Drum Roll Please

So obviously when I said I would let you know in a few hours, I meant a few days. Not so swift with the updating over here.

Our appointment was at 2 o'clock on Wednesday. By 3 o'clock we were still in the waiting room and I was about to kill someone. Frank was patiently playing games on his IPhone while I eyed everyone else in the room, trying to figure out how many of them were still in front of me. Just before I lost it completely, they called my name and finally, we were in.

Everything was indeed fine with the Chicken. All arms and legs and fingers and toes were in place. The heartbeat was strong and the chambers of the heart were separated correctly. The brain was brainy and the spine was spiney. The Chicken was extremely squirmy, so much so that the technician even remarked that it was a very active baby. Some of the pictures are a little blurry because the child would just not hold still. I was being karate chopped and elbowed the whole time. One shot has the arm up near the face in full on karate chop mode.

After all the measurements and checks, the technician finally got to the good part and looked for the goods. We are expecting a boy! There was no mistaking it, all his boyness was on full display for us. Frank was so excited, he couldn't wait for the tech to leave the room so that he could start texting people. He did the happy dance a couple times and was just beaming. He's also taken to saying "Frank Jr Jr" every chance he gets.

It's pretty funny that in my family, there are 5 girls and two boys. My parents' first 3 children were girls, quite close together. My parent's first 3 grandchildren are all boys, not quite stairsteps like my sisters and me, but pretty close together. My nephew just turned 2 and my sister-in-law and I are due on the same day in April. My older sister (the mother of the 2 year old) is due again in May, but we don't know what she's having yet. It's a mini baby boom.

I've been worried because there hasn't been a lot of bonding with the baby on my part so far. I don't really know why. Being totally surprised by the pregnancy and then not having any real symptoms (not that I'm complaining!) has made it seem surreal and hard to grasp. Feeling him move so much, knowing when he's awake or not, finally having an actual pregnant belly, and finding out it's a boy has really helped bring it all home to me. It has also awakened me to the reality of holy hell, there's going to be a baby at the end of this! I'm going to be some body's mother.

The mother of a boy, no less. We're gearing up for a life of trucks and trains, matchbox cars and sports. This kid has an excellent chance of being musically talented too, given his genes, so perhaps there will be music lessons and recitals in the midst of all that rough and tumble boy stuff.

We're pretty excited.