It's a BOY!

Allow me to introduce you to Mr. Hudson Richard!

About a week and a half ago, Matt and I decided that we wanted to look into an elective ultrasound package.  **Disclaimer: Let's be honest, my crazy anxiety and strong desire to see my baby again (It had been almost 8 weeks since our last ultrasound. That may not seem like a lot to some of you, but after weekly ultrasounds during weeks 6-9, it feels like an eternity.) caused me to look for places in our area and ask Matt his thoughts. He graciously agreed :)**  I located a place about an hour from our house that has a good reputation for not only determining gender, but also for their all around services.  I called and we had our appointment scheduled for exactly one week later - this past Saturday.  We chose a two session package.  The first would be a 15 minute appointment that would hopefully tell us gender, and the second would be a 3D/4D 30 minute appointment between weeks 26 and 34.

We decided to ask my parents and siblings to join us for this hopefully exciting appointment.  We met in the parking lot at about 10:45 and made our way into the building.  I filled out the necessary paperwork, and next thing I knew, I was laying on the ultrasound table.  The first thing the tech looked at was our baby's heartbeat.  It was beating away at 150bpm!  The next thing she did was show us our baby!  Wow!  To be honest, the baby looked like a little turtle at our last ultrasound at nine weeks.  It was just beginning to grow its arms and legs, and now this time it looked like a tiny little human!

She showed us the entire body up close and personal, and then concentrated on the goods!  Of course, the umbilical cord was resting right in between the legs.  She spent about ten minutes shaking my belly so the baby would move and the cord would not.. so we could have a clear view.  FINALLY!  Baby moved.. and right there plain as day, we were able to see that our sweet little baby is a BOY!

I had a gut feeling from the day this pregnancy was confirmed that this little one was a boy.  Matt kept his opinions a secret until we were in the ultrasound room and then he too, revealed that he was feeling boy.  I cannot explain how excited we were to have a little prince in our lives in a few short months!  The amount of love I immediately felt for my son is unreal. (not that I didn't feel love for my baby prior to this, but you get what I mean) I could not get enough of him on the screen.  Luckily, we got to bring home a DVD recording of the entire ultrasound.  I am pretty sure I have watched it at least five times since Saturday and I notice something different every time.  He was waving his little hands all over the place and crossing he legs exactly like I do when I sit. We were able to see his spine and all of his little ribs as well as him opening his mouth.  At one point, he took his hand and rubbed his eye like he was so tired.  So incredibly amazing.

My family had brought two gifts bags along with them - one pink, and one blue.  Inside the beautiful blue bag was two very cute sets of little outfits for out little baby boy when he is born.  Again, we are so incredibly excited!

We decided to share the news with Matt's mom in her birthday card :)  Saturday evening, we (along with Matt's sisters) took his mom out for dinner for her birthday.  We signed the card with our names, baby boy's name, and the dogs name.  She immediately picked up on it!  We then got to share with his sisters and our niece and nephews.  It was so surreal!

Now, of course, there is always a little room for error, but the tech and our OB said at this point it is very very slim.  We do have our appointment with the maternal fetal specialist on February 7th and we will be able to confirm for SURE at that time.  

Here are a few additional pictures from our ultrasound.

I share this with you today as I am sitting on my couch, cozied up under a blanked for our THIRD snow day of the year.  That is totally unheard of here.. as is the foot of snow we are projected to get!  It has its perks and its downfalls.  A day off is always welcomed, but we start a brand new semester with brand new classes and kids tomorrow.  Today was our scheduled work day to finalize the first semester and prepare for the second.. and we lost it.  So, needless to say, I will be doing lots of work from home this afternoon.  Luckily, we were able to swing by the grocery store and pick up some snow storm staples!

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  We are so ecstatic to be welcoming a baby boy into our family!  Now, to start planning his nursery!