It's a girl - and she's obviously already stubborn

My husband Brian is officially surrounded by women. We just found out the baby I'm carrying is a girl. We have a 6-year-old daughter, Tessa, and even our dog, Rosie, is a girl.

He wouldn't have it any other way, though.

Our appointment, to find out the sex of the baby, was on a Monday in Murfreesboro. Brian is off on Mondays, so he didn't need to take a day off. We had even decided to let Tessa go with us so she could see her new sibling on the screen.

Ultrasounds are amazing things. Last year when we were pregnant with our daughter, who was stillborn, we knew from the ultrasound that she was going to be very ill. Many, many birth defects can be detected by ultrasound, though not all.

Because of what we went through last year, I was understandably nervous about this one. I couldn't sleep the night before and woke up at 5 a.m.

By the time we were in the ultrasound room, my hands were shaking so much even the ultrasound technician noticed it. Luckily, even though she wasn't the one who did all the ultrasounds we had last year, she knew our history and was very gentle with me.

She wasn't able to answer very many questions and told me she would only be able to tell me in the end if everything looked good to her, but the radiologist would have to look it over. I would find out the results at my appointment the next day.

She examined the placenta and the umbilical cord and other parts of me, and then she moved on to the baby. She showed us the cerebellum, a part of the brain, which hadn't been very developed in our baby last year. My untrained eye could even see the difference.

Another important aspect was the nasal bone, which is often not developed or missing completely in babies with chromosomal disorders. It was there, and to be honest, I breathed a little sigh of relief when she showed it to us.

The baby even waved at us at one point, putting her hands over her face. When the tech moved on to the heart, the baby had fallen asleep, and her heart rate was at 130 beats per minute. This dispels one of the old wives' tales that boys have a slower heart rate than girls.

Brian was amazed at the pictures of the heart. We were able to see all four chambers, and Tessa was able to pinpoint it as well due to the fluttering on the screen.

We saw her kidneys, her abdomen, her leg and arm bones and even more shots of her brain. I am always in awe of what they are able to see on that ultrasound, and since losing our baby and coming into contact with other women who have lost babies to many different problems, I am amazed anyone ever has a healthy baby.

Finally, it was time to see if we could find out the sex. Tessa had been asking for a while when we would find out, and I was ready, too. Even though the radiologist still had to read the results, I was overall confident that the baby was healthy and wanted to know if we were on the pink or blue team.

But the baby didn't want to cooperate. She was asleep and had her knees together. I said, "It's already more modest than its daddy or sister."

Tessa leaned against the table, her hands clasped in a fist, saying over and over, "Please be a girl, please be a girl, please be a girl."

The tech shook my belly, pushed in deeper with the wand and finally was able to see what she needed to declare that we are having a girl. Tessa was thrilled, and so was Brian, who wanted another girl. I was just happy the baby was healthy.

I knew, because of her reluctance to show us the money shot, I was going to have another stubborn girl, just as stubborn as her great-grandmother, who we always said was one of the most bull-headed people we ever met. In my opinion, though, being stubborn isn't a bad thing, because that character trait helps you to overcome whatever obstacles are thrown your way. Most of the women in my family have inherited that stubborn streak from my granny.

The tech told me everything looked good to her. My friend told me later that the ultrasound techs sometimes know and can see as much as the radiologist, just from doing them all day long.

Now, we move on to names. I was pretty sure if the baby had been a boy that we were going to name him Spencer, but Brian and I can't agree on a girl's name at all. I was very pregnant with Tessa before she ever had a name.

Some of the names in the running are Ella, Emily, Elizabeth, Caroline, Sophia and Colleen.

I had been counting down the days to the date of finding out the sex. Now, I can start counting down the days to my due date, Nov. 30. I can't wait to add another member to the family.

Tamara Belinc is a Times-Gazette staff writer. She can be reached at tbelinc@t-g.com.