have a wee daughter. It's official and confirmed. So all of those people with their theories like...

If your stomach is pointy it's a boy
Your nose will get flat if it's a girl
More heartburn means a hairy baby

...can silence themselves now. Katrina made a cake with vanilla frosting the night before and wrote on it "boy or girl?" I think baking was the only way to work through her excitement and impatience for the next day. After we found out, we took the cake downstairs to her co-workers and circled GIRL with a cake pen in pseudo-ceremonial/gameshow fashion. Naturally, all men fantasize about having a son but in reality this works out very well. If we didn't have a girl this time, I have a feeling that Katrina would want to try again sooner rather than later. I say confirmed because we went in for this final Anatomy Review sonogram session and got a really good angle on the baby that left nothing for assumption. Yep, there it is, no doubt. The sono tech even pointed to the evidence with her mouse arrow. Yes, okay I see it! We brought a videotape this time as well so we got to record some movement. The doctor was preoccupied with trying to get the hands measured, which you can't do unless the baby spreads her fingers out. This took a while. They measured basically everything from ventricles to upper lip to femurs. And everything was perfect. But I think we were too dazed about knowing it was a girl to notice. Katrina smiled so big you could see her molars and bottom gums. She kept repeating excitedly, "It's a girl, it's a girl!" I wasn't expecting this, but they turned on the 3D imaging so we could get a better picture of the little miss. It was, well, interesting. The technology isn't really there yet. The 3D ultrasound picked up on her skull more than her face so she looked like the Crypt Keeper. It didn't help that she was hiding under the placenta so the ultrasound had a hard time picking up her face. But, I'm willing to wait for that. We did however get to see her rub her eye and play with her nose in 3D. This is a very active child. She was rolling around and moving a lot. Perhaps it was the quart of orange juice Katrina drank beforehand so the baby wouldn't be sleeping for the sonogram.

Then we went to Babies r Us and good God that was exhausting. We spent 3 hours going through that place, zapping things with the laser gun. Yes, I got to hold it. Katrina mentioned how it was more tiring than the wedding registry. I said, "Well yes. When you choose plates you don't have to think about if they will kill your child." Strollers, bathtubs, breastpumps, bottles, carseats, portable playpens (pack n' play), glider chairs, diaper bags, changing tables, cribs, bouncy seats, baby carriers, high chairs, and a bevy of Pooh & Tigger related items. We weren't allowed to register for clothes because the shower is in January and we have to wait. So everything you zap you have to think, Is this safe? Because apparently, a lot of this stuff isn't made for baby's safety as much as Mommy's convenience. I mean, a Cappacino maker on a stroller is a bit much. Hot steam hurts! By the end of it, I wasn't even thinking "do we need this?" My head was so blurry, Katrina would walk up and put a bar code in my face and I'd just limply hold up the gun and zap it. I wouldn't even ask what it was. We got home and we were completely drained. I went to the bathroom and found the lightswitch on the first try. Ah, it's home now, I thought.