Friday, January 10, 2014

Surprise!!!

 Today Amber had her second ultrasound for mystery baby #4.  Amber had made up her mind that she didn't want to know the gender of this one.  She likes surprises and wanted the ultimate surprise of not finding out the gender of the baby until it arrived.  Personally, I wanted to know.  We found out for all of the other three and knowing the gender helps the whole family expansion thing feel more real to me.  I know I look like I am eating for two but since I don't have a baby growing inside me, knowing the gender of the baby gives me one more thing to know about this little bundle of joy that will change our lives.  I told Amber that I would respect her wishes to be surprised.  I am no good at keeping surprises from her so I came to terms with having to wait till the birthday to find out what we are having.  So this was the mindset both of us had when we went to the hospital for her appointment today.  With Sadie, we practically had to beg for a gender reveal since the technician doing the ultrasound was not comfortable telling us.  We figured it would be the same for #4 so we made no special requests for her to withhold information from us.  We expected at the least she would ask us before telling us.
 I am no expert when it comes to interpreting ultrasound monitors.  Amber is much better at this, and since the first area the tech focused on just happened to be in the right general area, Amber got a pretty good glimpse.  I totally missed it.  I was trying to video and keep Sadie happy at the same time.  What happened next was a huge surprise to all of us, five months earlier than we were expecting.  Sadie asked for a tissue so I turned off the camera and started going through Amber's jacket pockets when out of nowhere the technician very abruptly declared "It's a boy."  I looked up not believing my ears, and started laughing.  The cat was out of the bag... or more appropriately, the package was in the open.
 Words cannot express how excited for a baby boy to join our family.  Logan and Addy have been praying for a little brother since they found out that Amber was expecting.  I know exactly what Logan was going through.  I had two older sisters, and two younger sisters and I remember praying for a brother and I too was blessed with one.  Just like Logan, there is a bit of an age gap but I am grateful every day to have a brother.  I am excited for the kids to have this new experience.  After the ultrasound, Amber and I went to the PX and picked up a few new outfits for the baby and wrapped them up to surprise the kids.
 After we showed the kids pictures from the ultrasound, we let the kids open up the presents and they all went crazy.  Logan has been smiling ever since.
We are excited for our little guy to get here.  Now all we have to do is wait and come up with the perfect name for him.