by Sarah Grau

Created on: February 07, 2008   Last Updated: February 26, 2011

"Do you want to know the gender of your baby?" the sonogram technician asked with a grin.

"I thought twelve weeks was too soon to tell," my husband gasped.

"Well, I'm 98% sure and I've had a long streak of getting these right."

"Ok...which is it?" I was so excited I could've burst, along with my extra full bladder, right there on the examining table.

"Looks like you're having a girl," she smiled sweetly. "Congratulations."

Images of a little pink-wrapped bundle floated in my head from that moment on. I went home and dreamed of mother-daughter belly dance classes, teaching my daughter to shave her legs and put on make-up, taking her out for a movie and ice cream after her first break-up and snapping photos of her in her prom dress. My husband and I were relieved that our naming argument had been reduced by 50%, and that Vicente and Joaquin were no longer options on the table. My husband thought about how he would deal with a daughter who would, no doubt, wrap him around her little finger. I cautiously explored the troublesome teen girl "I hate my mom" years in my mind. All in all, though, we were ecstatic to be having a healthy little girl. The technician went on to explain that both genders had protruding genitals at this stage in development, and the way it was pointing determined the sex. Girls pointed backwards and boys pointed any other direction. She gave us her disclaimer that she was only 98% sure, but I was already adrift in my own head, thinking about my daughter. I was carrying my little girl!

At our next sonogram, eight weeks later, my belly was already bared and the handheld device slid across my greasy belly when a new technician asked, "Were you already told the sex of the baby?"

"Yes," I smiled dreamily, massaging my husband's hand. "We're having a little girl."

"Oh." The technician suddenly looked sick. She licked her lips and probed, "Well, how set were you on having a girl?"

My reality rocked for a moment, and I felt a little sick to my stomach. I was having a daughter! We were enrolling in mother daughter belly dance classes in 5 years and she was going to be taught my patented liquid eyeliner technique some 8 years later! "We just want to have a healthy baby. It doesn't really matter to us."

"Well, I'm glad you're not too upset. See here? Little girls don't have these parts. You're having a healthy baby boy...and not a shy one either!" She smiled, obviously relieved.

I managed to keep myself together until dinner that night, and on the way

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