Yesterday J and I went to the doctor's office to have a ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. It had been almost 8 weeks since my last ultrasound. Because I have not felt roo moving around yet in the womb, it is reassuring and amazing to see the little one on a screen floating around inside of me.

We get to the office and Julie calls us back and says that she will be doing our ultrasound. Once I am undressed and laying on the table, Julie squeezes some warm gel-like substance onto my belly. Then she gets the magic wand out and starts rubbing it along my stomach. Immediately roo comes into view. There are moments when you are looking at the image of the baby on the screen when you know what you are looking at. Oh that is their profile, there goes a hand, there is the spine. But other times it looks like you are looking at some strange moving virus under a microscope.

After checking the four chambers of the heart, the length of the arms and legs, and the bladder (which took a while for Julie to find because apparently the baby had just peed so when the bladder is empty it is very difficult to see) Julie asked us the question we had been speculating about for the last 5 months.

Julie: Well do you have any ideas of what the baby might be?
Me: No not really.

I say this, but in all honesty, the only item I have purchased for roo is a pair of super cute striped baby legs that I was storing in my bedside table. When I had tried to explain this item to some friends of ours, they were convinced that I had purchased a pair of thigh high stockings for the little one. When I showed J the baby legs, his only response was that our son wouldn't be wearing leg warmers. Of course, I had not bought them for a son.

J's response to Julie: I think it's a boy.
Julie: Well you're right.

I struggle to get a better look at what is making Julie so sure that our den will soon be full of trains and trucks versus baby dolls.

Me: Are you sure?
Julie: Honey I'm so sure, if I'm wrong, I will personally come to your house and repaint your nursery.
Me: I won't forget you said that.

I get off the table, rub the now cold goop from my belly, and get dressed. J and I are both giddy, grinning from ear to ear thinking of what it will be like to have a son. As we leave the office Julie hands us a VHS tape and pictures from the ultrasound. Later at work as I am going through the pictures, I finally see what made Julie so sure of herself. One of the pictures, which has the word boy written on it, with an arrow pointing directly at his penis is clear as day.

When I call my Mom to tell her the news, she is ecstatic and we are both giggling silly when she says

Mom: Well we need more good men in the world.

My side of the family is mostly women. This will be new territory for us and we couldn't be happier.