No, no, I don’t really mean let’s talk about the Salt ‘N Pepa song, “Let’s Talk About Sex!”  I meant let’s talk about the sex of my baby!  Yesterday was yet another HUGE milestone in our second pregnancy.  It was time to go in for the third ultrasound, the one that will reveal the sex of the baby.

Of course if you are reading this then you probably already know our story.  You already know that this was the point last time where Jesy and I got the horrible news that something was very wrong with our baby and that in all likelihood it would not make it full term.  And she didn’t.  So, as you  can imagine Jesy and I were feeling a wave of emotions as the witching hour approached.

• Nervous – check

• Anxious – check

• Scared – check

• Excited – check

• Spaced out – check

• Ready? – Double check

But this time we were going to do things a little different. I know weird right, George Herron wants to do something differently.  So we explained to the ultrasound tech that we didn’t want to know the sex of the baby, we wanted her to write it down and put it in an envelope. I’ll get to why in a minute.  The tech was more than happy to oblige after hearing our heart wrenching story from last time.

Sarah, the tech, had to get all the boring stuff out-of-the-way first: checking ovaries, checking heartbeat, measuring the head…blah, blah, blah.  But it was actually great because as she was doing all that we got to see the baby move around and resist Sarah trying to take pictures and just be a kind of pain in the ass for her.  Yup, must be a child of mine.  But there was a point when Sarah was taking pictures and our little 13 ounce bundle of joy gave us the thumbs up, as if to say all is good in here, no need to worry!  (Thanks kiddo, it was a HUGE relief!)

Then it was time to find out the sex of the baby.  Sarah was great she gave us the heads up and we looked away and closed our eyes.  Sarah silently took the pictures and wrote what our baby was and put it in the envelope and gave no hint whatsoever as to the sex.

But who cares at this point right?  WE MADE IT!  We made it through the 19 week ultrasound unscathed and with a happy (I presume) and healthy baby!  For like an hour after the ultrasound and before the popping of the balloon I almost forgot that we still didn’t even know the sex of our baby.  I was just so relieved and happy that it was healthy and that we were going to make it to the finish line this time!

So, yeah, about having the tech write down the sex and put it in an envelope.  Jesy wanted to do something totally different since the last time we were at this point it was an awful, disastrous mess.  So we opted to throw a party.  A reveal party.  Most people do it with a cake.  They have either a blue or pink inside the cake.  Jesy couldn’t wait that long, she needed something instant, so we decided to have a black balloon filled with either pick or blue confetti and then we would pop it at the party with our friends and family.

Man, I bet those of you who still don’t know are DYING to find out, right?  Too bad, should have been at the party!  Looks like you are going to have to deal with some more build up on my part.  Just be thankful I’m not Stephen King, you wouldn’t find out the sex of the baby till about page 529.

Due to the fact that more people wanted to come to this party than we originally thought we had to move the party from  our house to the shelter in Gower Park in Sharonville.  It was awesome to see everyone there, and I’m going to try to do something that will be sure to offend someone.  I want to individually thank everyone that was there.  I’m sure I will forget someone, but it is important to me to recognize my peeps!

Thank you: Mom, Carol, John, Brian, Miranda, Matt, Jami, Mason, CJ, Sarah, Henry, Grandma O, Grandpa O, Jack, Sue, Beth, Doug, Tom, Teresa, Marian, Anna, Karen, Carter, Buster, Jane, Glenn, Sue, Joey, Jay, Lisa, Chris, Paul, Michelle, Kennedy, Sandy, Judy, Mary Jo, Dan, Jim, Natalie, Gayle, Jill, Sherri, Liz, Mike, Natalie, Abigail, Isaiah, Heather, Aayla, Lauri, Rick, Corey, Neil, Kat, Tony, Kendra, Sheldon, Mark, Lauren, Sam, Avery, Andrew, Erin, Owen and Emma! And for our remote users:  Dad(The Big Guy), Shari, Roly, Alex, Emma, Ro and Lauren.

That was all from memory, no cheating! Impressive right? (And sorry in advance if I missed anyone.)

Without you guys there with us it wouldn’t have been nearly as special.   You all mean so much to us and to see how happy and excited you all were made yesterday such a wonderful day indeed!  You all are the best.

So back to the party.  Rick was a little later than expected with the balloon filled with either pink confetti or blue.  In all fairness, however we didn’t realize how hard it would be for someone to shove confetti in a balloon!  Once Rick arrived there was a hush over the crowd, and that is saying something considering the crowd we had! It was like someone had just died, or the priest was finally ready to begin mass.

The moment had arrived, it was time to find out if we would be knee-deep in pink or blue for the next couple months.  But first some more suspense!

Can you believe that I’m currently about 900 words into this mess and I still haven’t told you yet?  I’m such a bastard!

Alright, seriously, here we go.  After fooling around a while and making Jesy miss popping the balloon several times I let her go true.

POP!

Let me just say that for months now I have been sure it is a boy.  Positive.  Everything about this pregnancy was different.  Jesy’s mood was different, her cravings were different, everything.  So popping the balloon was going to be anti-climatic for me.  I just knew that as soon as it popped that blue confetti would rain down and prove me right, just like I was last time.

So yeah, POP!

PINK CONFETTI!

Wait, what?  Pink/Purple confetti?!  A girl?!  HOLY SHIT I’M HAVING A BABY GIRL!!!!!  Let me clear something up, it’s not that I was wanting a baby boy, I was just certain it was a boy.  Obviously the only thing I was certain of was being dead wrong.  But as soon as I saw the pink confetti fly I was just elated.  It was the icing on the cake after a great ultrasound visit earlier.  How very overwhelming!  How very awesome!

*Side note*  After the popping of the balloon a young lady named Abigail came up to me and said that the baby should have a name that starts with an “A”.  I was of course suspicious of her motivation, but I played along anyway.

I said you know what?  It does!

She was floored, but determined and followed up with, well I think that her name should begin with an “Ab.”

And I said well you know what, it does!

Flabbergasted and a little excited she was like, “No way, really?”

I said yes and then told her to sit down because I was going to blow her mind.  I told her that the little girl would be named Abbey!

Well she just about flipped out.  She was more than excited to hear that she would be sharing a name with my sweet little girl!

So here I sit listening to my playlist that I made for the baby a long time ago with an exhausted, goofy grin on my face reflecting on what a wonderful day yesterday was.  I can feel new emotions starting to creep up already.  Like being suspicious of every boy that looks at her, like wanting to make sure she stays a little princess forever and making sure she doesn’t inherit her mother’s mouth!

So now let the spoiling of Abbey Road Herron begin!

Special thanks go to:

• Corey Thomas for his camera work and for getting the live stream of the party for all our out-of-towners that wanted to participate.

• Rick Kreiner for getting the balloon and confetti together.

• My mom, aka Grandma Bird for going down to the ultrasound with us and being there in case we needed the support.

• Jami White for helping with everything before the party and covering my wife’s ass for not having time to prepare the mini hot dogs and for not killing Carson, although he probably deserved it!

• Carol, aka Grandma for helping set up the shelter and bringing the cornhole game.

• Brian for waiting to have his seizure until well after we popped the balloon.

• John and Paul for getting beat in cornhole by Dan and I.  And I know John didn’t throw the game, he HATES to lose, especially to me.

• Whoever brought skittles, awesome idea.

• Sarah the tech for being patient with our demands and Jesy’s 5,000 questions.

• And last, but not least my wife for having sex with me so that this whole thing was possible