You Called It!

We're Having A GIRL!!!

Sorry this is getting posted so late, but we had a marathon day today! I'm just going to write about the whole day since... I want to. :-){I wanted to show you baby girl's little cute nose (since Daddy teased her about her last photo) and her clasped hands. They were like that whenever she didn't want to be messed with.}

Today after waiting an hour and a half past our appointment time the ultrasound tech looked our little baby over from head to toe. I knew more about the markers for down syndrome than the tech did so I was counting things like knuckles, asking about femur lengths, and holding my breath when they looked at her heart. After the tech left in came the genetic counselor, then another doctor to take a closer look... which is enough to worry a mother. However after all their exams they confidently said, "She is healthy!" She doesn't have any markers for down syndrome, but I appreciated their honestly that it doesn't always show up on an ultra sound, as we well know. But, her heart is well and so is she! We move forward with comfort that she's okay. *sigh*

We decided that we'd like to have Porter pick out the baby's first outfit after we found out little brother or sister. As you can see if was a tough decision, one he took very seriously... not. ;)

{Big Brother Porter!}

{Final selections for baby girl! The Green one is newborn size and could be her first outfit, if she isn't early like her brother. I hope she is. The yellow one is 0-3 months but I had to get it because it quickly inspired an entire room decor for her.}

{Love the details ruffles, flowers, frills. To be honest even though I was hoping for a boy I adjusted quickly and loved shopping for these clothes. Aaron suspected it was a girl. But, when we were shopping it was obvious he was hoping for another boy and that he is nervous about having a girl. He just had a dear in the headlights look on his face and kept saying, "I'm sure she'll melt my heart, just like you did, P." Aww!}

You may ask, "Does she have a name?" Well... we've had 2 girl names picked out for years now Zoë & Eva (pronounced "Ava"). Both names were used on Aaron's side of the family in just the last few months. We had decided to go with Zoë since that was the most distant relation, but as we talked over lunch today we're second guessing. Zoë has become a very popular name and we're just not sure. We'll see, it may get the boot. We still love the name Eva but that's a much closer relation and we're not comfortable with 2 cousins only 6 months apart from each other, with no other children between them, having the same name. Her cousin's name is Avalynn and ironically this baby will for sure have the middle name Lynn passed down from my Dad to Me to our First Girl. Crazy, right?! We're still hoping to name a girl Eva but it's too weird to have 2 so close for us. Baby girl #2, perhaps. This means we're back to the drawing board, a place we never expected to be with girl names! At least we're not calling her "it" anymore!

After our exciting news we had an appointment for Porter to have what we were told was a Swallow Study done at the Children's Hospital only a few minutes from the hospital where I had my ultrasound. Because my ultrasound appointment had been tardy, Aaron didn't have time to go back to work before this appointment with P. We checked in and waited, hoping it wouldn't be as long as the first hospital, 15 minutes later they called Porter back! Wahoo! To our chagrin, we were immediately told the order had been written incorrectly. Porter didn't need a swallow study completed he needed an upper GI study completed. UGH! The doctor's office was at lunch but we decided to wait since we were already there. When they got back from lunch, P's doctor was out of the office. His medical assistants (whom I love), tracked him down and 3 hours later they were finally able to do the study. Porter had to drink a ton of Berium and then they x-rayed a lot to see how his stomach filled up and digested. Porter did awesome until he reached his full level and they wanted him to drink more. I was impressed that he managed drinking with his legs bandaged together, his arms held over his head, and being rolled side to side on an exam table. I felt so bad for him when he had finally had it. I stood behind a wall with a window since sister shouldn't be exposed to radiation. As they watched, the doctors confirmed that Porter has severe acid reflux, but we already knew that. They found that his tummy doesn't empty very quickly which allows the reflux to persist. We have to wait to hear from his pediatrician before we can make a plan.

Because this appointment went over there was no point in going home before we were to meet up with my parents at Temple Square to show Porter the lights. We try to do one activity a month for Family Home Evening and this was it for December. My parents were so excited to come. Since we hadn't been able to go home we had to make due with what we had on hand when we left the house at 8:30am. So we layered P with his emergency clothes, along with his outfit for the day. My Mom had a beanie that took 3 people to get on Porter...hehe. And I wore our road side emergency blanket as a coat. Since it was 50 degrees tonight and not windy it was perfect!

{Dad, Grandpa Gregg, & Grandma Nec (behind P) trying to bundle Porter up.}

{They love their Grandkids and they love P! Porter was more than happy to cuddle in with Grandpa.}

{Porter was sooo tired but his eyes showed how excited he was to see the lights.}

{Porter's new "Woah's" and "Ooos" delight us and there were many tonight. As a side note, Porter said his first "I love you" this morning, pronounced "Vuv Woo"!}

{Rare photo of all 3 of us.}

{Amazing, love visiting Temple Square to see the lights!}

{Christmas Luminaries}

{My beautiful Mother with her exhausted grandson. You know he's tired when he stops closing his mouth. I love how these 2 love each other!}

We were headed to dessert with my parents when Porter fell fast, fast asleep in the car. We cut the night short to bring him home. Coming home after spending 12 hours in the city just reminded me there is no place I feel more comfortable than in my own home. I breathe easy when I'm home.

There's our exciting and long, long day.

We think it's funny that on one side of the family Porter is the only Grandson and that on the other our girl will be the only Granddaughter. Funny how that happens.

P.S. I'm tired as well... sorry if this is just a bunch of rambling. It seemed important to get down before I go to sleep. Goodnight!