Mr. or Ms. Rocket?

We finally know Rocket's gender, but it sure took a while to find out.

Since we didn't have an amniocentesis, an ultrasound done somewhere between 16 and 20 weeks into the pregnancy was our first opportunity to determine the gender. So we scheduled our next doctor appointment for about 18 weeks, and we collected votes from our family on which they thought it would be. The results of the voting were: 8 for boy, 5 for girl, and 1 for inconclusive (i.e. can't tell from the ultrasound). Everyone was anxious to find out, including us! As my Mom put it, are we having a Rock or a Rockette? (I'm not sure what that says about her opinion of boys...)

The day of the appointment arrived, but somehow there was some confusion in the office records about when our due date was. As a result, they had not planned to do an ultrasound that day and were not setup for it. After we got the records straightened out we scheduled a followup appointment for 2.5 weeks later. On the morning of that appointment, the doctor's office called to say that the doctor had been called in to emergency surgery and wouldn't be finished in time to see us. So we rescheduled for the next available time, which delayed us another 4 days.

Face and arm

Finally, on the third try we were successful. The doctor proclaimed to us that we were having... a girl. She also said that if she was wrong, she should find a new profession; she was that sure. (Hence the "girlie parts" label on the photo below.)

"Girlie parts"

I was fairly neutral on the gender issue, but Corinne had a preference for a girl. Hooray! While I doubt we'll actually officially name her Rocket, the codename stays. And on the name front... we had agreed ahead of time that we wouldn't discuss names until we knew the gender. (We didn't want to do any "throw-away work".) So now I guess it's time to start thinking about that.

Head and neck (side)

We have to admit to being a little disappointed in the ultrasounds. After seeing the ultrasounds from our OHSU visit, we were totally spoiled by the "big city" hospital and its fancy equipment - complete with a CD burner for digital copies of the images. The small town hospital in Hood River definitely has some benefits, but the latest and greatest equipment isn't one of them.

- Mike (& Corinne)