Surprise Baby #3 is a...

BOY!!!

My first thought when I saw our little boy was "oh, he looks different than Eli". Of course he does, but it makes me excited to see him in person in a few short months.

So on to the story of our ultrasound.
Alison was up bright and early, ready for the day. Nana and Granddaddy are visiting and were waiting for her with a heart shaped donut. Eli on the other hand slept until it was time to leave for the appointment. I got him up, dressed and was getting him some milk when he threw up. We all stood there in shock, not sure what to do. I started crying because my poor boy was sick (he's never thrown up) and I didn't want to leave him. I was also stressed because we needed to leave, but didn't know what to do and I was covered in throw up. After a quick clean up, we jumped in the car to take Alison to a friend's and thought we would just attempt to take Eli with us. I knew there were a lot of people praying for us that morning, and I'm so thankful they were...because God provided a wonderful friend to take care of my kids at a time I needed it most. My sweet friend graciously loved on my potentially flu infected son and it was such a wonderful feeling knowing he was being taken care. I was able to relax and enjoy seeing son #2. Eli must have just choked on some congestion, because he never showed another sign of any illness-Praise the Lord! She even made Valentine's Day cards and cookies with them! What a precious gift friends are.
Even after the chaos of the morning, we made it to the appointment on time. I cheated this time around and didn't follow the "drink lots of water and don't go to the bathroom" instructions. I still had to go to the bathroom and was STARVING by the time we got into the ultrasound. The technician put the wand to my belly and before I could even see the baby, Ben announced that he knew what it was. SERIOUSLY?! I said, "Well, it must be a boy if you can already tell". The technician laughed and said he was right. And then she asked if he was a doctor. This has happened every.single.time. we've had an ultrasound. I don't understand how he does it! I could barely make out that it was a baby and he already knows the sex. The technician looked over a couple of things, but she quickly got stuck at looking at the heart and spent, what seemed like forever, analyzing the heart. She found 3 calcification points on the heart. Everything seems to be functioning fine and the size of the heart is normal, but she said 3 points is unusual. Usually she'll see 1 or 2 in conjunction with other "markers" for Down's, but our baby doesn't have any other "markers", just 3 spots. She also said that in her experience it really doesn't mean anything and that it could just be how the baby is positioned and the ultrasound machine is seeing the heart. She had a doctor come in and look at it...both seemed not overly concerned, but thought we should see a specialists just to make sure. As strange as it sounds, I knew this was coming. We went through a similar situation with Eli and it seems like nothing in a child's life can go without extreme scrutiny. I feel good about the health of our baby; I know that he is fearfully and wonderfully made and God is sovereign over all things, even 3 dots on his heart. I am, however, upset that we have to go through the stress of tests and expensive appointments.

Speaking of stress, now he have to name another son.
Rule #1: he will only have ONE name...there will be no nicknames or shortenings! And as I thought about this, I realized that I am the only one that calls Eli, Eli. So I guess this rule is really for myself.
We had a great girl name and I'm slightly, okay really, disappointed we won't be able to use it. Why, oh why, can't boy names be easy for us?!
Alison is calling the baby Charlie. Do you know why? Guess what she watched at Miss Ashley's house while we were at the doctor? That's right. Charlie Brown. Sorry, Alison. 'Charlie' breaks Rule #1.