And B is for....Boy!

The night before the ultrasound I was cool as a cucumber. I had always wanted a girl but I have such a crush on my husband that I had been hoping that it would be a boy. As much as he gets on my nerves sometimes, when he acts right he really knows how to melt my butter, so the thought of TWO of "them" in my life made my heart smile.

The following morning, we slumbered around the house taking bets on whether the ultrasound would reveal that the baby was a girl or a boy when suddenly my intuition told me to call to confirm my doctor's appointment. After trying to reach the doctor for 20 mins, at 9:20 am we were finally connected to her assistant.

"Hi ma'am. I'm calling to confirm my appointment with Dr. Song. My name is Mrs. Smith and I believe I have a 10:00 o'clock appointment."

"Oh no, dear. Your appointment with Dr. Song is at 10:30 but your ultrasound is in ten minutes! Can you make it down here because we are booked solid."

"Oh no!!! We will be there in 15 mins! I promise. Please don't reschedule us. We are on our way!" I replied.

Pat stood nearby shaking his head when I yelled, "Get dressed we have 10 mins to make it downtown!"

As I jumped in the shower I thought of all the disapproving looks I would get from my mom, my dad, my sister, my friends, and my in-laws if I couldn't tell them if my baby had a penis or vagina.

"Surely, she's not ready to care for a child if she can't remember the most important doctor's appointment of her life," they would think.

20 minutes later I ran into the doctor's office and went to check in.

"I'm sorry. I'm SO very very forgetful. I'm so sorry for being such a bootleg patient. I know that I'm 20 minutes late but please don't send me home."

Luckily the receptionist was more forgiving than the ultrasound technician.

"Ju know...we are booked BERRY BERRY tightly. It is BERRY diffi-cult to con-duct a comprehensive exam when Ju are late. It pushes EVVVEERRYONE else back," the Hungarian technician told me over and over again for the first 15 mins of the examination.

Finally, she said..."Do ju want to know what ju are having?"

Excitedly, Pat and I both said "Yes!"

"Dere is dis penis and dere is dis testicles," she said as she quickly pointed to cloudy image on the screen.

Pat did a double fist pump in the air and I only had time to say "yay! I knew it!" before the technician continued on with the exam, measuring the size of my placenta and uterus.

So there I lay on the table contemplating what it means to bring a little boy into this world. I simply prayed, "Jesus, let him be strong and wise, smart and caring, compassionate and healthy. Most of all Jesus...Let him grow to be like my daddy, my husband, and my brother...and not like MOFO. Amen."