Boy or girl? a question we've pondered well before our positive pregnancy test. As time slowly creeps by, we anxiously await the day we can do the gender reveal. Will we throw a party or announce it individually? Will we tell everyone right away or wait and enjoy the results first? The doctors office insists on waiting until we're 20 weeks along, so we decided to hire an ultrasound tech. (Bun In The Oven Sonography) to come to our home during our sixteenth week instead. The tech. April set up her equipment in our living room, I laid on the couch while Nikki stood at my head. The ultrasound began and I felt my heart literally drop.
April took a few minutes before telling us the results, but without a doubt it was clear as day; it's a girl.
The emotions of the gender reveal were beyond overwhelming, it made everything feel just a little more real. I looked at Nikki who wore a smile from ear to ear, we were having a girl. There are no words to explain the emotions this news brought us, after everything we'd been through - we made it and now we have a daughter to join us in this adventure of life.
As soon as April left we rushed to the store to buy a little sign and some pink converse shoes – we wanted to tell the world! We took a photo and sent it to family and friends. We took our new pink baby converse shoes and visited my Grandparents, (They were thrilled) because the truth is - without them, we would never had been able to do this.
The next step was the nursery; Nikki made this her personal project as she began wall designs, building toy boxes, shelves, tables and so much more. If I knew one thing for sure it's that our daughter will have the most beautiful room I ever had seen.
Faith has been important for both Nikki and myself during our journey, at one point it was all we had. While we wait for the gender of our baby, we've continued to prepare. We have a lot of things to do, plans to make and of course appointments to keep up with.
As crazy as things have been, these past few weeks have been nothing short of perfection. Our baby is growing and my stomach is showing! Feeling life inside of my stomach has been life-altering.
While we’ve prayed for this time in our
lives, we certainly did not expect it to turn this chaotic.
The doctor called to go over blood work I recently had done. It felt like another average afternoon as we prepared for the work night ahead. When the phone rang, I was a little taken back by Dr. Cortez on the other line, usually it's his assistant - he began rambling on about this result and that result. Then he said something that stopped my heart instantly; Down syndrome. I can't recall much after hearing the statistics and the steps that we'd now have to take. The phone call was short, but I felt like time had frozen and in that very moment I struggled with an overwhelming amount of fear.
When the call ended, I sat on the steps and got lost in my thoughts. What is down syndrome? How would this change our lives? Our child's life? There were so many questions, so many concerns and so much doubt that suddenly invaded our lives.
The following weeks would prove to test our faith in every way we never expected.
The emotions of the gender reveal were beyond overwhelming, it made everything feel just a little more real. I looked at Nikki who wore a smile from ear to ear, we were having a girl. There are no words to explain the emotions this news brought us, after everything we'd been through - we made it and now we have a daughter to join us in this adventure of life. 
