Knock Knock...who's in there?

The secret was out and the world knew the Hunts were preggo. I kept looking and searching for the baby bump. I mean, I was gaining weight so I was ready to see proof this sweet child! It's amazing how all of a sudden you have the bump. On the day that my mom and I registered and bought Monkey's crib, I remember seeing myself in the mirror and there it was....A BABY BUMP? I could have sworn it wasn't there earlier....

While the first trimester was defined by a lot of fear and rationalizing this new idea that there something definitely was growing in my belly, there was no hiding I was pregnant during the 2nd trimester. I was still exhausted all of the time, I had headaches and my lower back started bothering me. I thought those symptoms were supposed to come during the first trimester and promtply exit during the second trimester...wrong wrong wrong.

Lots of exciting things between those 13-27 weeks:

• We cleaned out the guest room to officially become Monkey's Room.
• We celebrated our "first" Mother's and Father's day!
• We found out that Monkey was indeed a boy (I was right...more on that below).
• We registered and I cried on almost every visit to Babies R Us. That place is the MOST overwhelming place ever and can make you feel completely unqualified to be an expectant mother....like when a male employee asks if he can help you find something, and you want to yell, "I'm a woman! I should know where the pacifiers are!" (They were only thoughts...no yelling actually occurred...)
  

Sorry, I digress...

• We felt Monkey kick for the first time!
• I stopped buttoning my pants and instead wore pants with elastic up to my chest....can you say attractive?
  
• I started waking up in the middle of the night to pee...actually, that started pretty much right away and was now a nightly ritual.
  
• Monkey became Samuel Wesley Hunt (more on that below).
• And all of a sudden, the mystery of what was growing in my uterus became a child. And not just any child, a son with a name with a growing personality and possibly a future soccer player with the kicks and jabs he made during that time.
  

At around 20 weeks, Marc and I went in for our ultrasound to find out if Monkey was a he or she. Actually, the 20-week ultrasound is to look at the different angles of the fetus to ensure he/she is healthy, has 10 fingers, 10 toes, 4 chambers in the heart and lots of important things like that....and can you please tell me already if it's a boy or a girl?!

I guessed from the start of our pregnancy that Monkey was a boy. Marc thought it was a girl...he just had to be different. It just a "gut" feeling based off 2 very important and scientific factors: we had picked out a girl name, everyone was having girls and I was terrified of a boy. Ok, so 3 very important factors. Don't get me wrong, I knew I would love and adore a little boy, but I was terrified of them mostly because I'm not one. I didn't grow up with brothers and boys...well they can just be boys.

As the ultrasound tech was moving her little wand around (thankfully ON the tummy this time) to go through her series of checks, I finally couldn't stand it anymore.

"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"
"Yep! Do you want to know?"
"Yes, we would love to know!" Are you serious? Of course we want to know!
"Are you sure?"
Seriously.....
"Ok, let me find it..."

Well, that IT was the proof that Monkey was indeed a boy. And, he was determined there was no mistaking it for something else because he KEPT showing it (and the obsession with IT begins...Marc was a proud father that day). Marc said he already knew because he had seen it before she pointed it out to us but didn't want to say anything.

Well, my initial thought was....how weird is it that I'm carrying a boy. It just somewhat baffles me that I (a female) am growing a male. I think I even said that in the room that day...but that's about all I said because the overwhelming thoughts were swirling around in my brain - "I have no idea how to raise a boy, I feel completely inadequate to take care of a boy or potty train a boy for that matter..."

I was completely overwhelmed by my insecurities and inadequacies until God's truth finally opened my eyes. God had specifically designed this boy for our family...and not just any boy, our son. He was hand-picked for us - and who was I to argue with that? It was God who had even made it possible for us to have children - who provided us with insurance, who knit our son together in my womb and who from the start of time, knew that He would provide us a son. There was no doubt about it - Monkey/Baby Hunt was God's child.

It was that truth that led us to naming our son Samuel Wesley Hunt.

People kept telling me that boys were so easy...but let me tell you that picking a boy's name was hard! I ix-nayed really any name that Marc threw out there. I just didn't like any, and I kept telling Marc that God would give us a name because it was Him that gave us this child in the first place. Marc kept coming back to Samuel and it wasn't until I read 1 Samuel, that I realized that was our son's name. Wesley is my father-in-law's name, and it was important for us to also include a family name. And there you have it, Samuel Wesley Hunt.

So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him." - 1 Samuel 1:20

[Hannah said to Eli] "I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.” - 1 Samuel 1:27

The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. - 1 Samuel 3:19