Congratulations! It's a...

When I left for my appointment this morning, I asked my husband, "Do you want to know if it's a boy or a girl?" He responded, "I'll be surprised!"

As the ultrasound technician moved the wand over my abdomen, I was amused with the irony of the situation. I was having an ultrasound this morning to locate any wayward gall stones in my abdomen, all in preparation for my surgery scheduled for Monday. I was chuckling at the thought that this was my first "real" ultrasound! I went through 4 pregnancies and births without ever having an ultrasound. Well, I take that back. I had a very brief ultrasound with my first son, but it was a total fluke. The doctor was testing out some new equipment and I happened to be an available belly. The woman using the equipment wasn't even quite sure about what she was doing, but I do recall catching a quick glimpse of what they said was our baby! These days pregnant woman have routine ultrasounds and actually see their babies before they hold them in their arms. I'll admit I'm a little sad I missed that cool part of technology when having my babies.

But this morning, there I was, having my ultrasound with a sense of awe and anticipation. I even asked if I could see the display screen... but was told it wasn't practical the way they had the room set up! I found myself thinking similar things an expectant mother would want to know; How many? How big? Does everything look okay?

At the conclusion of the exam, the technician was very clinical and of course wouldn't tell me anything she detected. She didn't offer a, "Congratulations, you're having a ....", but said in a rather matter-of-fact manner, that she'd send the ultrasound results to my surgeon. I felt a little disappointed. I was really hoping to leave the testing room with more information, anything...something.

But no. Looks like I really have to wait until Monday to get the results from the surgeon! Like my husband said, we're going to be surprised!