Rob, Don't Read This!

Not long ago, I accompanied Jo-Elle to the hospital for another sonogram.

Lemme tell you. Those are creepy. Not to sound like a Luddite or Neanderthal or a centenarian who is just hearing about the Interwebs for the first time, but it is really weird looking at grainy video from inside your wife's belly. The videos are black and white and you can't really see anything clearly yet, so they are vaguely reminiscent of those weird twitchy Japanese horror movies or the Blair Witch Project... The only things we could see clearly were the spine and the head which looked pretty skull-y (reminded us both of the Nightmare Before Christmas). Yikes, all these horror references make me sound petrified...not the case...its pretty cool!

Anyway, this last sonogram being done in the 16th week meant that there was something else that would be visible for the first time...naughty bits. Yup, in the 4th month you can determine gender.

After the appointment, we called my parents who were excited by the news. And then I called my brother. He was excited, but asked me not to tell him Cletus' gender. He wants to be surprised.

So, if you, dear reader, talk to my brother, please do not tell him Cletus' sex.

And if you, dear reader, happen to be my brother, fair warning---stop reading now.

How we are going to keep this a secret from Rob...I just don't know...

Anyway, back to the doc's office. And an interesting aside... The first time Jo got a sonogram, the nurse kept the gel in a heater. And it apparently felt nice on Jo-Elle's belly. Since then, they've just been squirting that stuff on cold...there's an audible oh and an uncomfortable squirm each time as Jo gets acclimated to the cold goo...

So back to the gender thing... The doc is moving the wand around in the jelly puddle on Jo's belly, looking around at the screen...looking around at the screen...when he says:

Oh, there they are.

What?

He points to a fuzzy dark spot in the middle of a fuzzy white spot.

Can't you see? It's a boy. Those are testicles (actually, I don't think that he used that word, but he did not say naughty bits or boy parts...so I don't know what word was chosen).

Jo-Elle claimed she saw nuts later...but I don't believe her. But I do believe the doc. And so we will start to find a mutually acceptable masculine name!

Since we've found out, we've had some horrible name suggestions tossed our way, including Nunavut and Aloysius. So feel free to leave suggestions as a comment on the blog...