Getting My Girl

It was exactly one year ago that I found out that my baby

would be my daughter.

I remember it all so very well. The night before, I was so nervous. I was scared that something would be wrong with our baby, but at the same time I was thrilled that I would be finding out if our baby was a boy or a girl in just a few more hours. I remember the weather being just right for having the windows open in our house, and I kept hearing a strange noise, like a cat's meow. Strange, because we didn't have a cat. Denny was in the office on the computer and I asked him to look outside for the noise.

Sure enough, there she was. A black kitten on our porch. We had no idea where she came from or how she got to our house. We only have two neighbors and neither of them have cats. The closest homes that might possibly have cats living there were at least a mile away. But somehow she found us and I found myself in a fit.

Black cats mean bad luck, right? Well, if you happen to be superstitious, which I certainly am not. But still, I couldn't help but think that this cat showing up on our doorstep meant something. She was a girl - did that mean that our baby was a girl? The baby which I was sure was a boy?

I found it hard to sleep that night. It was like the night before a vacation - I was so excited and I couldn't wait for morning, but I could not get my thoughts to settle down and let me get to sleep. When morning finally came I was ready to go in record time. Denny and I had planned to leave early so we could get breakfast. We ate at Sunrise restaurant, and when we got there we were disappointed to find out that they only had the breakfast buffet on the weekends, and that day was a Tuesday. Denny got an omelet, I got pancakes. I tasted his omelet, and normally I don't eat eggs, but there was so much filling that I could barely taste the egg and I actually liked it.

We finished our food and still had 30 minutes until our appointment which was only 2 miles away. So we sat. And we waited. And we finally left. I was driving. I knew the minute we walked in the door that we would be waiting a while. There were two other women ahead of me and the minutes just crept by like inchworms. One of the couples from our class came out of the ultrasound room with black and white pictures and the biggest smiles you have ever seen on their faces. They chose not to find out what they were having - they wanted it to be a surprise (they later found out they were having a boy).

Finally there was only one person ahead of me and I figured I had about 20 more minutes to wait, but she was finished in 5. It was our turn. The ultrasound technician asked if we wanted to know the sex and we told her that we definitely did, and she informed us that she would save that part for last, after looking at everything else. She asked if we thought we knew and I told her that I had a feeling it was a boy.

I have always been able to look at an ultrasound picture and know exactly what I was looking at. So when the first image popped up onto the screen, I instantly knew what I was seeing: girl parts. The ultrasound technician immediately moved away from that area of my belly to find the baby's head. She didn't know that I had seen the good stuff. I tried to focus on the ultrasound, on all of the arms and legs and tiny toes, but my excitement was about to burst out of my being and I could barely stop myself from blurting out my secret. But I did stop myself. I could tell that she loved her job and loved giving expecting couples the big news, so I didn't want to steal her sunshine. Nor did I want Denny to know either - I let him keep on thinking that he might be getting a boy for a few more minutes.

Finally - it was time! And then she couldn't get a decent look between the legs. I wanted to tell her that I already knew, but she persevered and pushed on my belly and the baby moved. Then our baby gave us a perfectly wide open view of her anatomy and it was unmistakable. At that moment, I lost it. I was a hysterical, crying mess. We were having a girl. I was going to have a daughter. I wanted a daughter so badly, but I didn't think that I'd be getting her this time around. Maybe it would be the next time, or the time after that, but no! I was getting her now.