I have creative compulsions, that are interfering with getting the job done. For instance; I can't clean the house, because I want to totally re-do everything. I want the sofa upstairs and the bunk bed downstairs, and the dining table over there, and the computer moved that way. Since I can't accomplish any of this, laundry is sitting unfolded in the chair by the door. Reasonable, right?

My other impulse is to make a clever photo image, or write a touching anecdote to announce that we know the gender of the fetus. It's a girl. There. I've said it. We are more surprised than anything. Most of our happiness and bliss comes from knowing that all the amniocentesis results came back with everything looking good. Having three boys, we fully anticipated a fourth little man. We know the plumbing, and our guys are really great. There's comfort in the familiar. Having originated as a girl myself, I would think that having a girl person join the family would not come as such a foreign concept. It's not as though we are expecting a platypus.

Each of our children has brought something interesting, unique, individual, endearing and special to our experience as a family, and none of these has had much, if anything, to do with gender. I know our Papaya (it's temporary; like a working title) will have her own voice and method, her own needs and gifts, and we look forward to sharing everything with her.