Oh boy

So today was the big day, the sonogram. I am still trying to get over the shock of it, even though it was a good shock. It was just such an unbelievable experience. That's my nose on our little baby! (Although I suppose it could be John's nose, as our noses are actually quite similar. . .) We got to see the heart pumping, with all four chambers, the little feet, the bladder, stomach and brain. The hands kept opening and closing, slowly, like the baby was waving at us. The sonographer asked if we wanted to know the sex of the baby, and we said yes, so she pointed the machine between the legs and told us that we were having a boy. A boy!

It was so amazing, I am actually, for the most part, dumbstruck over it.

Butterfly flutters

So last week I started to feel what I believe is the baby moving. It is a fluttery, bubble-like feeling directly below my belly button. The first time I felt it, it felt so definitely foreign that I was certain it was the baby, and I yelled up at my husband, who was working in the loft of our apartment. "I just felt the baby move!" But it was such a fleeting moment that a little while later I wondered if it hadn't been just digestion. Lately I have been feeling it regularly after dinner, and each time I go through a period of wonder and doubt. It is so strange for me to think that there could be a creature curled up inside of me nearly 6 inches long, and I wouldn't feel its every movement.

There is now less than two weeks until our big ultrasound, when we will hopefully find out whether the baby is a boy or a girl. I am getting so excited about it all. Just lately it struck me that the baby is a person, and will soon be outside and will laugh and grow and learn to tie shoelaces and eat breakfast and go to school and read books and talk to me about things in the world. It will be so fun to get to know this little person who is a part of me. I am so looking forward to it.