It's a...

Baby! Eli caved into my persuasive negotiating powers and agreed to look away while the technician checked out the baby's nether regions. He swears he didn't peak, and I held my hand above his glasses to make extra sure. I did ask if it was one or the other and that if everything was ok down there, and the technician said the child had a definite gender and everything was developing just fine. I can put Middlesex back up on the shelf now.

We did have her write the sex in an envelope. She folded it over well so Eli couldn't hold it up to the light and I tamper-proofed it a bit by writing a warning along its seam not to steam open the envelope. It's not that I don't trust Eli...

The technician said that some couples tear open their envelope the second they're in the parking lot, others wait until a nice dinner, others just never open it. I figure we can always change our minds and check, but we can't change our minds and forget, at least not without some very expensive hypnosis. I was joking with a friend last night that if I can't think of a birthday present for Eli, then I'll give him the envelope. Except that we're seeing Joe Jackson on his birthday. Our friend suggested we get Joe to open it on stage. That I wouldn't mind so much because we'd have a great story and maybe some of Joe's talent would influence the baby in utero. Eli is so gung ho I think he is actually writing to Joe's manager right now.

Other than the gender debate, the ultrasound was awesome! We got tons of great pictures, which I'll try to scan in, once I scratch off my SS# from each of them. Everything looks good, is developing right on schedule and all appendages and digits are present. Our little cub was very active and is a big thumb sucker. (Funny, neither Eli nor I sucked our thumbs as babies, but I imagine there's not a whole hell of a lot else to do in my womb. And practicing suckling is a good thing.) We saw it from all angles and checked out all parts. Toward the end of the ultrasound the baby, as if on cue, opened its mouth in what our technician called a yawn, tucked its wee little hand under its chin, and calmed down as if going to sleep. Cutie!

In terms of size, the baby is in the 50th percentile (51.62% to be exact) -- a very average sized baby, which is fine with me. Baby can overachieve in other areas, but I'd prefer it to be quite mediocre in stature. My brother and I were both six pounds and some change, so I'm hoping to keep our cub under seven. Please God!