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Thursday, March 01, 2012

20 weeks—and Happy Leap Day!

Here we are at the half-way point already. I suppose if anyone wants to make a guess about the gender now's the time—we'll be (hopefully) revealing that after our ultrasound on Friday. I suggested to Andrew that we just let this one be a surprise and he said, "You can have it be a surprise if you want but I'm going to find out."


Having him know and not me would be super lame so we're just finding out. I'm not exactly heartbroken about this because as a woman in my ward pointed out to me when I was expecting Rachel, it's a surprise whenever you find out. 

We haven't even really discussed names for the baby yet. Andrew has been refusing to have a serious discussion about names until we find out the gender. I've been scouring Nymbler for names—I have a few girl names that I like and have mentioned them to Andrew but as far as boy names go I am completely stumped. I have a list a mile long of names I don't approve of but have hardly any that I'm fond of. 

Miriam wants it to be a girl and has suggested the name Sylvie, though she seems more set on the gender than the name. She has no suggestions for a boy name since she's pretty sure it's going to be a girl.

Rachel wants it to be a boy and has suggested the name Harry Potter, though she'll accept a girl if we name it Hermione.

We have no gender preference. A boy would be nice because we don't have one yet and Andrew's the only chance left of passing on the Heiss genetics with the Heiss name. But another girl would be nice because we're comfortable with girls. When we first started having kids we really wanted a boy but now we think having a houseful of girls would be alright—Andrew likes being a father to girls. He likes dancing with them and has even started to do hair. But he also likes to play lego and rough house with them so I think he'll find that he's more comfortable with little boys than he imagines.

To sum up: we'll be happy either way.

And I'll be happy either way especially because Andrew will have no reason to put off discussing baby names with me (other than that he's "too busy" with school but I have a million rebuttals for that one, not the least of which is "School?! I am your WIFE! I am the greatest good you are ever going to get!").

I'm kind of surprised at how fast this pregnancy is going. I felt pregnant earlier than I did with the first two—exhausted and huge—but I think I've been provided with a lot more distractions this pregnancy due to the fruit of the first two pregnancies. I'm actually shocked that we're at the halfway point already, but look at what I've had to distract me the past couple of weeks: two afternoons in the ER from Miriam, an accidental frenectomy and head bonk from Rachel...I've hardly had time to remember that I'm pregnant let alone dwell on it. 

But let's see...to aid anyone who wishes to guess in their guessing, here's some information on this pregnancy:
  • I've been craving tomatoes (soup, sauce, fresh) but that's the same as the first two.
  • I've also been craving Asian food (Thai, Chinese, whatever) and Doritos (in the first trimester)
  • My friend Sara gave me a bag of gummy bears and...it's not gone. Sweets just aren't singing to me this time around.
  • I have fainted a handful of times—actually completely blacking out. I've never felt so faint in my entire life. I've never fainted in my entire life. This pregnancy changed that and let me just say that fainting is one of the weirdest sensations ever. I can tell I'm fainting (and have learned to stand up really slowly) and can tell when I'm coming to but the middle is some sort of dreamland that I can't exactly describe. 
  • I'm not anemic (wahoo)! I was with the first two. 
  • I'm hardly showing so I can't really tell if I'm carrying high or low—but I am showing more at this point than with the first two (I think) though that's probably due to it being the third pregnancy than gender.
  • I started feeling the baby kick at 16 weeks. When it kicks it really kicks. 
  • According to the Chinese Gender Prediction Calendar (that Andrew found), it's a boy. I'm not really sure Andrew knows the recipe for boy though...
I can't think of anything else that might tip your hand in favour of male or female so I'll leave it at that and let you guess away.

4 comments:

  1. Well, Josie was an amazing kicker. We didn't know what gender the baby was -- Dr. Ewert did not believe in revealing that particular bit of information, though she secretly knew it was a girl--but when I was in labor with her, she kicked up a storm between every contraction, and the nurses were worried because it was getting close to shift change, and they wanted to meet the "linebacker" inside of me. They were rather surprised at the sweet little girl they met instead of a footballer.

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  2. Yeah, everyone told me this time I must be having a girl because the pregnancy was so different. A bit of morning sickness (none with Gareth), an intense desire for any sweet food or unhealthy food, which was also opposite of last time. This baby's way more active than Gareth was and I'm also carrying differently. But, no, they confirmed today that we are, indeed, having another boy. So I think all that stuff people use to predict boy or girl is not useful.

    And it really is amazing how quickly it all passes. But, as you say, having another kid or two around helps.

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  3. Didja do the wedding ring test? Where you hang your ring from a string and make it hover above the belly. Back and forth swinging means boy and circular swinging means girl. I'm curious about that. :D

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