Good-bye Old Jeans, Hello Nice Stretchy Elastic Panel!

A few weeks ago, I broke down and bought my first pair of maternity jeans.  I stood at the rack in Target looking at the funny panel designed to hold your belly.  "Is this REALLY going to be as comfortable as they tell me?"  I thought.  I grabbed the size 6 pair and went into the dressing room.  The attendant said, "What is that?!? Oh!  They're pants!"  I felt kind of embarrased at this point because I don't think anyone can tell that under my jacket is a bump that no longer can be hidden or fit into my favorite regular jeans and all other pants that can be found in my closet.  I took an available room and tried on the "funny" looking pants.  "Oh my!" I said to myself.  "This IS comfortable!" 
It was just a week or two before that I had been delivered the news that Little Lee has a 5% chance of having Down's Syndrome.  Ping and I decided not to go through with the amniocentesis at this point.  If something shows up on the anatomy scan in three weeks, we might re-evaluate.  However, at this point, we've got 96% on the normal side. 
At 16 1/2 weeks today, I am happy to have a baby inside me and now coming to the realization that we are going to have a child in our hand in just 5 months!  My last appointment was last week.  Dr. Jeng tried to take a peek at Little Lee's goods for us.  Ping is really wanting a boy.  As Dr. Jeng moved the ultrasound wand across my tummy, he said, "Well, if it is a boy, I'm supposed to see something right there, and all I see is black. Looks like it will most likely be a girl."  Let me just say that Ping is still holding out hope.  Given his family history of the boys hiding their parts until birth, I'm hoping this kid does not follow in her Daddy's footsteps.  The picture makes her look a little fat, but she is looking away from the camera a little on her side.