Life: bad and good, mixed and stirred

As is often the case, we had other plans for last Monday, when Greg and Alan ended up spending all day at the pediatrician's office and in the er.  Greg had the day off and there had been talk of a fishing trip or other fun stuff early in the day.


Our mid-way sonogram was scheduled for that afternoon.  Dale had been asking if he could come this time.  Both Brooklyn's and Tyler's had been scheduled early in the day while Greg was working, so my Mom (and sister, once) came with me for those.  But we had decided this time - why not? Let's bring the whole family!  The plan was to leave Tyler and Brooklyn with a sitter and the rest of us go in together to find out if we'd have a new baby brother or sister.


And then plans changed.  There lay Alan in the emergency room with an iv in his arm, awaiting transfer to Children's.  


It may have been a stubborn, forge-ahead approach, but Greg and I decided I should keep the appointment.  Even though problems with Alan are few and far between (thankfully!), they are a fact of our life.  


We went ahead with the plan to leave the littles with a sitter, and Dale and I went alone to the appointment.  


Dale loved seeing the baby move.  He was thrilled he could recognize those black and white blurs as a baby!  Little baby arms up next to a little baby head.  A little baby foot.


The tech was careful to avoid any nether-regions, because we had requested not to find out while we were there in the room.


Instead, per our request, she handed us the printed still shots of our new little one, folded to the inside so we couldn't see them.  She warned us that the very first one was the one we were most interested in.


Dale and I got to the van and called up Daddy and Alan.  Moments before they headed toward Children's, we each got on speakerphone (medical team witnesses and all).


Dale got the honors of being the very first to know.  


He unrolled our strip of baby pictures and without fanfare announced quite loudly to the rest of us, all at the same time....


"IT'S A BOY!!" :)


And now you know... the rest of the story. :)