Boy or Girl?

Today I am just past 18 weeks pregnant, which means I am in my 19th week of pregnancy (5th grade math finally paid off when I figured out that being 18 weeks pregnant is NOT the same as being in your 18th week!).

Kyle finally getting a turn with the chalkboard!

For those doing the math, yes this means we are due for our "half way there" ultrasound, which is typically when the gender is discovered! We are scheduled to go in this Friday (February 15th) and are praying that the baby will be in a good position to show off his or her little gender bits during the ultrasound. This is also the ultrasound where a handful of measurements are taken to ensure the baby is healthy and developing - so we are praying for positive results from those measurements.

Stay posted for an update after this weekend. The family doesn't find out until Sunday - and since most of you reading this are family - you'll just have to wait until Sunday!

Some bump updates:

Giving it grace: The second trimester has brought relief from the first trimester sickness and general daze of "what in the world is going on with my body?!", but it has also brought what I-not-so-lovingly refer to as the "decision" phase. Lots of decisions to be made - anything from the baby's name, to genetic screening, to what brand of diapers you should register for. A lot of these things are decided easily (and often times by simply deciding "we'll decide on that later"), and other decisions can't wait, like genetic screening as there is only a certain window you can do that in.

The best way I've found to cope with all the decision making is to distract myself with what needs to be done right now, and save the rest for later! In the past few weeks, we've been working round the clock to get our condo ready to house another human. This has included repainting, repairing, or reorganizing every single room in our delightful little shoe box condo. After almost a month straight of chaos, we are nearly 90% finished up. And now, we can actually start to envision having a baby in the spare room and start thinking about what we need to put in there so the baby isn't just sleeping on the floor at night (totally kidding, I know that's not allowed).

I've been finding reassurance in Psalm 139:13-16:
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Kyle and I whole-heatedly believe that God is the Creator and Ruler over all - including my womb, and the baby growing inside. To that end, we believe that this is God's child, and He has chosen us - Kyle and Stephanie - to raise him or her. Sometimes that terrifies me (hi, I still eat cookies for dinner, sleep with a stuffed animal, and cry ugly tears when someone makes me angry), but most of the time it comforts me knowing that no one cares more about this child more than God - no, not even Kyle or I. And we know that God is going to use Kyle and I to raise this child according to His will, and He will provide us with all the answers to the decisions we have to make. So for now, we are thankful that we can rest in that and not have to feel the pressure of the world mounting on us because we can't decide between cloth diapers or disposable (although I think we're going to give cloth a run for their money!).