Is it a BOY or GIRL?

That is the question!

Let's break it down:

Morning Sickness:  With Finley, I was sick for the first 11-12 weeks, but nothing too serious.  I may have thrown up twice at best.  With Jude, I was sick for the full first trimester.  Only beginning to feel better at 14 weeks.  I threw up quite a bit, but not necessarily every day.  With C3, I was MISERABLY sick... throwing up several times a day, but it ended right at 11.5 weeks.  So since I was much sicker which would indicate boy, but it stopped sooner indicating girl.... I'm going with...

CONCLUSION:  ?????  

Food Aversions:  With Finley, I couldn't even look at chicken.  I would gag just thinking about it.  With Jude, I had no food aversions whatsoever.  With C3, I couldn't drink coffee or any sort of soda for my first trimester.

CONCLUSION:  Girl

Mother's Intuition: With Finley, I thought boy most of the pregnancy and was wrong.  With Jude, I thought girl and was wrong.  With C3, I have NO DOUBTS that it is a boy.  So far I have been wrong every time so I guess that would indicate that I'm wrong this time too, but I really don't think so.  HA!  It should also be noted that Beth has a very crazy intuition about these things and thinks it is a girl.  She was 100% right about Finley and didn't have a gut feeling about Jude so since her intuition has been more correct than mine...we'll definitely go with:

CONCLUSION: Girl

Normal Birth Order:  With few exceptions, everyone I have ever known or heard of (yes, that counts!!!!) who has had a girl first, a boy second, and gone on to have another baby, has had a boy as their third.  And yes, this is my main arguement for why I believe we are having a boy.  My sweet husband deems this reason as "ridiculous", "obnoxious", and just plain "silly."  In fact, he started out believing we were having a boy, but now thinks girl and I am positive he thinks girl simply because he thinks my reason is so absolutely ludacrious.

CONCLUSION: Boy

Weight Gain:  With Finley, I gained 25 pounds total.  I don't know how much I had gained by the 20 week mark, but I think it was around 10 pounds.  I remember being in Florida when I was maybe 27 or 28 weeks and freaking out that I had gained 15 pounds, but thankfully, I lost a few of those when I was back home.  With Jude, I only gained 15 pounds total.  At 20 weeks, I had gained 5 pounds.  With C3, my weight has fluctuated a ton, but I am 10 pounds over my normal weight.   However, I have only really gained 2 pounds because I started out 8 pounds over my normal weight to begin with.  I haven't gained that much and I definitely gained less with Jude.

CONCLUSION:  Boy

Appetite:  They say you eat more when you are pregnant with a boy, but I ate more with Finley.  With C3, I eat all the time.  I am always eating....

CONCLUSION: Girl

Spotting:  With Finley, I spotted a little around week 6.  With Jude, I spotted my whole first trimester and it was very, very scary.  With C3, absolutely no spotting!

CONCLUSION: ????????

Heartrate:  With Finley, her heartrate was over 140 at our first appointment.  With Jude, his heartrate was also over 140 at our first appointment.  With C3, the heartrate was 133.  Even though both Finley and Jude's were in the girl range, C3's is CLEARLY in the boy range....

CONCLUSION:  Boy

Movement: Finley was a kickboxer.  She would just jab and kick to her heart's content.  Jude was a swimmer.  He would kick sometimes, but most of the time, he seemed to just be hanging out in there.  C3 is a kickboxer.  Also, even though we haven't had our official ultrasound yet with C3, I admit C3 acted much more like Finley.  Finley wouldn't stay still long enough for us to get the measurements while Jude slept the whole entire time.  When my OB gave me a little sneek peak at C3 a couple of weeks ago, C3 was moving like CRAZY!

CONCLUSION: Girl

When we found out Jude was a boy, EVERYONE said "Oh, you're done!  Your family is complete now that you have both a boy and a girl." To tell you the truth, every time I heard that I cringed.  I never look at a family of all girls and think "Oh, if only they had a boy..." or vice versa.  I know two families that have 6 girls and another family that has 5 boys.  It never occurred to me that they were "incomplete" without having both a boy and a girl.  I love that God creates family differently and each with a specific purpose.  Even though I absolutely adore having a daughter AND a son, I don't think I'd feel any differently if I had two (or now three) girls or two (or now three) boys.

It's fun to think and anticipate what we're having, but I'm resting completely in the knowledge that this little one was planned long before I knew of his/her existence.  I'm so thankful that I am not in control.  That I am not making the decision.  How could I possibly know better than God what gender our baby should be???????

Truthfully, I'm just plain excited to see who God is giving us!  I would absolutely love to have another boy.  But I would also absolutely love to have another girl.  There are such positives to both genders and if I were in control, I would be having boy/girl twins!  HA!  But I'm not in control and it's fun to just sit back and anticipate knowing that God will give us EXACTLY what He desires for us and that this is a lot bigger than I am.  My silly preferences (if I even have any) don't factor into a God who placed the stars in the sky.  Who knows the number of hairs on my head.  Who created the universe in a single breathe.  He is giving us a child who is not really ours, but is His and I am giddy and humbled to see whether that is a boy or a girl.