Today was a good day...

Today started out well. I fit into jeans I haven't worn in months! Maybe the last eight weeks of morning (all freakin' day-long) sickness have been a good thing? Either way - I'll take it. Maternity clothes are in my near future, but this old pair of Lucky's will suit me just fine for the next few weeks.

Next, we got to go have another ultrasound. This is our second for this pregnancy. The first I had a few weeks ago to get a better determination of due date. (Remember - Baby #2 was a surprise so this Momma wasn't counting days.) Today's ultrasound was part of the genetic screening. This along with the blood draw that I did last week will help rule out any genetic abnormalities.

We got to the perinatologist's office and went into the room with a tech. I guess that for this genetic screening they send you an actual perinatologist's office for a high-tech ultrasound - not just the regular one at the lab.

Anyway, we got in the room and the tech started taking some pics of some fluid measurement at the back of the babies' neck. She was having a hard time getting a consistent number, not really concerning to us - we realized the baby was just laying in a position not conducive to this measurement. After about 30 minutes she went to show her pics to the doc. Guess they weren't good enough cause the doc came in a few minutes later to get the measurement herself. Within a few minutes - done.


Then...she asked us if we were interested in knowing the sex of the baby. Um...yes - we were, but you can't tell this early, right? She said "well - you can't be 100% certain at this stage but I have a pretty good guess." When a doctor says that she has a pretty good guess, I know that I would tend to believe her. Especially when it was not prompted. We didn't say "can you tell if it's a boy or a girl?" I mean, she does this for a living, right? So, we promised not to go out and buy bedding on her guess but said "sure, we'll take the news now."

We don't really care what we have either way. I've been thinking that a girl would be easier because we have all the stuff already. Steve is such a great "girl dad". I know how to do "girl" having done it once already. but then, a boy would be wonderful too. The nuclear family - Dad, Mom, Daughter, Son. Exactly like my family. She could torture love her little brother just like I do. ...back to the story...

The doc pulled up a picture on the ultrasound machine and said "see this swelling between the legs here?" We said "sure." (Do you ever really know what you're looking at in an ultrasound?) She said "well, when boys and girls develop they all have some swelling here, but at this far along in gestation this amount of swelling is probably not going to go away." Probably not? So that means ... BOY?

Yup - it meant boy.

So...we'll find out for sure in about 7 weeks, but we got a pretty good guess from the doctor that Allyson is going to have a little brother. We are off to find names for Baby #2. We're focusing more on little boy names - obviously - but we'll have a few girl ones picked out too. Just in case the next ultrasound comes back with something different. You never know.

~Becky

Carroll Family 3.1

It's been awhile since I have written anything. Sure, I stick around on Twitter and Facebook, but the urge to write has been missing. I miss it though. I write mostly for myself, but for some sort of record of the goings on in my life to have forever and to keep to share one day. So here's the latest from the life of Becky Carroll...

Allyson turned two in December and has been more and more fun every day. She's also developing some of those glorious Terrible Two Traits that I was hoping she'd skip. No such luck. The "no's" have arrived along with the whining when she doesn't immediately get what she wants. I thank goodness for a husband with much more patience than I have at times because I can just look at him with pleading eyes that say “if you don’t take over I’m going to muzzle her” and he jumps right in. Don’t get me wrong, we have very fun days. The last sunny weekend we had we played outside for hours, throwing the ball for the dogs, learning to ride a tricycle and making “lunch” in her little play house. I’m thankful for each one of them because they get this family through the days when we can’t get to bath, book and bed soon enough.

It could be the fact that work has been kicking my tail on a daily basis. The credit union where I work just announced a “mega merger” (Credit Union Journal term – not mine) with another like-sized credit union. When this will take place remains to be seen, but the ball has started rolling. Who will I work for? Will I still manage a team? Will I still manage my team? Will I even still have a job once the merger is complete? Who knows? Only time will tell and I’ll just continue doing my job well and hang on for the ride. I think managing a team makes it that much more stressful – especially for this still fairly new manager. Not only am I dealing with those questions myself, but I have to help seven other people work through those emotions themselves. I hope that getting through this makes me a better/stronger manager.

And then for the biggest (and best) news…we’re expecting! Baby #2 was not in the 2010 plans of the Carroll family, but life ends up working in strange ways and things just happen. I always wanted kids 2 ½ to 3 years apart and had resigned to the fact that it wasn’t going to work out that way. Well…somehow it was decided that my plan was to be – one way or another – and here comes Allyson’s little brother or sister.



I’m almost 12 weeks along and my due date is September 27th, 2010. In the throes of morning sickness that is different from the first time but sucks just as much, I’m trekking along in my second pregnancy. This one still feels a bit unreal. We planned on having Allyson – the surprise factor for this one has just thrown me for a loop. Either way, I can’t wait to meet baby number 2 and kiss all those adorable fingers and toes. And I know that Allyson is going to LOVE having a sibling. I know I do!

The other kicker? I’m a bridesmaid in my brother-in-law’s wedding on September 25th. (Mike and Morgan - I’m still SO very sorry for the timing!) So…will I be there in some maternity dress trying not to look like a hippopotamus? Will I be in the hospital after having just had a baby? Will I bring a couple-day-old baby to a wedding? Or will the worst thing possible happen – “does anyone have any objection to this marriage? Um….I think my water just broke”? Mike and Morgan have been so awesome. Mike’s take on it is that it’s going to be a story to tell no matter how it turns out. He’s such an awesome uncle – and looks forward to having another niece or nephew. I am so thankful to have these two as family. I volunteered to refrain from bridesmaid status, but they’ve both said that we’ll just play it by ear. So we’ll just see…

So…life is a little crazy right now like it is for everyone. We have to figure out things about our house. Do we stay here with two kids? Do we try to buy something else? Do we rent out this one and rent another? Lot’s of decisions to make. So stay tuned for another edition of the Carroll Family.

~Becky