IT'S A BOY!!

As much as I love the surprise of not finding out the sex until the baby is born, we had no choice this time around. Liliana ONLY wanted a sister and just in case we discovered that this baby was a boy, I did not want her first reaction to be tears when she met her baby brother. We decided to find out the sex at 16 weeks to give her some time to process the information. We brought her to the appointment so that she could hear Dr. Biter say either "boy" or "girl" and so that she could see the actual genitals herself so that there was no denying it.

I was a little excited and a little sad leading up to the appointment. For those of you who have never waited for the surprise, I have to say that it is truly MAGICAL to hear your husband announce the sex of your baby. Adam was expecting a boy when Liliana was born and to see the smile on his face and the tears in his eyes when he yelled repeatedly, "IT'S A GIRL!" And then to hear him announce that we had a baby girl and say her name (which we didn't give her until she was born) to everyone with pride was priceless. But as I said, we thought it best to find out so that Liliana could adjust.

I truly had no preference on the sex of this baby. Liliana wanted a sister SO badly and Adam and I could completely picture our house being a house full of girls, so we were excited to have Baby #2 be a girl. On the other hand, one of each is always amazing and I was worried that if I had another girl I would always wonder what it would be like to be a boy's mommy. So, I was torn and just looking forward to hearing that the baby was growing healthy in my belly.

Before we went into the ultrasound room Adam asked me what I thought I was having. I said a boy. I had the 'boy dream' in the very beginning of my pregnancy and I had the 'boy feeling' in the very beginning as well. It was hard to read the signs for the past couple months because Liliana called it "Baby Sister" all the time, but I know from experience and through talking to other moms that your hunch at the very beginning is usually right on. My mom also had a dream that this baby was a boy, just like she had a dream that Liliana was a girl. Most people around me were guessing boy, except of course Liliana.

Before Dr. Biter started the ultrasound I warned him not to say ANYTHING unless he was SURE about what I was having. Because I had no preference, I didn't want a false reading to sway me one way or another and get my hopes up. He assured me that he wouldn't and I told Adam to start videotaping. The penis was SO OBVIOUS and he showed me the umbilical cord because I questioned whether he confused the two because I have heard of that happening. There was no mistaking the fact that we are HAVING A BABY BOY!!!

Adam and I feel very lucky to be having one of each. Liliana on the other hand, is not feeling so lucky. :( She wanted a sister SO badly and had really started developing a relationship with this fictional sister that I was growing in my belly. She talked to it all day long, said good morning to it before she said good morning to me, made pictures, sang songs, picked recipes out of baby books, picked out outfits, put aside toys, and even talked about the plans she had for her and her sister once it was born. She called it "her baby" and had been practicing diapering (even at school) and burping. She cried when Dr. Biter announced the sex. Her reaction wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be, but she definitely wasn't happy. For the next couple of days she told us and anyone who would listen how "angry" she was. The only bright side to the situation was that she quickly decided that when she was older and got pregnant she would definitely have a girl of her own.

It has been a few weeks since our appointment and she hasn't talked to my belly once. She talks more about her future daughter than she does about the brother she will have in just 5 short months. I bought her a boy dolly and she plays with it a little bit, but not as much as I would have hoped. She is just recently starting to talk about "baby brudder" without growling or making mean faces.

I know that she will come around and they will have a great relationship. The age difference between them is the same as the age difference between my brother and I. That was no mistake on our part. I love my brother and the dynamic of our relationship so much that I wanted that for my children. Granted, I never denied him because he was a boy (in fact--I hoped that he was a boy and even got to give him his first name 'Sean' because I was right). So, my kids have a little catching up to do in that regard, but I know that they will be just as close as we are. I can't wait to see them together and I am so happy that we will get to meet our little boy this summer.