Are you going to find out the gender?

The two original gender symbols are derived from astronomical symbols; male being the symbol for Mars and Female for Venus (I never knew this!!). Hence, men are from Mars and women are from Venus (I knew this!!). The symbols were first used to denote the effective gender of plants by Carolus Linnaeus in 1751.

If baby Cash cooperates this Tuesday, we will hopefully find out his or her gender!! Originally I was leaning toward not finding out until delivery day but as Chris and I started talking about baby names during one afternoon car trip I thought it would be so much easier to only have to pick a name for one gender instead of two. Chris didn’t mind either way but my family was hoping we would find out so they could shop for colors other than yellow and green…even though I have made it clear that we don’t want just pink or blue things either!!

Everyone seems to want to know if we would prefer a certain gender over the other and honestly we don’t have our heart set on either gender. We are just hoping that the little one is healthy and strong and no matter what the gender, we can’t wait to meet him or her on delivery day. Even though we will know the gender, the surprise of meeting the baby we created together will be the biggest moment and surprise of our lives. Hey, and there’s always a chance that the gender determination was incorrect, right?

I have had a feeling since the beginning that it is a girl, not sure why I have the feeling but I do none the less. But the other night, I had my first dream about gender and it was a boy. So the mystery is just waiting to be solved…let’s hope Cash isn’t too modest!!

Pregnancy Progress: Week 17

Today, I am 17 weeks pregnant!! Cash is about the size of an onion (or the size of my hand wide open) but it sure doesn’t look like it when I look at my baby bump which seems to look the same as it did 4 weeks ago. Cash’s skeleton is hardening and changing from rubbery cartilage to bone (I better start drinking more milk!!) and s/he is even accumulating a little fat which is important for the body’s heat production and metabolism. Bambino Ciano now has one of a kind prints on all of his/her fingers and toes!! Did you know that the prints were created by Cash moving around in the amniotic fluid? Pretty cool!!

I haven't felt Cash move just yet but I am keeping my feelers out. At my 16 week prenatal appointment this past week, Cash's heartbeat was strong and we could hear him or her kicking around and hiccupping. I am looking forward to feeling these movements myself and it will be even more exciting when Chris can start feeling Cash move from the outside, which won't be for awhile but still something to look forward too.

This week we are anticipating our 3D ultrasound on Tuesday. We can't wait to see Cash again (hoping s/he is growing healthy) and I am excited my mom will be there as well!!

Nickname

We couldn’t let the first months of pregnancy go by without coming up with a nickname for the little one. It makes it so much easier to talk about him or her without saying “it” each time. “It” just doesn’t seem right since he or she does have a gender…we just don’t know it yet!! We got to catch a glimpse of the tadpole a couple of times around 7 and 9 weeks and we saw a flickering heartbeat in what looked like a cashew. Being one of my favorite nuts and in the same family as one of Violet’s nicknames, Peanut, I thought Cashew would be a cute nickname for the baby. Of course, as soon as we told Auntie K she immediately shortened the name to “Cash” which has continued to stick (even though s/he looks nothing like a Cashew now!!). So if you hear me talking about little “Cash”, you will know who I am referring too and that it has nothing to do with the stroller I love or the amount of money we will end up spending on the nursery!!

Bambino Ciano Progression

We've had the opportunity to visit with Baby Ciano a few times, the last time being during my 12th week. The first two ultrasounds we could see a little blob and a heartbeat flickering away. Our most recent ultrasound at 12 weeks 6 days was the coolest!! Seeing the little one moving around, stretching, waving, bending its knees, was just so neat...and strange to think it was all going on inside and I couldn't feel a thing!!

Next up, 3D ultrasound on January 12th to see if we can confirm the gender of the little one.

6 weeks 6 days

8 Weeks 5 Days (Baby upside down, head left, body right)12 Weeks 6 Days