We found out on Christmas morning that our little peanut is a girl! It was, without a doubt, the most exciting Christmas I've ever had, and I think Miller would say the same. We were at first unsure of whether we would find out or not, after weighing the many opinions of our family and friends who did/didn't and the benefits of both. But in the end, we decided to find out so we could get everything ready. I also wanted to move forward with the fabric designs I'd come up with for a boy or girl (I'd already started working on both).
That said, I still wanted finding out the gender to be special, and I realized the timing might be right to pull off a Christmas reveal.
I had a routine Dr. appointment scheduled on December 23rd at 16 weeks - a little early but still within the realm to detect the gender. My Dr. had said she would try to sneak in a quick ultrasound so that she could take a peek, but wouldn't make any promises if she was super behind, or the baby was sitting wrong, because it was still pretty early. Because I'm mildly crazy, once we decided we'd find out on Christmas, I was determined that is what would happen, so I made backup plans at an ultrasound place in town (having to get our friend Dr. Kimbrough to sign a sheet saying he authorized it, as my doctor's office has a policy against medically unnecessary sonograms).
Well, things nearly fell apart about six ways to Sunday that day, as my appointment got moved around, I almost had to see the nurse instead, etc. We almost needed that backup plan. But my wonderful doctor, despite being backed up at that point, flew into the room and excitedly asked me if I wanted her to take a peek for Christmas. It took some time, but she finally got a good look, and wrote it on the card I'd brought with me. The next day, my cousin went with me to Janie + Jack and I picked out two very cute Christmas outfits, for a boy and a girl - and the girl's outfit came with the cuuuutest green coat I'd ever seen. I said that she had to be a girl because I just had to have that coat! The people at Janie + Jack had done this reveal thing before, which made everything easier. I handed them the envelope and my credit card, and we left while they wrapped up the correct outfit. They even taped the receipt to the inside of the box so that I wouldn't know (the girl's outfit, of course, was twice as expensive as the boy's), and didn't make me sign anything so I wouldn't have to look at the total. I took the box home and put it under our tree...it was very hard not to touch it!
As an aside, this was around the time I first started feeling little kicks. Just flutters, but I remember distinctly during Christmas Eve service that night she was moving all around while we sang carols. It was such a sweet moment and had me a little teary-eyed. It starts to be so much more real when you can feel them moving!
The next morning, we got up and made gingerbread in our freezing cold, heaterless house - the heater had broken the night before and this was of course, one of those Christmases where the weather was appropriately wintry rather than 85 degrees. We opened all our other gifts first, saving the big reveal for last. Here's what we found (courtesy of the iPhone) when we opened the box:
Well, I promptly burst into tears, sending the dogs into a little bit of a freak out - they don't like when I cry. All the anticipation was too much for my hormonal self I guess! I was convinced all along it was a girl, despite believing my entire life that I'd have all boys. The box was fabulous because we could wrap it up again and again - all it had was a ribbon tying the whole thing together. So, once I'd collected myself, we got online with the Millers on Skype and did the reveal with them in Colorado. Then we went over to my mom's house in our grubbies (seriously, still in our robes & PJs - they live around the corner), and let my mom open the box - she got all weepy too. And finally, we got ourselves all cleaned up and headed over to my grandparents' house and let my grandmother Annie open it:
So sweet. Annie is one excited great grandmother - but don't ever call her Granny Annie! She's much more with it than any granny I know.
The whole day was so happy and memorable; and the first of many to come. She will be a little over 6 months this Christmas, just old enough to properly enjoy eating the wrapping paper and ribbon on all the gifts we give her.
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