It's a... Green or Orange jar?

So if you have had a baby, or are trying, you've certainly been in the pregnancy test aisle. It's possible you've also seen the box for Intelligender, an at-home gender test. In theory, this test in a box can tell you the gender of your baby as early as 10 weeks. Being the impatient person that I am, I decided to give it a try. Basically, instead of peeing on a stick, you pee in a jar filled with chemicals and after ten minutes you look to see what color it is. If it's orange, it's a girl. If it's green, it's a boy. Supposedly, this test is measuring hormones in your urine and if there is testosterone present, it's a sure sign you're having a boy... supposedly. While waiting the 10 minutes to see what color it changed, I did a little more googling on the test. The test's website boasts a 90% accuracy rate in their own labs, and an 80% accuracy rate in home use. After looking at a lot of pregnancy forums, it looks like it's more like a 60-65% accuracy... so basically, there's a good chance that this is just a glorified (and more expensive) version of an old wive's tale. Who knows...

So anyways, it turns out that my jar turned green. According to this, I'm having a boy. It could be completely wrong, or the test could have gotten lucky and it could be right. We won't really know anything til April.

Lies, it's all lies.

I'm having a bad expectant mommy day... make that a bad week. I'm a little annoyed at a few things that I was always told *before* I got pregnant.

1. "Morning sickness gets easier and goes away after your first trimester."

- Bulls***. I've officially moved into the second trimester, and it is not getting better. In fact, it's getting worse. Worse than ever. It's been a puke-tastic kind of week.

2. "You have a lot more energy in your 2nd trimester".

- I would *love* for this to kick in any day now. Even when I can't sleep, all I want to do is sleep. I have zero energy whatsoever, and the only work I'm getting done is from my laptop... in bed. Even my cats are looking at me like I'm a lazy bum.

3. "You are pregnant for 9 months."

- Again, bulls***. It's ten months. Don't let anyone fool you. Pregnancy is technically 40 weeks. With an average of 4 weeks per month, that makes it ten months. Nine months is a myth as far as I'm concerned.

4. "You will look radiant and glowing when you're pregnant."

- This might be the biggest lie of all. I am not glowing. At best, I'm flushed and red, and that's generally after a marathon of morning sickness, so I don't think that counts. If not morning sickness, than the heartburn & acid reflux. I'm even paler than normal (scary, I know), I have circles under my eyes, I'm exhausted all the time, yet I can't sleep and in general, I look like crap. You don't have to be nice and try to pretend that I don't, because I know I do. It's all good.

::grumble::

I'll get over it. I know my body is going through hell for a good purpose... but right now, I'm not real thrilled about it. Move along.

Ultrasound Day!

We got to see our munchkin for the first time today!

We woke up this morning to more snow... and lots of it. I turned on the news to see that I-40 and I-24 were both closing in various places, and had already heard that Old Hickory Blvd was a total mess. I called my Dr's office to make sure that they weren't closing early. They were, in fact closing early and re-scheduling appointments, but my appointment time was right on the cutoff, and they told me to go ahead and come in. I was ecstatic and relieved, because I hadn't slept at all the night before because I was so nervous, so I really didn't want to do that all over again.

Russ and I arrived and got all our paperwork & such done and waited... I know I probably only waited about 3 minutes, but it sure seemed like 30. When we were called back, and our baby came up on the screen it was such a surreal feeling. I *know* I'm pregnant, but seeing a picture has made it so much more real. I'm sick as a dog for a reason at least!

The ultrasound looked great, and we were told that everything looks 'perfect'. That was a very relieving word to hear. As the ultrasound tech was moving the wand around to get different angles and pictures, the baby had a total spazz out and bounced all over the place. It was fun to see him/her move around, and also amusing to see that the baby is as hyper as the two of us are. Yep, we're in trouble.

We left the appointment and made the first phone call to mom. Of course, she already knows, but we wanted to let her know that everything was ok and looked great. After being at the office for a couple hours and having blood drawn, I was hungry and feeling less than stellar. We headed straight to the Arby's on West End. As I was on the phone with mom, I told her we were pulling into Arby's and she started laughing hysterically. It turns out that after every appointment she had at Baptist when she was pregnant with me, she went to that same Arby's every time as well.

We have now called and shared the news with family, but it will be a little bit longer before we share the news with friends, co-workers, etc. So, whenever you're reading this, don't be hurt that we haven't told you yet. We haven't told much of anybody.

So officially... everything looks great, the baby's heartbeat is 162, and my due date is somewhere around September 4th-6th. Labor Day has a dual meaning this year!