We were finally able to share the good news with our families this weekend, so we’re letting the cat out of the bag online now, too!
The perfect ultrasound we received a week and a half ago allowed us to officially meet our beautiful baby girl.
As predicted, knowing the gender has made this pregnancy all the more real to me. I’m using the correct pronoun, I’m calling her by the preliminary name that Theresa and I both like1, and I’m more easily picturing future scenes of my impending parenthood. Fifty percent of the scenarios I was imagining no longer apply. I can focus on the idea of having a daughter.
A daughter.
Theresa and I were both shocked that she is a girl, as we had both secretly had a gut feeling it would be a boy. As one of four sons, this is uncharted terrain for me. I feel like there are a million things I don’t know about girls and I’m not sure how I’ll figure them all out in a few months’ time. I know I don’t need to have everything figured out2, but I’m a planner and I’m not sure how to plan for this.
Cluelessness aside, I am more excited than ever to meet her in person. My eyes almost well up with tears just thinking about the fact that I have a daughter. All these previously inconceivable3 mental images flood into my mind of things we can do together or conversations we might have or places we’ll go or interests we can share or things I can teach her. I need to start talking to Theresa’s belly so the baby recognizes my voice. There’s no time like the present to start developing that daddy-daughter bond I’ve heard so much about.
Since finding out the gender, my previous fixation on watching any parents with children that I see in public has evolved and refined to a preoccupation with daughters.4 Whenever I see a daughter in the wild, I feel like I’m on a how-to-parent safari. How do they act? What do they wear? What do they need? Why are they crying? What do they do with dolls? I’m collecting vital data.
There’s still plenty of pregnancy left as we just reached the halfway point of week 20, but it also feels like we’ve seen the full trailer for this prenatal movie, as opposed to just the teaser. We have a greater sense of the plot now. Most importantly, we’ve met the leading lady…and she’s already winning my heart.
- at the moment
- and that there’s no way I possibly could
- No pun intended
- That sentence is meant innocently, not creepily…
Congratulations on your wonderful news. So happy for you ???
What wonderful news! And your reaction brings tears to my eyes. As a former baby girl, I am thrilled that your reaction is exactly what every baby girl wants: unclouded (though puzzled) joy.
Maybe you should come observe Andrew’s relations with his three daughters. And you certainly need to read my daughter Meg’s column to fathers of daughters—http://www.piercedhands.com/5-rules-fathers-daughters/
God bless you and your family!
Woot! Baby girls everywhere! Careful with calling her your “preliminary” name, though. If you use it enough, it will stick.
That may or may not have already happened. 😉