It's a Boy!

Yes, the universe didn’t take too kindly to my demands. Moks and I have already made up these pictures in our heads of how life is going to be when our little daughter arrives, but I guess God said we’re getting ahead of ourselves – and of Him! – and so decided to give my beanie that pesky Y chromosome instead. :p

So instead of Ayla, we’re having Ira. (Ayla is the name we picked out if it’s a girl; I have loved that name for so many years now, and even loved it more after reading The Clan of the Cave Bear. Ira [pronounced Ay-ra], on the other hand, is short for Israel.)

I was supposed to go for the Congenital Anomaly Scan last week (June 26) to check on the baby and to find out the sex too, but I had to go to Hong Kong so it was pushed back. Much as I enjoyed HK, I looked forward to coming home and getting that long-awaited ultrasound already. So I was very happy that June 30 was declared a non-working holiday, and that St. Luke’s Women’s Health Care Unit was open at the time. I got an appointment for 1:00 p.m., and was at the hospital promptly. I was anxious, and excited. I was praying in my head, please let my baby be perfectly healthy. And please let it be a girl.


But no. The second the ultrasound probe touched my belly, guess what the first clear image was. Ira’s balls. Hehe. Which drew an “oooh” from the doctor, followed by, “Do you want to know the sex?” I wanted to say, well, based on what we’re seeing, I suppose it’s pretty obvious. But I chose not to be a smartass, and said yes instead. So she confirmed, it’s a boy. She froze the screen, drew an arrow to point to my beanie’s pututuy, and wrote “BOY”. As if she needed to drill that fact some more.

We spent the next hour and a half looking at every little detail of my beanie. His head, brains, heart, kidneys, liver, stomach, umbilical cord, arms, legs, bones, spines. Every one was painstakingly examined, and measured. And I kept breathing sighs of relief every time she says whatever she’s examining is normal. And then she asked,

Matangkad ba ang asawa mo?

Um, hindi po masyado. Hehe.

Hehe, mukhang magmamana ang baby niyo. Medyo maikli din ang hita o.

We giggled.

Then she proceeded to show me Ira’s face. She said it was still very bony as he doesn’t have much fats yet, but it will fill up in a few more weeks. She showed me the outline of his eyes, and even the lenses! She measured his nasal bone, and pointed out that his lips are intact. Ira was very cooperative at the time – he actually turned his head sideways to give us a better view. I am taking that as a very good sign that he won’t be camera shy once he’s born. :p



And then we proceeded to count his fingers and his toes. And again, we got a surprising and pleasing help from Ira. As if on cue, he raised his hands in front of his chest just when the doctor said “now we’ll look at his hands.” I was very proud of my baby at that time.

Like a model coached well on his next move, he raised his feet up to his chest too after we counted his fingers, and gave us a good view to be able to count his toes. By this time, I was already ecstatic and thinking, “Masunurin ang anak ko! Artistahin!”

The doctor then said, since my boy seems to be in the mood to give a show, we can videotape him and put it on CD. I would just have to pay about P250 for the CD copy. So of course, I said go. And yes, my son didn’t disappoint. When the doctor pressed record, he started moving around so much – turning his head sideways, raising his arms and legs, and just basically doing calisthenics in my uterus. He even did the “L” sign! Hahaha! I guess even he knew that it was Noynoy’s inauguration that day, and he was joining the nation’s pledge. :-)

Now that I think about it, I suppose my boy will take after my personality. Stariray na aware sa current events. Perfect!

I got into a roller coaster of emotions after the session. On the way home, it hit me that we’re not getting Ayla. That I won’t be able to buy those uber cute girl’s dresses and ribbons and shoes. That I won’t be able to tag her, “daddy’s little girl”. I admit I became sad for a while after that. It really felt like I was saying goodbye to my dream of having that pretty little girl with perfect curls na ipaparebond ko pag medyo malaki na siya at hindi na bagay sa kanya ang kulot.

But sense came back to me after a while, and I knew (I suppose I always knew, but I was being stupid about it) that it’s still going to be amazing even if we’re not getting a girl. When we passed by the toy store, I got this new picture in my head of Moks and Ira playing Lego together, and me dressing Ira up as a knight, or a soldier, or Superman. And then me calling him, “mommy’s little boy”.

And life is good again.