Official Due Date Release of Baby Girl Faircloth - MARCH 18, 2016

         August the 5th is quite ancient history by now! But it is still a most pleasant memory to look back upon! We saw our little jellybean for the first time! After my ARNP (Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner) measured the baby, she announced that due to the baby's size, I wasn't as far along as they or I had predicted according to how they normally estimate pregnancies. So instead of expecting our baby to arrive on/around March 7, the new due date was pushed to March 18! This was good news and bad news to me; the bad news being that I had more weeks of nausea to endure and more time to spend in the "scary" part of the first trimester. The good news was that the number was changing from an ugly 7 to a beautiful 18! I just have this autistic fascination with numbers; I love even numbers, and abhor odd numbers. I always set the alarm clock to ring on an even number like 5:52, add a lovely 8 minute snooze and then wake up (or TRY to wake up) at the completeness of 6:00! Anyway back to the due date numbers, 7 is the ugliest of all the odd numbers. It's just incomplete, only unfinished, sharp angles. So I was delighted to replace it with 18 which is the number of all numbers to me!! My birthday is June 18. I was married to the love of my life at age 18. Hence, 18 just signifies all things good. Numbers just don't get any better than a stalwart 1 standing upright beside an attractive 8, such a pleasingly plump number of perfect symmetry. So even thought the chance of our little baby actually being born on March 18, is only 1 in 20, I love having March 18 as the official due date! I must cease with this elaboration of numerology! One more thought though, isn't it wonderful that the year 2016 is also an even number?!
         I had another ultrasound on August 11 because Connie (ARNP, I see her more than my OBGYN because I can usually get in sooner and I really like her!) is a mother hen and wanted to make sure everything was okay, (it was) and you could see legs sort of! Yay!!! On my next ultrasound 2 weeks later on August 26, we could see arms and legs just kicking and moving around like crazy! So exciting! Our little gummy bear is definitely growing! I also got the optional blood work done that day to determine gender and to check for genetic disorders.
         This past Tuesday, Daniel's mom and I went shopping around in Pace looking at baby stuff at consignment shops and at Target, and we were wishing so badly that we knew the gender! So I called to my doctor on a whim just to check the status of my blood work because they had told me it could be at least 2 weeks until we would know. And the nurse called back to say that my results had just come in that day!! I freaked out but managed to tell her not to tell me; that I would call back with my husband the next day! Danl was in Baton Rouge. We called the next morning but had to leave a message, so Danl told me just to let him know as soon as they called back and told me. When she finally did, I was so shocked to hear her say, "Everything looks good, and it's a baby girl!" I repeated back to her, "It's a baby girl???" I was shocked because my gut feeling was that it was a boy! But I know this little girl will be perfect for us!! We quickly planned an impromptu gender reveal party for our immediate family. I made mock Hostess cupcakes with pink centers. Of course we started with dessert first!! I made everyone vote what they thought it was gonna be, then everyone bit into their cupcake in unison! It was hilarious! Then we all settled down and devoured some delicious sausage and chicken jambalaya, garlic bread, Caesar salad, pizza, and PINK raspberry sherbet punch! :)
            I'm 12 weeks now; 195 more days to get ready to meet OUR LITTLE GIRL!!! Wow! Even though we haven't hesitated to tell everything as soon as possible so far, we are determined to keep the name we have picked out a secret until birth! That being said, I still love hearing name suggestions! So far my very helpful extended family has volunteered the following suggestions: Charlotte Amelia, Wilhemina, Fedora, and LeMonjello!!!! So nothing is too far out to fling out! Please leave your name suggestion in the comments below.