Thinking Pink

Move over Mama, there's a new princess coming to town!

The Smith Family is thrilled to finally be adding a little girl to our family.  I wasn't sure it was in the cards for us, but you just never know what might happen! Her three big brothers cannot wait to have a little sister to love on, and I know they will be the best protectors around!

I've actually known that I was having a girl since I was 11 weeks along. Since I'm now 35 and considered advanced maternal age (in other words--old!) I was offered an amazing new test that checks for chromosomal abnormalities as early as 10 weeks. It's called the MaterniT21, and although it's only offered for moms 35+ or those who have a history of chromosomal abnormalities, I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who is eligible to have it done. It is completely noninvasive, so there is no risk to the baby, and it is extremely accurate. All they have to do is take two vials of mama's blood and send it off to the lab, where somehow someway they can extract fetal DNA from the mother's blood and check out the chromosomes of the baby. Incredible! In addition to testing for abnormal chromosomes, they can also determine if there is Y chromosome present. In my case, there was none, so we were told we were having a girl!

Although I was ecstatic, I was simply in denial since I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. The test is only a couple years old, and at this point I only know one other person who has had it done (and she's having a girl, too!) so I was certain there was some kind of error rate that I would magically fall into.  Finally, at 20 weeks 2 days along, I got to see baby girl with my own eyes. And even though I had no idea what I was looking at, I didn't tell the tech that I had already heard the results and instead made her search and search until she had a clear view. Baby wasn't in a very good position to get a good glimpse, but the tech was finally able to see! When she told me it is a girl, I said "I know! I just wanted to make sure." I think she thought I was mean for not saying anything before, but I didn't want her to be influenced by my previous test results. :)

So, here she is! She was all over the place during the ultrasound, raising her arms up and putting her hands in her mouth. I both love and loathe the ultrasound appointment. Love it because it is amazing to see your little baby alive and kicking in your belly. Loathe it because half the time I don't know what the weird blob I'm looking at on the screen is and I start worrying that it's something wrong. Thankfully, everything appeared fine and right on track, and because of this, my doctor is not suggesting that we opt for genetic counseling and a Level II ultrasound, even though my age puts me into that category. We are so thankful and feel incredibly blessed.

I keep getting the question, "What's your secret?" After three boys, it seems unlikely that we would get a girl. I'm no expert, but all I can say is that before you try for another, you have to make darn sure you would be ok with getting either gender. I struggled with that for a long time and prayed many many times about whether another baby was even in our future and if so, if I would be happy with a fourth boy. It took a long time for us to finally decide to try again. For anyone who does decide to try once more after having all the same gender, I would definitely suggest the book How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby by Dr. Landrum B. Shettles. I bought it two years ago, read it cover to cover, then cover to cover again, then here and there all throughout this process. I tracked my cycles for over a year. I prayed about it a LOT.  And then when it was time, I just knew. I felt a nudging and I went with it. I am so very excited to meet this sweet baby girl, and I am truly blessed beyond measure. 

We are THINKING PINK!