Boy, Oh Boy!

This baby is trouble from the start! I mean, I really don't know what we were expecting... this is a Church Baby afterall. Church Babies are bound to kick up some dust; do exactly what they intend to do, not what is expected of them. Especially not what is expected of them; like being the final girl in a lovely pattern of boy, girl, boy, girl. That would be too much to ask of the average Church Baby...

Indeed, while our novice sonographer was zipping around my belly with the wand, trying to get the Church Baby to cooperate in a photo-conducive position, it wasn't hard to spot the tell-tale sign of a boy. I'm pretty sure Doug had to sit down to take in the news. He was so 100% convinced it was a girl, that he allowed no other thoughts to enter his mind.



This morning's shocking revelation was quite a blow for him.

Over the last few months, we've had several conversations that went more-or-less like this:

Church Baby Daddy: Can you feel her moving around in there? Is she kicking?
Church Baby Mommy: You realize it could be a boy, right?
Church Baby Daddy: No. It's a girl. ...Where is your faith?
Church Baby Mommy: Yeah... but what if it's a boy?
Church Baby Daddy: It's not a boy.

Thus, between his obviously convincing arguments, and his Jedi mind tricks, we began calling it "she." The kids have been calling it "she." I even bought a completely irresistible baby girl onesie at the store that had an attached tutu (how sick am I, right?). Evany even convinced me that, while we were buying a couple of plastic cups, I should buy another princess one for the baby. We were in too deep.

And so it was that we went blithely to our ultrasound appointment today, expecting to see the culmination of all our positive thinking, only to walk out completely bewildered. Our best-laid plans of two boys in one room, and two girls in the other crumbled to the ground.

And yet, despite all of this logical disruption, my heart was happy. I had felt that there was another boy for our family and the thought of having a daughter, and then being done, made me (in my reflective moments) incalculably sad and empty. For whatever reason we didn't get the anticipated double-X chromosome mixture, it was meant to be. This unexpected Church Baby was meant to be our Church Baby- and I am glad. Doug is glad. We have a "perfect" baby growing inside the Church Baby Mommy Motel and what more can we ask for than that?


During the ultrasound, the baby continuously had his thumb in his mouth. He also began the session in the typical head-down position, and then turned absolutely sideways in my tummy, and then flipped 180° and laid sideways the other way. The technician had a very difficult time getting a good profile picture. She said he is trouble. Like we thought otherwise...


His legs were up by his head for a little while too. Oh, to be so flexible again! While the technician was trying to get a profile shot, we saw his little mouth open and close two or three times and then he promptly inserted his thumb again. Now we know why it's so hard to get the kids to stop sucking their thumbs- it begins in utero!

Doug confessed that he'd had some clue it might be a boy when I tried to pin him down last week to come up with at least one boy's name that we liked. When I showed him the list, one name stood out, and he really liked it immediately (totally unusual for Doug, especially when they are names that I've picked). Within a half an hour, we had agreed upon a boy's name, but we were both still a little unsure about the girl's name that had taken all 5 months to pick. He was shaken, but not convinced, so he said nothing of these thoughts to me until today when his premonition was confirmed.

When I told the kids that the baby was a boy and told them that he was going to be baby Eamon, Sterling laughed and made a pun that neither of us had thought of (which, frankly, was rather a good one), and after all my joking about bad names to put with the last name "Church..." *sigh* Sterling said, "Eamon?! Like amen??" Laughter from all of the kids ensued, me included. Amen Church... How did it happen...? At least it is really more A-mun than a-MEN; hopefully the pronunciation distinction is enough.

Note: Last week's baby-gender guessing poll closed at 58% (14 votes) in favor of a girl, 41% (10 votes) in favor of a boy.