Seeing is believing, sort of

We love Lisa and Vincent. Seriously. McPie is thinking of taking dancing lessons.

So, the ultrasound. Wow, what a cool experience. Until then, I was feeling a little doubtful that there was actually something in there. The ultrasound made it very clear that there was not only something in there, but someone. I'm still trying to get my head around it.

We took the kids, so they could get a sneak preview of their soon-to-be sibling. It was fun, the three of them lined up on chair beside me, the four of us watching the big screen.

The first thing the technician asked, of course, was whether or not we wanted to know the sex. Yes, we did. It was a lucky answer, because the moment the wand hit my belly, the kid mooned us. And it was very obvious that some of us were getting a brother, and the rest of us were getting a son. Ben might've done in a little fist pump: Yes!

The rest of the scan was completely fascinating. We saw the four beating chambers of the heart (134 bpm, which is low-in-a-good-way in the normal 120-180 range -- an athlete!); the stomach, kidneys and bladder (all functioning, he even peed for us); we counted the bones in the legs, and arms, and saw all the fingers and toes. He was hiding his head down in my hipbone, so we had to poke and prod a bit to get him to show his face. Which was very... skull-like. But very cool. In general, everything looked good and healthy. The measurements showed that my dates are on target.

The most remarkable thing that we saw was how much the baby moves. He was kicking his legs, and waving his hands like crazy. And I could barely feel a thing. But it made clear that the tiny little flutters and twinges I'd been feeling the past few days were in fact baby-related, and not gas cramps, as I was tempted to suspect.

We were able to take home a DVD of the complete scan, which the Moms were eager to see. I was surprised -- I didn't think we'd ever actually look at the thing again. They watched it as intently as if it was an action flick. I guess midwives have a particular interest in that sort of thing.

Since then, I've been feeling -- or imagine I've been feeling -- more movement; the other night there was even a poke-poke-poking that McPie was able to feel. (He assures me it won't be long before we see and feel knees and elbows.)

However, the connection between pregnancy and parenthood still seems very abstract to me. Like I am enduring a particular state of health for the time being, and at the end of March we will be parents to an infant, but the two things are sort of still unrelated.

Anyway, I'm left with the question: why are boys names so much harder to think of than girls names?! Anybody got any suggestions? 'Cause we are open to anything at this point...