It a gril!

Long story short, #3 is a girl! Oh, have I not mentioned on the blog that I am pregnant? Well, I am. And it's a girl. Due date still set around June 11, me still hoping I keep with my 2-3 weeks early tradition.

Short story long: I couldn't set up my appointment for the ultrasound until the orders for it were entered into the computer system-- the day I went for my prenatal visit and the ultrasound was ordered, all the computer systems were down... so I was told to wait 5 days before calling to schedule. When I was able to call and schedule, the first available appointment was 25 days out. Boo! So, I wait patiently for my appointment date to come. A few days before, I hear rumblings in the weather forecasts about snow and "wintry mixes" and such... and the foreboding feelings began.

This is texas, people don't know what to do with themselves when it snows. Less than an inch warrants the schools being closed for the day-- which is exactly what happened the morning of my ultrasound, which was scheduled for 2pm last friday. Mike's commute to the hospital, usually ~15 minutes, took him 3 1/2 hours because of car accidents and a jack-knifed semi blocking the frontage road to Ft. Sam. (Granted, it was rather icy, so I don't blame it on people just being clueless drivers). Around 11, it was already up to 40 degrees and the roads were beginning to dry. Mike poked his head in the radiology department and asked them what was happening with the appointments for the day, since most services had cancelled them for the day, and they told him that they wouldn't turn me away if I came. Then 30 minutes later they call me and are like "We're cancelling the rest of the appointments for the day, someone will call you early next week to re-schedule."

BOOO! So, what do I do? Why, I call Mike, of course. He goes back down there to talk to them in person and finds there is no fanagling to be done, they won't see me. Even though by this point, the roads are 100% clear and dry. He was at least able to get them to reschedule me and got me an appointment for the next wednesday. Then he told me his evil plot to get me an ultrasound anyway... in the PACU (post-anesthesia care unit), they have an ultrasound machine they use to place tricky IVs and such and nerve blocks. He suggested that he could sneak me in and do it himself. The idea intrigued me, but I poo-pooed it because I was sure he would get in trouble-- there are a number of people who seem out to get him at the hospital, and I didn't want him to cross a line and get yelled at. Then he called me back and said he had asked permission from his chiefs and they had said, "Yeah, go for it! We do it all the time!" So he told me to come on down right then since he wasn't busy at the moment.

I called my good friend who was slated to babysit (I had been jerking her around all day: "i'm dropping them off a little earlier because of the roads...", "oops, appointment is cancelled, don't need you afterall," "just kidding, can you still watch them, only now earlier than expected?"), and she told me to bring the kids on by, so we rushed to the van, got all buckled in, and.... nothing. The van was dead. Yay... So I call Mike again, he just decides to come home and fetch me since his work was done, and we find it was just the battery, dead from dis-use while it had been at the body shop and then the temps dipped to the teens, sealing the deal. He gave me a jump, then said, obviously surrendering to the day, "... Do you really want to do this today?" I was like, "HECK YES. WE ARE DOING THIS, COME HELL OR HIGH WATER!" The kids were really eager to go to their friends', and I just wanted to know if Naked Baby was a boy or a girl!

So, we went to the hospital with absolutely no incident... went straight to the PACU, got snuggled up with the ultrasound machine, and began trying to get the baby's cooperation. After 10 minutes of wiggling her around and monkeying with the machine, we finally got "the money shot," and we both felt pretty confident in proclaiming that it was a girl.

Megan was so excited when we told her-- she and Robby had decided they thought it was a boy, and when we told her she was going to have a little sister, she said, "I knew in my heart it was a girl. In my mind it was a boy, but in my heart she is a girl."

No news on the naming front, although if you ask Mike, he'll tell you that's not true. He has picked a name and brainwashed Megan and Robby into referring to her by said name... I am a little slow to agree to it however, owing to the fact that this name is also the name I helped bestow on a family pet while I was much younger; a pet that is still alive. So, you see why it is harder for me to hop on board.

Anyway, today was the ultrasound done by a real technician, and she confirmed our conclusion that we have a girl on the way! A girl who may or may not be named after a very very old cat.