My Feisty Baby Girl

It's nice to finally know that we are having a baby girl. I must tell you that I'm ecstatic. While I'll be grateful for a healthy baby, I must confess that I was secretly hoping for a little girl. Wil is a touch over protective but I guess that's a normal response from a dad, who had quite a run during his bachelor days. He said to me after we came back from the hospital and finally settled down for the evening on our couch, "you know she's going to be beautiful." He said this with a worried look that was accompanied by a heavy sigh. It had to be the most endearing thing I've discovered about my husband as a father thus far. I normally try to ensure him that her big brain will be the thing that carries her through life and he still has years before having to get background screening for frequent visitors. I'm not sure that's helping much.

As Wil said in the previous post, we went to the hospital to get a quick check up because I was having bad cramps and lower backaches. Even though the nurse I spoke to on the phone was pretty sure that it was just normal pregnancy discomfort, she asked me to come in just to be sure. Unbeknownst to me, another girl from Baumholder, who was just about as far along in her pregnancy as me and having similar symptoms, was admitted because she was already dilated 3 cm. It was New Year's Eve and I've been thinking about her a lot since and hoping that all would turn out just fine for both mom and baby. Our girl was mighty active for about 48 hours straight before I started to experience pain. Even the doctor and the nurse commented on what a busy body she was while they were trying to listen to the heartbeats and do the ultrasound. Since the hospital visit, she's calmed down quite a bit and actually letting me get some sleep. It's so weird to say that the baby keeps me up already. I don't think I've ever slept longer than 4 hours at a time since the Seed's conception. Well, at least I'll already be accustomed to the sleep deprivation comes April.

Both friends and fams greet the news of a baby girl Steinhauer with amazing enthusiasm. Apparently, there's been such a girl drought in our circle. Wil instituted the no-Laura-Ashley-anything mainly for my sister Kwan because she had been looking at, and perhaps already stocking up on, party dresses with lots of flowing flower prints and layers of tulles a little too longingly. Can't blame a dad for not wanting his baby to look like an over decorated cupcake. I also got to break the good news to a few of my relatives in Thailand on New Year's day. Grandmas were all elated and one kindly reminded me, multiple times, that she almost died giving birth to my mom and her siblings. Thanks, grandma. Nothing shakes me up like your pep talk. Thank God for modern medicine and drugs.