So it's been a while since my last post. Life has been busy, the festive season always seems to send time spinning out of control, but this last month and a half has been crazy.
At around week 17 I finally felt our little baby wriggle, and by week 19 bub was getting in some very good kicking practise. It was around this time as well that i started to feel like a beautiful pregnant woman. I felt like I was well rested (no more constant toilet breaks during the night), full of energy (although starting to feel a bit breathless as I walked the 46 stairs it takes to get to my office) and absolutely glowing (perhaps it was the extra fat I was storing filling out my face that was creating that look). It was also around this time that I decided we would move Cooper out of his cot and nursery and into his big boy bed and room so I could start on recreating the nursery for the new addition. More on both Coopers transition into his new room and the new nursery later.
Simon and I had been at loggerheads in regards to finding out what we were having this time, and he blatantly refused to discuss names with me until we'd reached 20 weeks. I argued that he got to decide that we kept it a secret when we were pregnant with Cooper so as ultrasound day approached I dug my heels in and got my way, after all I wanted to go all out on the nursery once we knew. I knew in the end it didn't matter what we were having, as long as it was human (obviously), healthy and ours I knew we would love it to the moon and back. Secretly (well maybe not so secretly) I wanted a girl, Simon was convinced this would be our last baby (I was not as sure as he was), but as the ultrasound day grew closer and I spent more time watching Cooper play with his little mates from daycare and mothers group I realised having a second little boy would be just so special.
In hindsight I can say that my reasons for initially hoping for a girl were selfish. I dreamt of being mother of the bride, creating the same close relationship my mother and I have and just being able to sweep in as maternal grandma to my grandbabies just like my mum does with Cooper and not having to suffer through what I'm sure a lot of mother in laws do when a grandbaby arrives. I also hated the thought of having two daughters in law, who no doubtingly would replace me as my sons #1 girls when the time came.
It was the 9th of the December at 9:30am. Simon managed to get out of work for an hour or so to join me at the ultrasound. Having been through a morphology scan before I knew it was going to take around 45 mins and decided it might be best to leave Cooper with a friend rather than have him squirm and create havoc in our appointment. I also knew this was a bad idea because Simon and I had decided that besides our best friends we were keeping the gender a secret until Christmas day, which meant I needed to have my very best poker face on when I picked Cooper up after the scan.
As usual the technician scanned through all the most vital organs, checking and double checking. Our baby was perfect and when the time came for the technician to tell us what we were having I realised that I didn't care in the slightest about being a monster in law or mother the the groom twice, I looked at Simon and questioned whether we should still find out. He hardly had time to answer when the technician announced our baby was a precious little girl. I started sobbing. I knew I would have be ecstatic with another boy, but a baby girl, a daughter, and a little sister for Cooper was just too perfect and all I could think is that I had been blessed.
After the scan I sent a text immediately to my best friend, the excitement and joy was uncontainable and I knew there was no way I would be able to pick up Cooper without letting on. Fortunately Cooper was with a friend I could trust (well duh, she was minding my first born after all) and when I walked in and saw her I started to tear up again, "I'm going to have a daughter" and that was it I had let the cat out of the bag and she was sworn to secrecy until we announced it officially on Christmas day!
With the technician so confident of a little girl, I thought it would be fun to test out some old wives tales. We all know of them, fun little facts that supposedly can tell you if you are having a boy or a girl. Well here were my results:
Heart Beat - how it works: Old wives tales claim that in the first trimester a little girls heart beat will be faster than 140 beats per minute, while a boy will always be less than that. My result: GIRL - the heartbeat always sat around 160bpm for the first 3 months of this pregnancy.
Sweet V savoury - how it works: Old wives tales claim that cravings for certain foods can determine a baby's gender. Sweet = Girl, Savoury = Boy. What's the saying sugar and spice and all things nice? Well given all I can think about is chocolate and sugar I'd say my result on this is a GIRL.
Chinese Gender Charts: how it works: This chart uses your lunar age and the lunar month at the time of conception to predict whether you will have a son or daughter. The Chinese claim it is 99% accurate but for me my result revealed a BOY - so I guess I was one of the 1% that it didn't work for.
The Mayan gender chart: how it works: it's similar to the Chinese chart, only the Mayans determined the sex of the baby by taking the mother's age at conception, and the year of conception. If both are even or both are odd...it's a girl. If one is even and one odd it's a boy. Well they wrongfully predicted the world was going to end on the 21st of December 2012, but they got the gender right. My result: GIRL.
The Ring Test: how it works: you take a short length of string, thread your wedding band through it and drop it over your belly button, if it swings around in a circle you are pregnant with a boy, if it swings back and forth a girl. My result GIRL.
Morning Sickness: how it works: apparently the sicker you are the more chance you have of being pregnant with a girl. Well in comparison to my pregnancy with Cooper I was a thousand times sicker. My result GIRL.
Well it seems those old wives may have been on to something :)
