It's a Girl!

Wow, am I behind!

We had our first "official" doctor's appointment in April and found out that we are having a little girl. There was no mistaking that shot on the ultrasound, although Dad got as close to the screen as possible just to make sure no one had missed a penis in there somewhere.

She was a little uncooperative during the first appointment and the ultrasound had to be finished before our second appointment, which was just a couple weeks ago. She finally rolled over so they could get a good shot of her spine and better views of her heart. The technician surprised us with some 4D shots of her as well. That was amazing! It was in real time and you could see that she was trying to suck her thumb. At one point, she actually had one of those not-really-a-smile-but-it-still-looks-like-a-smile smiles on her face. The detail in those 4D shots was amazing. I think she has my nose.

Everything is going splendidly, except for the massive amount of swelling I am experiencing in my legs, ankles, and feet. I work in a factory and am on my feet for at least eight hours a day. My doctor has recommended compression stockings, but I am trying like heck to find other ways to prevent and deal with the swelling. It's hot enough at work as it is without the added heat compression stockings would add.

The baby, whom we still affectionately call Howie, is the most active baby I have ever carried. She is awake about eighty percent of the day. She's got more moves than Walter Payton! It's a good thing, I suppose, until you're trying to eat or relax and your insides are being used for kickboxing practice. The doctor said he thought she weighed just over a pound, but I forgot to ask him how long he thought she was. I don't have a lot of room for a hefty baby, but all my babies have been really long.

We have started a pool of sorts with family members as to when we all think she'll make her appearance. The doctor is expecting her in the early to middle part of September, but I think she'll wait a little longer than that. She'll come when she's good and ready.

Coming up with a name is proving difficult. Every name we come up with either already belongs to someone in our family or can be rhymed with something--um--inappropriate. (Dad is a little freaked out about having a girl. He remembers what he was like as a young man and it's scaring the royal crap out of him. I think it's cute.) We did find about three names we really like, but can't come up with any great middle names to go with them.

Other than that, not much going on. My youngest son is going through a rough patch. It's a long, ugly story and perhaps I'll get into it the next time. We're back to working five days a week after only working three or four days a week every other week since the new year and that's good news. The humidity didn't take long to rear it's moist head and that's bad news, but what can you do about the weather. Oh yeah, and Jeff Gordon is leading in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points. Woohoo!

Okay, I'm off to find some roomier pants. Howie is apparently feeling the need to jazzercise or something. Go, Howie, go!