It's a ...?

Today, Mandy and I went to get an ultrasound done to check on the baby. THE ultrasound. The one where (if we want) we can find out the sex of the baby. We're at the end of the 17th week now, and at this point, much of the little one's organs are developed.

The ultrasound tech asked us if we wanted to know if it was a boy or girl, and we told him yes, we did. Mandy lay back and the tech squeezed some clear goo on her belly and brought out the ultrasound. [For those who have never seen an ultrasound, it's pretty amazing technology. Bones and dense material show up a bright/white, and liquids are dark/black. The device produces an image that is a vertical slice. So sometimes it's obvious, but other times it can look fairly strange. Either way, it is a very cool way to see what is going on inside mandy's belly!].

While Mandy lay there, the tech surveyed around, getting images of the baby's head, heart, liver, stomach, femur, sacrum, pelvis, spine, ribcage, feet ... it was pretty cool to see. Then, without a lot of fan fare or warning, he turned the monitor toward Mandy and told her to look. The baby was cooperating quite well I would say, the view was clear. There, in the middle of the frame, were two bright little dots with a third little extension in the middle. Mandy gave a little yelp and declared "Oh! It's a boy!". The tech said, "yup, that's pretty clear I think". Sadly, he didn't get a picture, but believe me, there was no doubt about it.

So there you have it. We are now expecting a baby boy in September!