The Big News: It's a...

In the words of the technician who performed our ultrasound: "It's a genius with a penis!"

Yes, it's a boy!  And there's little question about that.  Another priceless quote from the technician: "Boy, he's well hung!"  Indeed, there's no questioning that there's a sizable penis between his two legs.  The technician says that she is very clear with people when she's not entirely sure about the sex.  She'll tell them that she wouldn't bet her paycheck on it.  In our case, however, she declared that she would bet her paycheck, her house, and all of her belongings on the fact that our baby is a boy.  He's just that well hung.  

As for the genius part, well, what can I say?  Would you have expected any less?  She measured the size of his cerebellum, which she said was a measurement of how intelligent the baby is.  When I laughed, she very seriously said, "No, really, this is an indicator of intelligence."  Well, our little one's cerebellum is a good bit larger than is typical at this age.  In fact, it's measuring a full week and a half larger than the rest of his body.  So, indeed, there's no arguing it - he's a genius.

It also seems that he's going to be big.  All that food I'm eating must be going to straight to him.  At this point in their development, the average weight for babies is 9 ounces.  Our little guy, on the other hand, is measuring in at a whopping 11 ounces.  The technician is predicting that he'll be 8 or so pounds when born.  She assured me that he wouldn't be 12 pounds, but said he'll definitely be large.

Everything else we checked out looked great.  The heart is pumping away - about 148 bpm.  The stomach, bladder, and kidneys are all formed and functioning appropriately.  The face is forming as it should.  The arms, legs, fingers, toes, and even little fingernails and toenails all appear just as they should.  It's amazing all you can see on these ultrasounds!  And he seems very happy - he's flip-flopping all around, quite the active little one.  The technician was even a little frustrated with him at one point because he just wouldn't sit still to let her get the shot she needed.  He seems to tire himself out though, because toward the end he stretched his arms out and his neck back and then rolled over on his side, presumably to go to sleep.  

We couldn't be more excited!  Everything seems much more real now, now that we know this little being is going to be our son.  He acutally looks like a little baby now, and to add to all the excitement, I felt the baby move for the first time this morning.  As I was making my breakfast this morning, it felt like I had a little muscle spasm in my upper stomach.  Sure enough, throughout the day, I felt more and more of these little spasms and flutters.  It's so exciting to feel this little life inside of you!

And so, as the day comes to a close, we are absolutely ecstatic.  I mean, who wouldn't be?  What more can you ask for than "a genius with a penis?"