Surprise!

Months and months ago I posted about a random craving for taco bell and a baby boy on the way. Around that time I also threw an "it's a boy" party and we decorated the house in blue and started sharing the news at church and I also posted it on facebook. All I can say is, oops- I may have spoke too soon. :)

In my defense, it was my obstetrician that told me about the early detection gender test. She told me that if it said I was having a boy, I was definitely having a boy because the test only indicates boy if there are male cells present in the urine. So I dropped thirty five big ones at Walgreens and took the test at 3 AM. When the test turned green (indicating a boy), I just about died! I could not believe it. I even woke Bobby up so that I could have a witness that the test was in fact green! He walked into the bathroom and said, "Looks green to me," and crawled back into bed.

I baked a cake and piped "It's a boy!" in blue on it and put blue crepe paper and balloons everywhere while the girls were at school. That was how we announced it to the girls. Franny was thrilled. Ten weeks later when we had the hospital ultrasound, I confidently told the tech, "We actually already know we're having a boy... we took the early detection gender test." She looked uncomfortable and broke the news to us that many of her patients had come in sure they were having a boy only to find out that very same test was wrong. That's when I started to get nervous. My friend Morgan was watching Claire and Sophie, but we brought Franny along so she could see the baby brother she was so excited about. It wasn't more than a minute or two before we saw the familiar views indicating the fetus was in fact female. I was holding it together until the tech- I DO NOT know what she was thinking- asked me, "what were you going to name him?" Choking back sobs, but not very well, I said, "We were going to name him Cole... after my father!!" And then the tears came. And not just from me, but from Franny too. I felt so silly! For crying that this beautiful, healthy baby was not a boy! I had Bobby bring the tech a plate of chocolate chip cookies the next day because I felt so bad.

It's taken a while for me to get here, but I am so excited for this little girl to join us in just under three weeks! We have a name for her. We're going to call her Mabel. No, it's not a family name. (We get that a lot.) We're naming her after one of Bobby's patient's dolls of all things. Bobby was doing the anesthesia for a young girl who was very scared to have surgery. He was trying to make her feel more comfortable and said to her, "you have really pretty hair! If we had more time, I'd show you how pretty the hair on my back is." That got a little smile. She was clutching a little doll in her hospital bed. The he said, "I like your doll. What's her name?" She looked up at him and said in a tiny, scared little voice (and I love how Bobby imitates it), "Mabel." He came home and told me that story- pretty sure sharing the patient's doll's name doesn't break any HIPAA laws- and I just fell in love with the name. I'm pretty sure he did, too. Not sure if we're call her "Mae" or "Maby" (I can't help it- I'm a huge fan of Arrested Development), I guess we'll just have to wait and see. For a couple of weeks the baby was breech and the doctor was saying we would schedule a C-section for 11/11/11. How awesome would that be? But I'm pretty sure she flipped a couple of days ago, so I might be able to have this baby the old-fashioned way after all. We'll just have to wait and see I guess! My mother-in-law is coming to help and I am so grateful for her. It was hard with Claire and it's been hard with this one to approach the birth of a child without my Mom being here, but Louise makes it so much easier for me. I love her so much.

Here's a picture of Claire at the party- not looking super thrilled about a new baby joining the picture. Just kidding, of course. She was only about 12 or 13 months old when this was taken so of course she had no clue what was coming. Even now when I point to my belly and say, "What's this?" She says "Elmo." (Actually what she says is: "Elwo") She's in for a disappointing surprise! Although she LOVES babies, so once she gets over the initial shock of no thick red Elmo hair covering the baby, I think she's pretty stoked.

As for me, I'm feeling great. Which is really nice, since I have this crazy 1 1/2 year old to keep up with. Turns out when everyone tells you that exercise really helps with swelling, pregnancy, and I have yet to see, but delivery and recovery as well- well, they're not just saying that. All I do is walk, but it's helped me keep the weight gain down to a minimum, which has made me feel so much better. Claire did a number on me. (I love how I say that like it's somehow her fault that I gained so much weight.) I was just looking at some pictures I took of my feet right before Claire was born and they looked like big sausages. Disgusting.

Here's a couple of pictures of our "it's a boy! (no it's not)" party. Like Bobby said, it was kind of fun to think we were having a boy for a little while. :) Not sure what we're going to do with all the boy clothes, hot wheels, star wars toys, and geo trax we've been stock-piling since I'm not sure we're going to have any more after Mabel. But we'll see... :)


I was hoping to get a picture of Bobby with a big, excited grin at this party, but I'm pretty sure he was just humoring me. He was never as sure as I was that it was a boy.

We can't wait for you Mabel! We are ready for you to join our family (except not really- I still have to wash your car seat cover and adjust the straps- but we will be!! :)