It's a....

BOY!!!

Not too long ago, Riggins came up to me out of nowhere, lifted my shirt, pointed to my belly, and said, "BOY!" clear as day.  Well, the little man was right on the money!  He is going to have a baby brother, and Jonathan and I could not be more thrilled.  Jonathan was not able to get away from his externship to join me for our appointment, so we surprised him with a box of blue and white Muddy's cupcakes to share with all of his buddies at the VA.  

This time around, neither of us had a gut feeling about the sex of the baby (with Riggins, I knew he was a boy from day one).  We had both come to a point where we were equally excited about the possibility of a boy or a girl.  Even so, we just couldn't resist thinking that it would be fun to have two boys so close in age.  And on a purely practical level, since both boys will have April birthdays, it sure would be nice to reuse all of the same clothes!  

I have always imagined myself as a "boy mom," so I am just ecstatic to have two little brothers to call my own.  I'm sure I will break up my share of fist fights and cry over more than a few broken belongings, and I can only imagine the muddy laundry in my future.  But I wouldn't have it any other way!  After all, it's true what they say about boys loving their mamas.  :)  

You can be praying about two particular concerns: the baby has fluid on his kidneys, which apparently is very common this early on, especially in boys.  Please pray that this fluid recedes.  Also, the placenta has formed very low, which increases my risk for placenta previa and c-section.  Pray that the placenta will continue to move up as my belly grows so that I can avoid these complications.  (I can't believe I just used the word "placenta" on my blog, like, three times in the last two sentences.  My apologies.  But...I need your specific prayers, so there you have it!)  I will have another ultrasound in a couple of months to check the progress of both of these issues.  

In the grand scheme of things, these are very minor issues, so we are rejoicing over another beautiful, healthy SON.  We can hardly wait for him to join our family!