Diamond Tiara...

My amniocentesis went well.

It was painful, but relatively quick. The worst part of the procedure, for me, was when the needle was thrust deeper into my uterus. Poking my fatty tissue sucked, but feeling the needle pierce the thickness of my uterine muscle REALLY sucked. The sensation of the doctor aspirating 3 syringes of fluid wasn't much fun either. But....in retrospect, it wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be. Or perhaps, my recollection of the pain has been trumped by the fact that I found out Fireball 2's gender just minutes before the procedure. I stole the ultrasound tech's thunder because I announced it out loud before she even had the chance to.

In case you haven't heard, my womb's latest inhabitant is another little GIRL!

John cracked a huge smile when the tech confirmed the baby's gender. Later that night, Boo, was so disappointed with Diamond Tiara's gender that he cried when we told him. (He's over it now.) Kevin, on the other hand, was excited that Niki had a new playmate on the way. My sisters and I discussed via text all the lovely joys and horrors of growing up with a sister. EVERY girl needs a sister to fight and be best friends with. :)  My very good friend "J" jokingly declared that I should name Fireball 2 "Diamond Tiara" when I tweeted the baby's gender. I laughed so hard when I read her tweet that I vowed to refer to Fireball 2 as Diamond Tiara from this day forward. Besides, the nickname "Fireball 2" is too masculine for a little girl anyway. (Sorry, Boo.) Aside from that, her name is going to remain a secret until she is born. (John's idea, not mine.)

We selected Ethan's initials to be E.N.D. because it was supposed to symbolize the "end" of the boys or the end of our lion cubs, period. We've had two little girls join our family since Ethan was born so, he really did did turn out to be the end of the boys. John committed an EPIC FAIL at the appointment. He got so distracted by the length of needle (he said it looked about 6 inches long) that he forgot to take video or pictures of the moment. Ya'll know I'm ALL about documentation so I was royally disappointed.

This will probably be my first and last amnio, and I really wanted to capture it.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the stop codons and our mutations. Now that I know we'll never have mild or moderately affected children IF he/she is affected by FVII-def, I just don't know if it would be wise to keep "rolling the dice." It's definitely do-able to raise multiple children affected by a bleeding disorder, but it's also very challenging. It's challenging not just for John and I as parents, but for the kids as individuals too. Besides, taming four cubs is going to be crazy hectic! I took Kev, Boo, and Niki to their routine check up on 8/9/10 and we took the better part of Dr. Sweetheart's afternoon schedule! Once Diamond Tiara is born, we're probably going to take up Dr. Sweetheart's entire afternoon! Oh, and don't even get me started on Dr. Awesome's schedule if Diamond has a bleeding disorder too.

And....raising four kids is going to be expensive!

Paying for four mouths, four college educations, four cars, and thousands of vials of factor is all going to add up. Aside from that, having two girls, 23 months apart means that John has to pay for a Sweet 16 and Cotillion one month from one another. First, Diamond Tiara's Sweet 16 in January, then Niki's Cotillion in February. Yikes! I think it's wise to start saving now, don't ya think?

I can't wait to really feel what it's like to tame four little lions. :)