The ultrasound technician remembered us from Adalyn's ultrasounds and remarked on how much Adalyn had grown since she last saw her (at 20 weeks gestation on the ultrasound). She was patient with us and allowed Adalyn to sit/lay/fidget on the bed beside me for awhile. She took lots and lots of photos of the little one, from all different perspectives and zoom levels. She measured every body part, looked at each organ, and even inspected the various blood vessels and the umbilical cord. It's quite fascinating. The baby was wiggling all over and made it difficult for her to get all of the views she needed. It turns out she wasn't able to see the nose/mouth area, the lower spine, or the kidneys well enough, so we'll have a repeat ultrasound to capture those photos next time.
She clarified at the very beginning of the exam whether we wanted to find out the gender. Of course we said, "YES!" She waited until the end of the exam to take a look, and when she finally started looking around the legs, I didn't realize that's what she was looking at. But, when she said, "So, are you ready to find out?", I immediately knew what we were looking at.
Brad Paisley lyrics began playing in my head, "You see that thing right there? Well, you know what that means."
Imagine the baby is sitting on the camera. This is the view looking up at his bottom.
(In case you couldn't see it, I inserted an arrow for good measure)
Before she said it, I knew it was a boy, even though I couldn't quite wrap my mind around it. I kept saying I'd be really surprised if it was a boy, and surprised I was! In fact, I think just about everyone I talked to thought it would be a girl, except Adam's mom, Carol. She said she had a premonition a few weeks ago that it would be a boy, and felt confident enough in her premonition that she started buying boy clothes! Well, it turns out she was absolutely right!
You may remember that Adalyn has said the baby will be called Hope whether it's a boy or girl. We asked her again after the ultrasound, and she gave her usual reply. But, Adam told her she couldn't call her brother Hope. After a few seconds of thinking, she decided she'd call him Moose. We thought that sounded just fine, so we've been using that as a running theme ever since. (I can't wait to see a tiny mini-Adam called Moose!)
The things I'm most excited about having a boy are:
- Getting to have the whole process of becoming a parent feel new again
- Watching Adalyn develop a sibling bond I will never understand
- Watching Adam be Dad to a boy (hunting, fishing, building, fixing, etc...)
The things I'm most scared about are:
- The need for a peepee teepee (I'm teasing! Sort of.)
- Him behaving like a little tazmanian devil or other wild animal (Again, teasing...sort of.)
- Having to divide my time/attention/affection between two kids (Totally serious about this one.)
After the ultrasound, we had a brief appointment with Dr. Shrum. Everything she could see on the ultrasound looks good and she has no concerns. Like I said earlier, they weren't able to see EVERYTHING they need to look at, so we'll have a brief, repeat ultrasound at the next appointment. We had another discussion about the pros and cons of a repeat C-section versus trying for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). I'm still having a tough time making a decision about that.
We planned to leave Adalyn in the waiting room with the Grandmas, but Nurse Ceedy insisted we take her into the exam room with us so Dr. Shrum could meet her. She was quite the hit with the doctor and nurses. She was pretty outgoing and interactive. When asked, she promptly replied she planned to call her brother Moose.
After our appointment, Grandma Carol gave us gifts to celebrate our new little one! She gave us a book titled, What Are Little Boys Make of? and a blue Christmas tree ornament that is a bell that looks like a button. On the back she wrote, "11-26-12 - Welcome Baby Boy Tolman - "Moose" - sure to be cute as a button!" (I planned to share photos of them here, but Blogger says I've reached my photo quota! Uh oh! I'll have to figure out how to fix that very soon!)
She also gave Adalyn a new Christmas tree ornament that looks like an owl. On the back she wrote, "2012 - Look Whooo's the Big Sister! - Adalyn in 2013"
After leaving the doctor's appointment, we stopped for a bite to eat at Johnny Carino's which just so happens to be near BabiesRUs! Who can find out the gender of their baby without stopping at BabiesRUs? Not us! We bought a couple of baby boy outfits with moose on them, as well as a stocking cap that looks like a moose. We then headed home and back to work for the afternoon.
Carol usually watches Adalyn on Mondays, so she headed home with us to spend the afternoon with Adalyn at our house. They baked a blue cake for Moose and made turkey noodle soup and biscuits for dinner! Grandpa Roger came over after work and we celebrated our new little Moose!
