Thoughts on Having a Son

Our ultrasound was this morning, and we had very happy results:

(1) Baby Neener appears to be healthy and normal.

(2) Baby Neener is a BOY.

And, he apparently likes to flaunt his junk. The technician plopped the do-hickey wand on my belly and at the first image that popped up when she focused on the baby she exclaimed, "It's a boy!! He's got it all hanging out right there!" See, she had forewarned us when we first arrived that sometimes they can't tell the gender if the baby isn't in a certain position. I said to Stephen that knowing our child, it probably wouldn't cooperate and after all this we wouldn't get to find out the sex. He said, nah, knowing our child, it'll be spread eagle. Does Stephen know his son well, or what?!

It's funny because it seems like everyone except me knew what I was going to have a long time ago, and sure enough, out of that 50/50 shot, everyone was right. I really had no "sense" or "feeling" on what the baby is, and I really had no strong preference for either. Granted, being a woman, I have to admit a big part of me wanted a little girl to baby and dress up. But, over the past couple of months I'd heard so many people state their predictions that Baby Neener is a boy that I had really kind of gotten myself excited at the prospect of having a son. I think I'm most looking forward to witnessing the development of the father-son bond between Stephen and Baby Neener. When I asked him about how he felt about having a son, he quickly stated he's excited because now he'll finally have someone with whom to play golf and other sports. For me, a girl who grew up solely with other women, this will be a BIG learning experience. But, I have to say there's something strangely comforting about knowing I'll have a son. It's almost like we'll have a back-up man of the house for killing spiders and scrubbing the litterbox and cleaning out fuzzy things in the refrigerator that have made their way to the back, back corner. You know, all those gross things that I don't want to touch with a ten-foot pole. Boys are just cool in that respect - they're tough and don't mind doing crap like that. Or, at least, they put on a good face about it.

I really hope Baby Neener has his daddy's wonderful sense of character and personality. I've always said that Stephen isn't like the stereotypical man - he's not harsh, overly opinionated, stubborn, womanizing, selfish, focused only on sex. I thank God every day he is the sweet, caring man that he is and I hope he passes on some of those sweet genes to our son. Sure, I'll be honest, sometimes I get annoyed when he wants to go visit his parents or my parents on a weekly basis, or when I can't get through to him on his cell phone because he's been on the other line with his mom. But overall, I think it's that family-oriented nature of his that makes him such a devoted and great husband, and soon-to-be father. He really is going to be the best dad ever, and I'm so grateful that, God willing, my child is going to grow up in a household that has two parents so committed to each other and their family. And, since I've been pregnant and am starting to think about some things from a totally different perspective than I used to, I look at Maryann and my mother and realize how lucky they are, that their children actually want to spend time with them and care for them. I can only pray that our children will be as good to us in the future.

Mainly, though, I'm just absolutely THRILLED that there are two arms and two legs where they're supposed to be, and the brain, kidneys, stomach, bladder, and heart seem to be functioning properly. Of course I won't let my guard down too much...there's always the chance that something will go wrong with my child, whether while still inside my body, during birth, or at any point up until I die. It's the curse parents are stricken with for the rest of their lives - horrible worry and fear over their child's well-being.

But for now, at this moment in time, I can breathe easy and be ecstatic over our sweet, healthy boy fetus.

And most importantly of all, I can finally add some gender-specific products to our baby registries!