It's a....

We had our 20 week sonogram early this afternoon. I was really excited to get to see the baby...obviously, I know it's in there, because I get kicks (and I have a poochy belly!), but it was still exciting to see it in person. We saw it once, early in the pregnancy (10 weeks), but not much was really that visible. We were really hoping to find out gender, but I reminded myself before we went that it was possible that the little guy or gal wouldn't cooperate.

As it turns out, I needn't have prepared myself...our little one was quite happy to spread his legs for us...multiple times, even when the tech was looking for other things! That's right, our firstborn will be a son! He looks very healthy...4 chambers in his heart, "nice fat umbilical cord", a liver with bloodflow to and from, a brain, kidneys, the whole nine yards. Apparently, all the measurements look great and are right on schedule with his gestational age, and he weighs 14 ounces. The comment that "he sure does like to move around a lot!" didn't really surprise either of us. The tech also noted, "Well, I'm sure you can feel that on your bladder, because he's kicking against it right now." Yep, thanks kiddo...I've been well aware that he likes to kick my bladder for quite some time now. We were able to see his face, and apparently he thinks himself some type of gymnast, because he spent a fair amount of time twisted around, which made it hard for the tech to find some of the things she was trying to measure. He also jacknifed himself in half once and held both feet with his hands. I probably shouldn't think that's cute, but I kinda do. :-)

His name is Beniah James Stone. We will probably call him Ben. Beniah was the name of the captain of David's guard in the Old Testament...according to my husband, "one cool guy." The characteristics he/we want to emphasize from that character are that he was loyal, he was a strong, good man, and he did the right thing even when it wasn't politically a popular move. James is my father's name, and we thought it went well with "Beniah" and that "Beniah James" sounded like a strong, solid name...the kind of man we hope our son will one day be. The epistle named after/written by James also talks a lot about integrity and doing the right thing regardless of its popularity at the time. So sounds like we want our son to be a man of integrity!!

The sono was really neat...the tech did a great job of explaining to us what she was looking at, and it was particularly interesting for me because I like anatomy and know a fair amount about it. I would love to upload pictures for you guys, but am not sure how to do it. Suggestions welcome...what's the best way to turn those little printouts into computer images? I'd really like to do that anyway, just to have a backup copy.

Thanks for sharing our excitement with us! We are excited about our little BOY!!!