Wednesday, February 04, 2009

the proof is in the photo


in case you're not sure what you're looking at, i'll give you a hint: the baby's bottom is facing the top left hand corner of the picture. there are 2 legs on either side of something sort of dangly, which is pointing to the bottom right corner. i'm telling you right now that this is the most graphic picture you'll ever see of baby stew#2, at least on this blog! i'm planning on changing tristan's blog title to: "The Littlest Stews" and will post his pictures privately with tristan's from now on.

now then, here's how the day went. even though every single day we pray that josh will have work, i secretly hoped that today he wouldn't because i knew that if there was work for him, there would be no way he could pass up the opportunity, since work has been scarce, meaning i'd be going to the appointment alone. well, by 7am we were pretty sure that he wouldn't be working today! he ended up going to work at a side job this morning and was home in time to drive me to the hospital in san diego, while tristan was whisked away by his gran. i was SO thankful that he was able to be there with me because he hasn't been able to make it to a single appointment so far and i knew that photos would never do justice to capture the whole ultrasound experience for him.

i've never had an ultrasound where my bladder has to be full. i was supposed to drink 32oz of water an hour before my scheduled appointment. i measured carefully and took the water with me in the car and, once it was all gone, i was thinking "this is no problem!" we were about 20 minutes away when suddenly, the urge to pee hit me rather strongly and without warning. in any normal situation, i'd have had my eyes peeled for the nearest mcdonalds, ready to jump out and use their restroom, but that was not an option. instead i made little moaning sounds and tapped my foot rapidly while josh stifled laughter, apologizing every time he smirked. i can't even begin to tell you how much it hurt just to walk. every step felt like the entire gravity of the earth was pulling down on my bladder, begging it to burst. we took the wrong elevator at first and i tried desperately to breathe calmly and focus on not wetting myself!

the waiting room was pretty empty and, though there were 3 receptionists behind the desk, it took about 5 minutes for anyone to sign me in. after typing away for about half a year, the lady behind the counter asked for my copay and then the silly debit machine wouldn't work! she even made a comment saying "my my, everything is so SLOW today!" to which i replied "yeah, everything takes longer when your bladder is full". once i had paid, i waddled over to where josh was sitting, and at that point i seriously wondered whether i would be able to hold it all in while bending to sit down. thankfully i managed to sit down without any leakage and then my name was called a few moments later.

the ultrasound technician led us to a room RIGHT across the hall from the bathroom, which makes sense. at the time, however, i thought it was really cruel to taunt us full-bladdered people with the promise of relief just beyond our reach. he asked me to lay down and as soon as i did, my bladder must have found a few more inches of room because it became really quite bearable after that. the whole thing lasted nearly 45 minutes and it was wonderful! he asked us how many kids we have and if we're hoping for a boy or a girl. we both admitted a girl would be nice, and then he got busy finding kidneys and a spine and brain etc. to measure. when he got near the legs he said "oh, it looks like you might be having a boy" but he didn't say much more after that and continued his measuring and entering numbers. awhile later he said "yeah, that really looks like a boy" but it wasn't until the very end when he was done measuring and went over the baby's body one more time for us, explaining what each part was. he looked below the legs and said "do you see that there?" and then took the picture that i have on this post. there's no denying it, its definitely a boy!

i am going to be absolutely and totally honest right here: i felt not one single ounce of disappointment. i only beamed and the first thing i thought of was tristan with his little brother, buddies for life (or so i hope!) that moment of elation was quickly followed by panic when i realized that now we'll definitely have to go for #3, but i pushed that thought out of my mind and just enjoyed the newness of knowing.

making a few phone calls on the way home, i referred to the baby as a "he" for the first time and later used his name "samuel." it sounded so right, especially when i talk about "tristan and samuel", it just really seems to flow.

the name we have picked out so far is Samuel David Ryan. samuel, because we both love the name as well as the Bible story that goes along with it. david for josh's middle name, my brother's middle name, johnny's middle name and josh's cousin's first name (who died in the war). and ryan is for josh's best friend who died when he and josh were in high school. after rolling those names around in our mouths for awhile, josh declared on the way home that he wasn't so sure about samuel anymore. he still likes the name, but really doesn't care for the nicknames "sammy" or "sam". i don't care for the nicknames either, so my solution would be to only call him samuel, but josh isn't convinced yet. so, we still may change our minds, but as of now i'm going to start calling this baby samuel because i've been dying to call him something other than "it" for a long time!

of course, its also wonderful that we have most everything we need for a little boy. we have so many clothes that tristan wore, plus a lady at church already told me that if its a boy she has lots of baby clothes to give to me. the main thing we'll need is diapers and wipes and more diapers, so if i get another shower, that's what i'll be requesting! i know its still early, but i can't wait to start going through the bins of baby clothes and washing and folding and putting them in little drawers. two boys, wow! i'm still getting used to the idea. its going to be quite the ride!!

