Who Will It Be?

Normally at or around 20 weeks in a pregnancy (which is just under two weeks for us now), you go in for an ultrasound, which is also when many mamas-and-papas-to-be find out the gender of their baby. Ben and I have never chosen to find out this information in the past, so as a default we've opted not to again; this made it pretty easy to push back the 20 week appointment to follow the slightly altered appointment schedule Baby Welsch No.3 has decided to take. Because of all our extra appointments in Dec./Jan., we've had four ultrasounds already, so we're in no big rush for another. We know the baby's doing fine (no bleeding for over two weeks now - hooray!) and we don't mind waiting until week 22ish to see her/him again. In fact, my doctor says we'll get even better images by then, which is ironic since we aren't wanting to find out if she is a she or he is a he. 

With our first, we decided together not to find out the gender, although I do think it was more my call than Ben's. For as much of a planner as I am, I liked the idea of having the honest, happy surprise that bringing a child into the world offers. Plus, the guessing game is kind of fun, and as I'm sure many of you know, people like to make guesses and predictions! My favorites are always the ones based on symptoms of pregnancy which are really just coincidental, like these two gems that I've definitely heard more than once: "Oh, you had morning sickness! You're having a boy." "Oh, you had morning sickness! You're having a girl!" By the way, I've also learned, by going five days overdue with Raegan, that many people also have theories on how to make a baby come out, all of which are highly amusing, off-the-wall, and (sorry, folks, if you offered me one) wrong! Babies do what babies want, period. And since we already have one of each, this baby's gender is really just icing on the cake. 

That being said, we of course have some ideas about the answer to Harrison's question, "Who will it be?" asked in reference to my ever-growing belly....

My first thought is, it will be a boy. Hands down. There are actual several other theories working to support this, which I will explain, but my gut says Boy. That most certainly means it will be a girl because I am always wrong. I was so convinced that Harrison was going to be a girl that it probably took me two days after giving birth to him to get used to using male pronouns when speaking about or to him. And with Raegan, well, let's just say that I asked my doctor "REALLY?" so many times after she said, "It's a girl!" that I probably insulted her intelligence just a bit. I just really couldn't believe it because I was totally convinced I was having another boy. So there you have it. I know nothing about what my body does when it grows babies. I just know they come out adorable and sweet and loud and I love them. And wrong or right, we'll be OK! 

But here is some so-called proof to support my inklings....the first is the Jansen Theory. As it turns out, Ben and I seem to be following in the footsteps of my mom's parents when it comes to having babies. So far we are two for two on birth order gender and three for three in terms of spacing (as in, within a month on the spread between 1 & 2 and 2 &3!). Weird, right? But fabulous because my grandparents had four kids - two boys and two girls - which is what I've always wanted, so I'm more than happy to follow in their footsteps, which would make Baby No. 3 definitely a boy. 

Also bolstering the boy notion would be the children of the best man in our wedding. HUH? you are asking? Well, it goes like this. With both of our first two pregnancies, we, along with Ben's best friend from college and his wife, had the exact same spacing and exact same gender of kiddos. Boys first, girls second, and matched precisely on months between the two. So, come to find out after we got pregnant with No.3, they were also expecting No.3 and again, the spacing would be a perfect match. Weird again, right?! And while none of us knew with the first two what we were having, they found that their No.3 is a boy, so I would honestly be a bit shocked if we didn't have the same. Seriously.

Harrison is also in this boy school of thought. His logic is far more precise and, who knows - maybe accurate? He's deduced that we already have a baby girl in the form of RL, so clearly this baby is going to be a boy. Who can argue with that? 

Well, perhaps Ben's grandma because we just got a card from her today and the note inside said she thinks I'm having a girl. No reason was given; just her thoughts. And while I don't remember her predictions with the first two and therefore have no way of knowing how spot on she is, she was a labor and delivery nurse for how many years? She might just know a thing or two! 

I don't know how many of you have tried to use the Chinese Gender Predictor and been successful, but so far it has been either inconclusive or flat-out wrong for me, and it is saying I'm having a boy this time, so I guess that is a vote for girl, right? 

And lastly, I turn to Angry Birds. Yes, it's true. I am looking at a silly app for indications of what the gender of my next child will be. And the birds tell me it has to be a girl. Because, if you didn't know, Harrison has associated every different color of bird in the game with a family member and all that's left is this (by the way, ironically, the squatty white bird that lays eggs in midair is the Mama Bird...): 

Pretty cute, right? And while I don't totally go for gender/color stereotypes, I'd probably have a hard time naming this after a baby boy, so I guess girl it is. 

Think you might know what we're having? Feel free to share; your guess is as good, if not better, than ours!