Boy or Girl??

One week from today, we will hopefully be finding out the gender of our baby. I am SO excited! I can't wait to see the baby on the ultrasound again. It is such a precious gift to catch a glimpse of what is going on in there. I'm also excited this week, because I'm pretty sure I'm feeling some movement. I keep second guessing myself, but this is the second week in a row where I've felt a sort of tickley tapping sensation, and it's a different feeling than I've ever felt before. I feel it most in the evenings when I'm sitting still, but even now as I type this I feel a little tap here and there. It's exhilarating every time I feel it. I freeze and just wait and hope to feel it again. I keep thinking that maybe it's just stomach rumblings and then I'll feel really dumb when I actually feel movement, but I've never felt my stomach do that before, so I'm pretty sure I'm right about what I'm feeling. My doctor said I could start feeling it around 17 weeks, and I'm at 18 weeks now, so I'm hoping that's really what I feel. I can't wait until the movements get stronger and more consistent because it makes my day every time I feel something. The fact that there is a baby in there is starting to feel so much more real than it did before. The combination of movement and a baby bump makes this so much more fun! I love being able to see my abdomen grow as my baby does. I feel much more excitement and much less fear during this trimester than I did in my first. I still have a fair share of fearful moments or thoughts, but I don't feel terrified like I did at first. I can't believe how much I already love this little person inside of me, and I think that feeling will just grow stronger after I see him or her on the ultrasound next week and have more information. I can't wait to call the baby by his or her name and be able to refer to it as "he" or "she" instead of "it", "he or she", or just "the baby". I feel so blessed to be able to experience this gift of life.

I am so excited about having a baby. I can't wait to hold this little person and watch he or she grow up. I can't wait to watch Sam as a father loving on his child. I know he will be a great dad and will be adored by our child.

I have had two friends tell me that they think I'm having a girl. I have had a feeling that it's a girl from the beginning, but we'll see if I'm right. Mostly my reasoning for thinking it's a girl is that Sam came off of deployment on a destroyer and something in the radar on there makes girls. It was a couple weeks after he got back though, so I'm not sure how long that impact lasts. As far as old wives tales go, several of those point to a girl as well. The heart rate was 153 at our last appointment and I have totally been craving sweets. On the other hand, there are a fair share of wives tales that point to a boy as well, so who knows. I will be ecstatic about either. Since I've been feeling like it's a girl, I will be excited and surprised if it's a boy. I think it would be pretty neat to have a mini version of Sam running around. I am praying for a healthy baby, whichever the gender. I just hope the baby cooperates next week so we can know!

So what do you think? Do you think we're having a boy or a girl?