Gender Reveal: It's a BOY

It's no secret that we've been DYING to find out if Baby V would be a little prince or princess. (It also wasn't much of a secret that we were both really pulling for a boy this go around.) Stephen and I went back and forth from the beginning with the idea of having a gender reveal when we finally did find out. I always used to think the idea was silly, but it was also an excuse to get our families and friends together to celebrate our little peanut. I was feeling really tired and not sure I wanted the stress, but Stephen had his heart set on it so we decided to go for it.

I'm SO glad now that we did. It was so much fun. We didn't do the "usual" gender reveal party. We wanted it to be small with just our families and closest friends(That in itself was 20+ people!). To my disappointment our doctor didn't plan to do an ultrasound until the 20 week anatomy scan (which isn't for another week from now!). So me being impatient, I called the ultrasound institute here and asked what their policy was for pregnant women to come in as "volunteers." Luckily, the only requirement was that you had been to your doctor in your 2nd trimester.. CHECK! So at 16 weeks I scheduled an appointment with the institute crossing my fingers they would be able to tell us.

**Side note: there was no guarantee they would be able to tell so soon, and I was nervous ALL day because we went ahead and scheduled the "party" for that night just hoping we would know. Talk about nerves!

I had my 16 week check up in the morning on March 26th. Good report from the doctor, so off to work Stephen and I went. Our ultrasound appt wasn't until 3:15. Talk about torture! I thought I was going to jump out of my skin I was so anxious, and I'm pretty sure the clock stopped several times. Stephen was just as anxious based on the texts I got from him through out the day.

When it was FINALLY time I left work and headed to meet Stephen at our appt. The girls that did our scan(it's an ultrasound school so I was basically "practice" for the students. So we had 3 different students plus an instructor look at the baby.) were laughing at Stephen because he looked like he could pass out. He was SO nervous! (I hate to see what he's going to be like on D-day!!) The first tech started scanning and was just showing us stuff and measurements. Then at the same time all three techs said they could tell what we were having. They asked if I could see it. I said,"I assume if I can see "it", it must be a boy, right?"

I don't know about you more experienced Mamas out there, but I can't see anything on those stupid scans! The techs laughed and said you can see either way, but yes they were all in agreement that it was indeed a BOY! Stephen let out the biggest sigh of relief. (He assured me that he would have been happy either way, but did realllyyyyyyy want a boy first.) We all laughed at him. They had the instructor come in just to be sure, but she confirmed I am most definitely carrying a baby boy! 

              Can you see what the techs saw? I personally see nothing! 

     My sister hates this picture because she says "it's creepy" the way you can see all his bones, but I love it!                        You can really see how long he is already.

Once that part was over. We enjoyed about 30 minutes of just watching our little boy flip and kick and wave in there while they took turns practicing their scanning techniques. The thing that sticks out most to me are how LONG his legs are! I was only 16 weeks at the appt, but his legs measured at 18 weeks and everything else measured on track for 16. He definitely gets that from his Daddy! I'm curious to see how much he's grown when I go in a week for the anatomy scan.

I know that usually no one finds out until the gender reveal party, but we could not wait that long. We decided we would find out and use the "party" as a way to tell all of our family at once. After scouring pinterest, I decided I wanted to do the colored balloons in the box idea as a way to do the big reveal. I tried to keep it low key so I had made some snacks, cut up pink and blue ribbons so people could display if they were on team pink or team blue, and set up a guessing area for people to make their predictions. It was super cute and a lot of fun and I'm so glad now we did it this way.

We had his name picked out long before we knew. We actually had the first name picked out long before I was pregnant, truth be told! But we settled on his middle name a few days prior to finding out. We will welcome Nolan Evan shortly after Labor Day and we can't wait! 

    Voting station with pictures from the ultrasound to make your guess

Sweet big cousin Trae!

Getting ready for the reveal...

It's a BOY!

Mandy and I with our matching balloons! So excited to be pregnant "together"! Can't wait for these babies to grow up together. Poor Carmen will never have a boyfriend while Nolan is watching out for her! ;)