team pink

One week before my anatomy ultrasound, I had finally secured childcare for the boys for the morning (thanks to my friend Lauren) so that James could come to the appointment with me. This is the only appointment James attends during my pregnancies–mostly because it’s exciting to find out the gender together.

I should have assumed that things were falling into place a little too easily. I feel like the more kids you have, the greater your chances of something not going as planned. James Michael started coming down with something (maybe an allergy cold?) over the weekend, and by Sunday afternoon he was hoarse and it was really starting to hit him. On Monday morning, the day of the appointment, both boys woke up with fevers around 100 degrees so James stayed home with them while I went to the appointment by myself.

If this was my first baby, I’m sure I would have been upset not having James there. At this point though, the appointment was the least of my worries as the boys were under the weather. I had flashbacks of this winter, but quickly pushed them out of my mind. There’s no point in thinking the worst. So I left the boys in good hands and headed off that morning.

James and I both believed we’d have another boy. We knew several couples with three boys and even our chiropractor guessed it was a boy. He has a really good track record with guessing the gender and was right with both the boys. In fact, I had an appointment with him directly before my ultrasound and he said he still thought boy.

So you can imagine the shock when the ultrasound tech said, “You’re having a baby girl!” I’m pretty sure my eyes got really big and I uttered, “I can’t believe it. Are you sure?” Then she explained in detail why it was a girl. The rest of the appointment was a blur; I was so stunned.

As soon as I finished my appointment, I called James and told him the news. The first thing out of his mouth was, “Are they sure?” 🙂

18 weeks + 2 days

James has wanted a girl so badly, so much so that I think he’d be willing to keep having kids until we got a girl. I can’t say I share the same sentiments. Having three kids in less than three years just has me praying we all survive 🙂 I’m not 100% ruling out #4, but I think three little ones will keep our hands quite full the next few years.

It will be interesting to see how this little girl fits into such a testosterone-driven family. James Michael will likely be tender and sweet, the same as he was with Beau. Beau the bruiser, on the other hand, is a wild card. But maybe he’ll follow James Michael’s lead.