It's a Girl!

About 3 weeks ago, David and I went to my 20 week sonogram appointment. Our number one prayer was that the baby would be healthy and everything would look normal. My second greatest prayer was that the baby would cooperate so that we could see what he/she was!

My intuition from day 1 of this pregnancy had been that the baby was a girl. And several people shared that feeling based on the way I'm carrying her. Even David started saying, "It's a girl", a couple of days before the appointment.

Our technician was so kind, and one of David's friends from work has a wife who works at the Breast Center, so we invited her into the room as well. So the baby had a whole crowd cheering her on. Because we were so blessed to have a healthy baby, it was SUCH a fun appointment.

The first few minutes, the technician said, "Well, I don't see anything that indicates that it's a boy" - but that was not good enough for me. I wanted to be SURE before we started buying dresses and pink bows. :)

So proper with her pinky up.

Thankfully, we ended up getting a great view - or, at least, that's what the technician told us, I couldn't tell what we were looking at. So we know for sure - it's a girl! I was worried that David might be disappointed, but the second that someone at work brought him a camo onesie with lace collar, I'm pretty sure he was hooked.

David's clothing choice....

My clothing choices.

So the next huge step for our family was the one I've been worried about since we first decided to start trying for a baby - names. It would be a gross understatement to say that David and I have different opinions on names. We made ourselves wait to even talk about names until we knew the baby's sex - then at least that would narrow our choices by 50%. Still, it was a difficult process with many nights spent reading through name books and saying "Do you like this?" only to be met with a strong NO.

A few weeks ago, we started talking about incorporating family names into the baby's name. Above all, I wanted her name to have a story behind it, instead of "Well, we just flipped through a book and picked that one". So, after a lot of discussion, and playing with combinations, we decided on a name that we both love.

Elysen Ashleigh Savage

Her first name is a combination of my sister's names - Allison and Elise (Ash's middle name). Her middle name is a combination of Sarah's middle name (Ashley) and my middle name (Leigh).

I'm so proud of this name. It's elegant and ladylike, but unique and special to our family. She is named after 3 of the best women I know. My hope for my baby girl is that she has the patient heart of her aunt Sarah, the strength of her aunt Allison, and the easy, fun-loving spirit of her aunt Ashley. An added bonus - according to our name book, Elysen is a feminine form of Elijah, which means "The Lord is my God".

David and I are so thankful to our God for blessing us with Baby Elysen. We can't wait to meet her! Here is another picture of our sweet girl.

This one's my favorite because I feel like I can tell just a little bit what she might look like. I love her nose.