It's a...

From the moment we found out about our little one, I've imagined this tiny being growing inside me as a boy. When I thought nine months ahead, I pictured his cozy, rustic nursery, a smirky boyish little grin and the tiniest pair of hipster baby jeans and suspenders. When I imagined raising our child, I thought about trips to the beach in trunks and a miniature surfboard, mysteriously dirty cheeks and an extra special, best friend bond between mother and son. In the early weeks I was constantly trying to check myself when I was day-dreaming in a blue, non-gender-neutral haze. It wasn't at all that I didn't want a baby girl - I mean, boy, girl, pug...we love ALL forms of babies over here. I just felt so strongly that there was a little boy in my belly.

As Christmas approached and I (obsessively and gleefully) counted up each day and week of pregnancy we surpassed, I discovered that the week we'd leave for Missouri would be our 16th week of pregnancy. And, though it was a long shot, I started envisioning how cool it would be to be able to reveal the littlest Dickherber's gender to our families in person.

We scheduled our last doctor appointment for our last morning in California. We were at 15 weeks, 5 days. And as the doctor was prepping the ultrasound machine, I timidly requested that, though we knew it was early and we knew it was highly unlikely she'd be able to discern anything, could she please check for the baby's gender, you know, if possible? She gave us her most skeptical face and told us the very earliest she had ever been able to tell gender was at 16 weeks. Right, right, we acknowledged...but just in case.

She scooted the wand across my belly and we saw a sweet little face, two wiggly arms and then a pair of skinny chicken legs, knees bowed out and feet crossed casually at the ankles. And our doctor paused and let out a laugh. And, well, it was pretty obvious - our BOY is an exhibitionist, folks. And he's already breaking records from the womb.

You can imagine what an exciting 28 hour drive to Missouri immediately followed (did I stop talking once? The answer is no). And we were able to surprise our families and friends at our Missouri baby shower with the revelation of our baby's man-status in this photo.

Mama's intuition for the win!