Yep, It's a Boy! :)

Yesterday just reiterated something to me that I already knew. In April, Evan Austin Layne will be joining our family. From the very beginning of this pregnancy, I just sensed I was having a boy. There was nothing at first that made me particularly feel that way. It was just mother's intuition I guess. When I became pregnant with Mackenna I instantly felt I was having a girl. Of course, I was right! :) When my sister-in-laws Karisa and Robyn were pregnant, I guessed they were both having girls. Just something I have a gift for I guess! :)

As the pregnancy progressed, I started to see some signs I could be having a boy. Yet, many of the signs were old wives tales. I have never put much stock in them. My first sign was my craving for protein. Egg sandwiches, sausage gravy and biscuits, and bacon were some of my very first cravings. I am not a big breakfast eater so I wondered if the craving for protein had something to do with the sex of the baby growing inside me. I have continued to crave protein throughout the last 21 weeks, and normally I am not a big meat eater!

Last month, John and I were eating at Fuddruckers in Columbia. As I was putting condiments on my sandwich, a woman behind me said that onions were the best part of a burger. She asked if I agreed. I told her I was pregnant so onions were not exactly something I wanted on a burger lately. She said, "Oh so he doesn't like onions huh? He's tellling you he doesn't want you to have onions?" I told John it was a little strange because she had never asked me what sex the baby was. Of course, I thought the baby was a boy so it seemed appropriate at the time.

In the past few weeks, my certainty the baby was a boy led us to actually use the word, "he" when talking about the baby. John did not want to use the word, "they" so I told him we could say "he" because I was 95% certain this baby was a boy! At Thanksgiving, I started to have a red rash on my stomach. When I looked it up, I found information on PUPPP (pruritic uticarial pupules and placques of pregnancy). The article I had read said that 70% of the women who get it are carrying boys. I did not have it with Mackenna. That pretty much settled it in my brain; we were having a boy.

Fortunately for us, we had chosen a boy's name 3 years ago when I was pregnant with Mackenna. It was a boy's name we decided in under 10 minutes, and we have never wavered from it. Girls' names were a whole different story! We had chosen the name Evan for many reasons. I love that it has a Celtic origin, as does Mackenna. Since the Hendrens came from Ireland, I have a lot of Irish pride! I also love that it means, "God's gracious gift." God certainly has blessed us with two amazing gifts after being told six years ago we had less than a 20% chance of ever getting pregnant. To be blessed with two children is incredible! Evan is also the English form of John, and we have even found Evan to mean "the son of John" on some sites. So...it is the perfect name for our child! He is getting two middle names, just like his sister. We decided to give Evan two middle names because we wanted him to have his grandfathers' middle names as his own. So...Evan Austin (for his Grandpa Larry) Layne (for his Grandpa Ron) Clemens is the name we chose.

Before I had my ultrasound yesterday, I told my OBGYN, Dr Jones, I was really thinking this baby was a boy. I told him my sense about my daughter was true so I was going to be very surprised if this baby was not a boy.  When I first saw the baby, I saw the baby's pelvis on the screen. I said, "Oh I guess it's a girl?" And Dr. Jones said, "No, I don't think it's a girl." He said the baby's hand was in the way so he couldn't tell for sure. He moved the ultrasound device over my tummy, and the baby moved his hand. That's when Dr. Jones said it was a boy. He checked a few more times, and then showed us proof we are definitely having a boy.

 

He also took measurements of the baby's femur, skull, and other body parts. Dr. Jones saw the placenta, and he said everything looked great. He did tell me the baby was breeched, but that of course can change. I told him Mac was breeched the whole pregnancy so I am assuming Evan will be breeched too. Evan was actually pretty active during the ultrasound. I have been very blessed to have two very active babies! We got to see his little feet, and his heart. There were no signs of calcium deposits in his heart like Mac had. Evan now weighs one pound. Most babies weigh about 3/4 of a pound at this stage, so it looks like we definitely have a healthy little boy growing in there! Dr. Jones said the baby looks great. "Really," he said, "you could not have a better pregnancy." 

 

God has so blessed us with this pregnancy! I did have some nausea throughout the first 16 weeks. Luckily that is over and done with! I took a genetic marker blood test last month. Everything came back negative. No markers for Downs, Ancephaly, etc. We are praising God it came back okay. I have been fighting a sinus infection since last week, and I really thought my BP would be high yesterday. It wasn't. It was 106/72. I stepped on the scale yesterday, and to my surprise I had gained nothing in the last month. Wahoo! Of course, I still have four months to go. I am sure I will gain more as the baby (I mean he!) gets bigger. I have to say though, I am pretty happy with only a 3 1/2 pound weight gain in 21 weeks! Dr. Jones told me I could complain about it, but no one would listen. ;) I feel the baby move pretty much every day now. The feelings of him kicking and moving are so wonderful! I can not wait until John and Mackenna can start feeling him move too!

 

Yes, we have certainly blessed with this little boy! We can not wait until we meet little Evan in April! :)