The Big Reveal.

Well, it certainly has been an interesting three days!

Monday, July 11, 2011.  Your dad and I are so excited!  It's the big day!  We got up and got ready as usual.  The weatherman was warning us about a massive storm approaching.  We heard them, but had no idea what we were in for...  As I was heading upstairs to get ready, your dad called me back down.  The winds were picking up and he was nervous about me being upstairs.  Over the course of the next 20 minutes or so, hurricane-force winds tore through our neighborhood.  It was scary how quickly the whole thing happened!  The lights flickered and then went out.  And then the storm was gone, just like that.  There was nothing else for us to do but finish getting ready.  I called the doctor's office to verify they had power and were open and we were on our way.  Driving through our neighborhood we realized that many homes were without power and there were a LOT of trees down.  I drank my bottle of water in preparation for the ultrasound and we arrived right on time, despite multiple traffic lights being out.  The only problem was that the ultrasound technician was stuck in traffic.  Our appointment was at 9:20.  I sat and waited and tried not to think about how full my bladder felt.  Finally, at 10:10, the tech arrived.  And then we saw you.  All squirmy and adorable.  The tech took her measurements.  We saw your spine.  And your little legs.  And got a picture of your perfect little foot.  And everything measured well.  As soon as the time came to get more pictures, you hid your face.  You certainly were not shy about showing us other parts though...  the tech asked if we wanted to guess your gender, but it was pretty darn obvious.  YOU'RE A BOY!!!!  And I could not be more excited!!!!  And of course your dad is too!  I have always said that I wanted boys, that's something your dad has known too.  Oh baby, we have so much fun in store for you!

The short version of the next 48 hours or so goes something like this... From the doctor, I went to work as planned (after several excited hugs and kisses shared with your dad).  Your dad went to Costco to buy a generator.  It was supposed to get HOT and he didn't want me (us!) to be without cool air.  So nice!  He managed to get the last one and got it running by the late afternoon.  By the time I left for home I had heard a bit more about the magnitude of the storm.  Pretty much everyone I know was without power.  Even the University I work at didn't have power in all buildings and ended up closing early.  We had faced winds in excess of 85 mph and there were over 850,000 homes reported to be without electricity.  It took me two hours to get home from work thanks to traffic lights being out.  By that time, the minor sinus/allergy issues that I had been dealing with had turned into a full blown sinus attack and I could hardly breathe.  In 90+* temperatures, I took a hot shower in the hopes of getting some relief, by candlelight of course.  It didn't help much.  We slept on the couches in the living room, the only room that had A/C thanks to the generator.  I didn't sleep much.  There may have been some frustrated tears.  I was so miserably ill and yet so happy about our day at the same time!  Despite the power outage!  The university was closed the next day so I got a surprise day off.  I probably would've stayed home anyway considering how I was feeling.  Your dad headed to work and I stayed home and kept an eye on the generator.  What a noisy beast!  I still felt pretty bad and was a bit bored without any power.  I spent the day looking through our baby name book picking out some favorites and day dreaming about all the things we would do with you in the future.  We spent another night on the couches.  I slept better.  Sometime during the night, the generator ran out of gas and shut itself off.  Your dad whispered to me at 4:45 am and we noticed that the power had come back on.  Just shy of 48 hours without power.  It was quite an adventure.  The aftermath of the storm is still affecting a lot of people though.  Thankfully, temperatures have cooled considerably and we will be able to sleep with the windows open and in our own beds tonight. 

I should've realized that nothing about this process was going to be without some sort of drama!  :)  I wouldn't have changed any of it though.  We can't wait to meet you, baby boy!