Our Christmas surprise....It's a girl!

Larry and I went to our big ultrasound appointment on Friday December 19th. It was the only thing that kept me positive throughout the long work week. Part of me thought that my child would not be cooperative so I wasn't banking on getting to know if Lil Lui was a he or she, but was hopeful to get to find out. I told my parents that we couldn't get an appointment until January 9th, with the hope of surprising them with the news at Christmas. So the 40 ounces of water an hour and a half before the appointment made me a bit edgy. This poor ultrasound tech was going to push on my belly and bam, I was going to pee all over the table! Fortunately she was very aware of my discomfort so she took a few quick measurements and then let me go to the bathroom before all of the fun began.

Within moments, we were able to see my active little baby on the screen. Since my last ultrasound was at 7 1/2 weeks and the baby looked like a gray blob, this was a truly amazing experience for me. It really looked like a baby. The ultrasound tech froze the shot and said, "Well looks like we have a little girl here" and pointed out the goods. I began crying immediately. She let me know the tissues were right next to my head. Clearly I am not the first mom to start crying. I couldn't believe I was going to have a little girl! Here is that photo. The three lines indicate that Lil Lui is indeed a little girl!



Lil Lui was very cooperative and the tech was able to get photos of everything she needed to...the heart beating, her spine, her kidneys, the brain, arms/hands, legs/feet. At one point the baby was sticking her butt up like a stink bug and displaying her acrobatic flips. I could have stared at the screen all day long. I pretty much sobbed through the whole appointment. Here are the other photos.



This first photo is the one we copied and put in a frame for my parents. I put pink footprints and handprints on the frame with a sticker that said "Thank heavens for little girls." At the bottom I put pink letters that said, "Love, Emma Kalai" which is the name we decided on. We both liked the name Emma and Kalai is after my grandma. It is a Hawaiian name meaning "the calm, peace". It was very hard to keep the secret from my parents and grandma for almost a whole week, but it was sure worth the look on their faces when they opened the box and finally registered that they were going to have a granddaughter.



Here is a photo of Emma doing her yoga moves. Shortly after this photo, she had her toes in her mouth! The wad under her knees is the placenta. She insisted on moving for the WHOLE appointment!




She was very tired after all of the work. This is a photo of her mid-yawn. It was so amazing to see her yawning and putting her hands in her mouth.

We called a lot of our friends shortly after the appointment since there was no way, I could keep this news a secret. After I got home, I went out to buy a pink dress. I just had too! =) Now the secret is out and we are both thrilled to be able to officially call Lil Lui SHE now! She is a very active baby and I feel her movements a lot more. She gave me quite a few kicks while I was sitting in the car. I guess she is like mom and not a fan of sitting either! It feels so much more real now and I am so excited to meet her! I can't believe I have hit the 20 week mark already and my pregnancy is half over! I think with 5 uncles, 3 grandpas, and softy Larry for a daddy, Lil Emma is going to have the men in her life wrapped around her little finger!