Lil G Unveiled

One September day I was sitting in my office at work, trying not to focus on the morning sickness that took over my body for two weeks in my first trimester, when I heard my cell buzzing.  I looked at the caller ID screen (ha - is it still even called that these days?) and it was my brother-in-law Ryan on the line.  I thought that's weird cause Ryan is typically super busy at work.  We'd just recently told our families that we were expecting a little Goldin next March.  Ryan called to give us a great suggestion...what if we both go with our families on the same trip to the doctor to find out the gender of the two Goldin babies on the way (his wife was expecting as well).  They'd tried several times to find out the gender prior to us unveiling our new baby news, but did not have much luck as the baby was uncooperative and crossed its legs each time.  This was a blessing in disguise so that both of our families could share in the wonderful excitment together!  What a perfect idea.  Since they were 5 weeks ahead of us, it only meant they had to wait until we were ready but everyone seemed willing.   

My sister-in-law Abbey set everything up for us, so all we had to do is tell our families.  October 19th, 2010 (week 17 for us) we were both scheduled for a gender determination ultrasound!  We rounded up the clan and it ended up being my Gramps, my little brother, Matt's brother Ryan and their family and Matt's parents who would come with us to hear whether we'd be painting the nursery blue or pink.  The doctor's office we set up the appointment with specialized in early gender determination and even had the ultrasound available onine in real-time so my sister-in-law, and my mom & sister (who were in FL) could watch at home while it was happening.  

Lil G's great Gramps

We were all anxious when the day finally arrived.  I had to make it through the work day before we went in that evening and man I was nervous.  The pressure was on to have the same sex babies so they could build a close relationship with each other growing up together.  We debated who'd go for the first ultrasound and Matt & I got the short straw. 

Once we got there they brought all of us back to the ultrasound room and since they specialized in gender determination they were prepared for lots of family members joining the soon-to-be parents during their visits.  The room was big enough to seat everyone and had a huge screen to project the ultrasound on - movie theather like. Well maybe not that big but definitely 90inch screen at the least.  The nurse said 'ok who's first?'  I hopped up on the table and she began to rub my belly down with warm gel.  My heart was in my throat - even though we'd love Lil G either way, it's a big milestone along the journey.  She pointed out and typed up 'little feet', 'little hands', etc (so my mom & sister could tell at home too).  She kept saying I think I know what the gender is, but kept waiting and waiting to say.  Finally after fifteen minutes (what seemed like an hour of unknown trepidation) of beautiful images of our baby on the screen, she point to a part of the picture and said 'see those three little lines...IT'S A GIRL'.

Up until this point we'd had fun guessing and going by old wives tales, we thought we were going to have a boy.  Then that morning of our gender determination I had a weird feeling, almost like mother intuition, and told Matt that I thought the baby was a girl.  Once the news was out and the nurse typed it into the ultrasound screen, my mom started calling right away.  We still were in the room and had to wait for Abbey to go next.  They already had a boy who was athletic and a cutie, Cannon, and a girl, who was shy yet totally adorable, Janie.  We hoped they could share the same joy as us in knowing who we'd be meeting in 23 more weeks and that their baby would tell us it's secret too.  Much to our surprise, they were expecting a girl as well!  Whoo hoo!!  How fun this ride will be together I thought.  Sharing clothes, childhood memories and family adventures as cousins.  It made me miss my cousins, who I'd grown up so close with when I was young.  Abbey had brought little PINK bracelets that said 'It's a Girl' for all of us...so sweet.  

Afterwards I ran outside to call my mom back to chat.  Everyone had joy in their hearts that evening and my mom was probably the most excited.  She'd already given me a bag full of girl clothes prior to this night and I thought she was crazy because what if we'd had a boy?  I guess she already knew deep down inside though.  As I was on the phone I started thinking about my husband's reaction the moment the nurse said it's a girl.  He looked happy, but slightly scared.  I think he was a bit more relieved when he found out his brother was having a girl too.  I told him that he could still talk to her about football and working out.  I figured once he saw her face he'd be butter anyways.

We all decided to go out for yogurt (Menchie's self serve with endless topping - yum) after leaving the doctor's office.  It ended the evening on a great note.

The two mommy-to-be's

Since we'd spent the evening with family, we didn't get much time that night to talk about the baby news to ourselves before bedtime.  However, I won't forget the very next morning.  Matt must've been thinking about it before he dosed off to sleep the night before because as soon as we woke up the first thing that came out of this mouth before climbing out of bed was 'She's not dating until she's 30!'  Too cute :)