Jeff got up and dressed and out of the house with us first thing this morning (which is rare for him since he’s still WFH), and Emmie was glad to have him at school drop-off with us!
One of the saddest, and also most frustrating parts of covid, is that my husband can’t actually attend my pre-natal appointments with me. He misses out on the ultrasounds and hearing the baby’s heartbeat, and just all the other tiny little parts of the appointments. Normally, I just go by myself, which I’ve gotten used to by now, mostly. But today, since we were finally going to find out the gender, Jeff and I went together, then sat in the parking lot just to be close, so that I could at least tell him in person after the appointment.
Today we did the anatomy scan to check on alllll of the body parts and limbs and organs and fingers and toes, and measure all the sizes and lengths of all the things. The ultrasound tech asked me right off the bat if I knew the gender yet, or wanted to know. I told her I didn’t know, but that I was dying to know, and YES PLEASE TELL ME, so she said she wouldn’t normally start with that, but checked that out first, so she could finally let me know. And I was thrilled!! With both Emerson and this baby, I was not-so-secretly hoping for girls both times, and I was honestly so happy and relieved and shocked to find out it was indeed a baby GIRL!!!
I am now 20 weeks 1 day pregnant, and baby was measuring right on target at 20 weeks 2 days, and baby weighs about 10 ounces! The ultrasound itself took about 45 minutes, and my back was killing me by the time I finally got up off that terrible chair, but it was great to get to see baby again. (And to finally find out that baby is a GIRL!!!) All of the other measurements and everything looked good, and all body parts are present and accounted for. Since Emerson was born with the hole in her heart, I will go back to see them again in four weeks, to do a very in-depth echo/ultrasound, to specifically look at and listen to every little chamber and valve of her heart.
We decided to treat ourselves to a celebratory breakfast date together after the appointment, and headed over to Uptown Cafe across from the hospital, which is one our my favorite local places in Tally. We ordered one huge meal with eggs, grits, sausage, hash browns, a giant pancake, and an extra bagel on the side, and just split everything in half. Of course that was still way too much food for me, so after I ate all the savory things, I saved my half of the pancake for later, and ended up eating it around lunch time at work.
And you guys… this bagel! They make their own garlic dill cream cheese, and this stuff was gooood. Strong of course, but delicious. I’m craving more of it now, on another delicious bagel. Might need to go back for some more, pronto.
After breakfast, we headed back home to take Jeff to “work,” and stopped at the Dollar Tree to grab a cute tiny puppy, for Baby Girls’ first little gift. I told Jeff earlier today that it just felt surreal still, and it hadn’t quite set in that a new baby girl will be here in a few months. It needs a little more time to sink in, but I’m still super excited!
I hadn’t started looking at or thinking of names yet, because I just couldn’t get into it before knowing the gender. But now that we finally know, I can’t wait to start reading lists and posts and writing down favorites. With Emerson, we had already picked out and agreed upon using Secille as the middle name, before we even knew the gender. So then we only had to find one name to go with that one. But now, we have to come up with two names that we both like and sound good together. I’m notoriously bad at decisions, so I’m sure it’ll be a while before we get it set in concrete, but I’m excited to start thinking about it!
After work, I went to Hopkins to pick up a sandwich for myself. I had a meeting out at the church tonight, so I ate by myself (for the second time in a few weeks!). It was surprisingly not too freezing, so I ate outside, since their indoor dining is still completely closed. I ordered the tuna sandwich, and it was really tasty. (But definitely not as good as the one I got from Kosta’s a few weeks ago.) It was huge though! But I somehow managed to finish it. Well, all except the too-many onions & pickles I took off, and the tuna that fell off the sandwich as I ate it.
I had a few minutes to spare, so after Jeff picked up Emerson from school, they stopped by to see me really quickly, so we could both tell her in-person that her wish for a baby SISTER was coming true! We got it on video, and although her reaction wasn’t quite as exciting as I had hoped, she was still cute. I mean, she has been saying it was a girl this whole time, so it wasn’t as much of a revelation to her. But she’s still so sweet!
We took a couple of family selfies together, and then I headed to church and Jeff and Emmie headed to “Chicka-flay” for their daddy/daughter dinner date.
Jeff sent me a few of the funny things she said while they were together, and they were both so funny.
Emmie: (various excuses that are silly & ridiculous)
Me: Your hair just grows and grows and you have to cut it sometimes.
Emmie: But, why can’t I be like Rapunzel?
She ate all six of her chicken nuggets at dinner, and was finishing off the cheese noodles as I got home from my meeting. She also drank every drop of milk, so that little tummy was full! Jeff got her jammies on, and I read her a book, and then we gave her the little matching gray puppy to go with Baby Sister’s pink puppy. She loved it of course, but wondered why she didn’t get the pink one.
Tonight’s bedtime went a little bit more smoothly than last night, without too much whining or fanfare. I’m gonna go grab a snack, and then we’ll watch a little tv before I head off to bed myself.
Kinda still can’t believe there’s another little GIRL growing inside me!