baby, baby, baby, ooh

...thank you, Justin Bieber, for your inspiring lyrics...

This morning Hubby and I went to a much-anticipated ultrasound appointment for the Little Bit growing in my belly. How differently this appointment felt from our first ultrasound for Bird. No less special, of course, just different. This time, our fourth baby, I could easily identify so many things on the monitor: the tiny hands almost clasped together, the four chambers of the heart beating so perfectly, the bony spine and ribcage already formed, and two tiny feet. Oh, how I love the feet.

Pregnant with Bird, I was confident she was a boy. Bee's pregnancy was so very different from Bird's, I was again convinced she was a boy. With Little Lion, I was not going to be fooled a third time and my mommy instincts were much sharper. I knew he was a baby girl. Awesome track record, no? For the first time in four pregnancies, I've waffled back and forth on whether this baby is a boy or girl. Weekly, it seemed, I flipped from boy to girl and back to boy. In the last week, however, I've been confident this baby is a girl and the Chinese Charts agree with me. Nevermind that the Chinese Charts and I only had a fifty percent chance of being wrong.

Last night at dinner, our family of five (for just a few more months!) voted on the gender. Bird voted girl. Initially, Bee's vote was girl, but she decided that might not be quite fair so she changed her vote to boy. With two girls and Mama and one boy and Daddy, Bee decided a boy would be balanced and fair. Leave it to Bee to be diplomatic. Little Lion voted strongly in favor of a boy. "She will be a boy," he declared.

In the car as we drove to the appointment, Hubby and I placed our final bets. I stuck with girl and Hubby voted boy. His scientific method was merely my previous record of 100% inaccurate predictions. Truth be told, that logic almost made me switch my own vote!

I impatiently waited for the tech's grand announcment. Our baby, it seemed, was sitting bottom down, making it hard for her to get a good angle. But as she measured and examined our baby, I was totally overwhelmed by the ultrasound. Our baby's heart was pumping blood just as it should, the liver indicated it was already functioning...all while the baby is one day shy of 19 weeks and a tiny ten ounces. Our baby girl, YES GIRL! is a total miracle and I'm speechless...well nearly. Babies are born every single day, but not to me, and each time I see one of my babies I am overcome with awe.

Our family of soon-to-be six may not be perfectly balanced by Bee's standards, but will be perfectly perfect by ours. We can't wait to meet our sweet baby girl.