Dan and I went to the radiology department at Kaiser today to get our 20-week ultrasound, mainly in hopes to determine the gender of the baby. We’re excited to announce that we’ll be having a baby girl in April!

Here’s how she looks at 20 weeks, the size of a small cantaloupe.

When we first started the ultrasound, the baby was in an uncooperative position (see above), where her legs were tightly closed and faced upwards, and the ultrasound tech said that it might be a little difficult to determine the gender initially. But as soon as the ultrasound tech said, “C’mon baby, you gotta open your legs so we can see if you’re a boy or girl!”, she moved into exactly the right position for the tech to get a good look! We were all laughing at how well she “listened.” We were able to clearly see the labia on the screen, and the tech told us that there was no mistaking that it was a girl in there.

She was moving around a lot, flipping over and doing somersaults twice during the half-hour ultrasound session. I actually felt my first kick this past week, and since then, the baby’s been kicking quite often and I can feel her moving around a lot in the belly. It was alarming at first, but I’m starting to get used to it… now it’s a little annoying because it keeps me from sleeping comfortably at night.

We would have been happy whether the baby was a boy or a girl, but I’d always thought it would be easier to have a girl first, so she could help me around the house and with her younger siblings when she’s older. So I had secretly wanted a girl, but after listening to all the old wives’ tales from people around me that you’re probably carrying a boy if your morning sickness is really bad or if you’re carrying low, I had convinced myself that we were expecting a boy. So I was actually really stunned — but of course, very happy — when we heard that it was actually a girl. Dan, on the other hand, has always had a hunch that the baby was a girl, and he claims that he could tell it was a girl on the screen even before the tech said so.

I’m so happy we finally have the answer to the gender question. I’m way too much of a control freak to be one of those parents that keep themselves in the dark until the delivery date! Now to hit the baby stores… 😉