Week 19 -- It's a ...

GIRL!!!! Emile and I were very excited to find out that we're having a little girl!!! I thought for sure it was a boy that I was in shock. We're going to have a daughter!!!

We had our "big" ultrasound on Thursday, December 20th. We decided to keep it a secret so we could surprise our families. The morning of the 20th, we went in for our anatomy ultrasound and found out we're having a girl. The technician, and later our doctor's nurse confirmed, that our little girl looks "normal" -- arms and legs the right length, brain looks good, face is in the right proportions, etc. The technician wasn't able to see the kidneys, chambers of the heart or spine in the position she was in so I have to go back on January 10th for another ultrasound. Our little girl weighs 7 oz. right now and is in the 50th percentile for her weight based on the day of our ultrasound (I was 17 weeks 5 days pregnant) -- so right on target.

That night, we flew to Minneapolis for Christmas at Emile's parent's house. We told them we were having a girl by wrapping up a little dress with the ultrasound photo. We had them unwrap it -- Riet held up the dress for about a split second before she exclaimed "are you having a girl??!!!!" and proceeded to jump up with excitement.

We had to then keep it a secret for another week until we saw my family in person this past Thursday on December 27th. We told my family the same way -- wrapped up a dress with the ultrasound photo and had my parents open it together. My mom responded pretty much identically to Emile's mom -- held up the dress for a split second before exclaiming "are you having a girl?!!!" and then proceeded to get super excited and overjoyed. Apparently, my dad kept whispering to my mom while they were in bed that night "we're having a granddaughter!". It was great being able to tell our families in person that we're having a girl given that we've had to tell them most things about our pregnancy via telephone or webcam.

Our families gave us a lot of wonderful baby items for Christmas -- little dresses, pink and purple blankets, baby bedding, a Baby Bjorn, play mat, little items for the diaper bag (such as wrist toys, bib, etc.), light "mood" bear, taggie blankets, sign language book, touch and feel book, Baby Einstein lullaby CD, and newborn gift set. Emile's aunt and uncle in Holland (Anneke and Norbert) sent us some Dutch baby items that are adorable -- a little bear, heart that plays music and a schouder spuugdoek (shoulder bib/burp cloth). They all have photos of windmills and a Dutch boy and girl kissing in the Delft's bleuwe color. All the gifts we got were wonderful and greatly appreciated!!

Today, I'm 19 weeks pregnant!! I definitely feel like I'm getting much bigger faster now!