20 comments:

Z-Mama said...

Man, I was checking and checking all day, and finally had to leave at about 4:15 today and just got home! I have been dying to find out ever since! Heidi, that is so exciting! It will just melt your heart when you see the two brothers interact and love each other! Congrats, congrats, congrats! I am so excited for you!

Jenn & Wade said...

Yay for two boys in a row....I love it that we have the two boys together, they are such good buddies! Don't even think about #3...just enjoy this time!=)

Meredith said...

Funny thing about names, after a while it doesn't matter about nicknames. I loved Michael, (still do).
I only call him Michael. I couldn't stand Mike or Mikey, I wanted nothing to do with them.
You know what though? you get over it. People call him those and I couldn't care less, I know his name is Michael and I love him just the same. Hope this makes sense... ~M

Heather said...

Heidi I remember that full bladder vividly. I remember that I wanted to cry because it literally hurt so bad to have to pee like that. I like the "whole" name Samuel David Ryan Stewart, it sounds like a good strong name. I am excited for you all. Just tell people the only nicknames he can have are Stew, David, Ryan, or Samuel.

Thoughts on Life and Millinery. said...

Oh goodie! The Stewarts have always "thrown" boys, as the old expression goes. Generations of decidedly boyish offspring litter their family charts. And as you have noticed, they also tend to show up in June.I think a boy was inevitable. (smile)
Good job!

Two boys means cheaper living: they can share a bedroom and the money saving hand-me-downs can go on forever.

Samuel David Ryan will even have hand-me-down names AND a hand-me-down blog.

Aw...come on Heidi, at least let the kid have his own room in cyberspace!

Six of the ten preggers I know are doing boys this round. One is doing a third daughter, three haven't found out yet. Funny how it goes in waves!

I had an ultrasound with full bladder routine: the office was surrounded by a waterfall wall.

Cruel...very cruel.

ⒿⒶⓃⓔⓉ said...

Congratulations!!! I am so happy for you guys. I can't wait to meet your new addition =) Two boys, I love it!

Anonymous said...

I woke up this morning, and thought immediately - I can read what it is! I rushed to work to check my computer! Woo hoo! It's a boy! I'm so excited for you guys!!!

Christy :)

Shannon said...

brothers are fun to watch. two of my friends each have 4 boys. a house full of one or the other is pretty cute.

Darcy and Sharon said...

Congratulations! If your boys like playing together half as much as my two girls they'll be friends for life! We're still waiting to find out about baby #3... any day now!

Hope everything goes well for you.
Sharon

Unknown said...

How exciting! I love the names

Natalie Peters said...

Ever watched 'legends of the fall'? 2 of the brothers in the movie are Tristan & Samuel.... I love those names- they were on our list before we chose Liam. Great choice!

Aimee said...

Hooray. How awesome, 2 boys. excited with you guys.

Thirsty said...

Heidi, your bladder story brings back wonderful memories. That was the one part of getting a ultrasound that I hated. It hurt so bad. Not looking forward to having to do it once again.
Names can be hard. We call Joshua, Joshua, never Josh b/c Ken doesn't like the nickname Josh. And so far no one has called him Josh, just Joshua!

Danielle said...

Congratulations! God is so good!

Sarah D said...

I'm so happy for you guys!! Your bladder story made me cross my legs... glad you made it through accident free!

Z-Mama said...

Heidi, is your description of the pic backwards? Or am I seeing this wrong? Cause I see little butt cheeks toward the top left and the little tell-tale dangley pointing to the bottom right? The bright white looks like a femur bone of his cute little leg.

heidi said...

no, zandra you're seeing right. i see now that i made a mistake in saying his butt was facing the top right corner. i'll fix it. :)

Bonnie said...

Congratulations! 2 boys, that's exciting. I really like the name Samuel--my first thought was of the 2 brothers Tristan and Samuel on Legends of the Fall! So happy for you. :)

Lori said...

I totally know what you mean (in response to your comment on my blog). I am so excited for the boys to grow up together. Ours will certainly be unique situation but I cannot wait until they're playing outside together and tumbling around the house. We will definitely have to make play dates when I'm in San Diego!

Lovella ♥ said...

Aw Heidi. .I love the name Samuel and I am thrilled for you to have another sone. You'll be a proud mom.. .with your wee boys tagging behind you.
I trust you are preparing yourself for a few bruises thrown in for good measure. Boys will be boys.