Well the day has finally arrived for our 20 week or halfway baked ultrasound. I am just a little excited at the prospect of seeing my baby and finding out who she/he is. It doesn't matter really if it is one or the other but since I have my boy I would love a girl. Guess we will see.

Updated July 17th 

Its a GIRL. The tech seemed pretty sure that we are going to have a girl and showed us the three lines on the screen that show her the girl bits. Have to say that I could not see what she was talking about but will take her word for it. I can now go shopping a bit and make sure to get gift receipts just in case. This house is going to have a lot of pink soon. 

When you are getting ready for the first child, all you have to worry about yourself and your partner ready to be parents. I mean sure you have your doubts. Can we really do this? Will we be good parents? What if I make a mistake? The reality yes you can do this, yes you will make mistakes and yes with Love and hard work you will be good parents.

With the first child, we parents have the luxury of time to get ready for the event including:

• Time to sleep when you are tired 
  
• The ability to say I am just going to do nothing actually be able to do nothing.
  
• Just Enjoying your pregnancy
  

You don't have anyone else to worry about needing to take care of and put their needs above your own. The joy of being a second time parent is you know that you can do this, you have already made the rookie parent mistakes and you are a good parent. With the second or third the questions change from Can I to:

• How will my other child or children be as a sibling?
  
• Will he/she feel left out when the baby comes home? 
  
• Will they be jealous?
  
• HOW DO YOU GET THEM READY FOR THE NEW ADDITION TO THE FAMILY????????????

I think for me the biggest question I have been working on is how to get my son ready for the baby. I want him to accept the baby and be an awesome big brother. I know that when we bring the baby home he will need to take time to adjust to and figure out his new place in the family. I can only hope that we will be able to prepare him enough that he knows we love him forever and will like him for always.

We have already started to try getting him ready for the baby by talking about the changes he has noticed going on with mom. He can tell you where the baby is if you ask and smiles most of the time when asked the question. I have asked him if he will help me with changing the baby, he answers YES. When I Ask if he will share his toys, the answer changes to NO.  I guess all we can do at the moment is:

•  Keep talking about the baby and remind him how much we love him.
  
• Spend time doing things he enjoys so he learns that no matter what else is going on we love him.
  
• Ready books on where babies come from and the great things about being a big brother.
•  And when the baby is born, make special time just for him along with asking for his help in taking care of his new sibling.
  

Many people wonder if pregnancy brain is real and I am here to say yes it is real. I have had moments where I forget for a minute what I was going to do or say. Sometimes I forget names and how to do something I have done a million times. Okay, a million may be exaggerating but here is a [rime example of Baby Brain. At my regular OB appointment we did the normal how are things going, measuring where you should be and see you in 4 weeks. Normally I would then go and book the next appointment but this time went right to the car and told hubby about the appointment. Then did a Homer and walk back in to book my next appointment. See Pregnancy Brain really exists.

 Have you ever noticed how when a women is pregnant here emotions can go from one extreme to another in seconds?  Have you ever noticed the number of jokes such as the one quoted here? All of this brought to us by the letter H for hormones.
 Hormones are amazing things. They are responsible for many of the changes to our bodies during pregnancy. They are doing great things one moment and the next moment they are literally a pain in the butt.
 I am amazed at how many times I have noticed the effects of pregnancy hormones have had on me. Their is the obvious enlargement of the breasts  and belly. I have also noticed that I will sometimes start to cry at times that I would not normally cry at. My patience seems shorter and find me reminding myself to calm down at the littlest things. As Peg  from Peg and Cat would say ...." count down from 5 to 1". I am sure as this pregnancy goes foreword I will notice a lot more of the wonderful things hormones do.