It's going to be a boy

We learned last night that our baby is a boy. To be honest I am delighted at the prospect of the baby regardless of gender. But the male line of the Bretts will continue and what an awesome responsibility will fall on our son to continue that. For me it is much more important to know that baby and mother are well. I would be equally delighted to hear Luna was going to give us a little girl.

I cannot describe to you the happiness I felt watching baby in mummy’s tummy via the ultrasound. The technician clicked on a part and said “Look, phallus, it’s a boy”, “Look the heart”….the kidney, the brain and so on. To all intents and purposes the fetus is fully formed and the little baby looks to be very happy. He is due into this world on or around 11th July 2009, the day after my 51st birthday. Mummy continues to look a picture of health and well being too.

One slight concern is Luna has low lying placenta but I understand this is not uncommon at this stage in pregnancy and usually this goes. Probably a precautionary scan in another 10 weeks or so as I understand this can be a problem if present at the time of birth.

So I am really happy and I know Luna is too.

I think Benedict would make a lovely name, allowing for Ben and Benny, it’s also the name of a great saint and it is the name of the current Roman pontiff. However there is the distinct possibility the little blighter might start his schooling in Thailand so maybe it would be better to give him a Thai name and lessen the likelihood of hime being ridiculed. Hey what a high class problem!

Anyhow from what I understand our baby’s gender and name has been the subject already of considerable speculation among the teachers and pupils of the school. Apparently most people thought Luna was carrying a girl because her belly was not pointing out! I hope nobody falls out over this!

Now we have to choose the boy’s name and that will have to be a saint’s name; it is Filipino tradition to include the mother’s family name so Baradero goes in and I would also like to include the Thai name, Panya, after Bishop Panya who blessed our union and of course because this baby is Made in Thailand! Panya means wisdom.

Of course gender seems to be a fairly dead issue here, no one seems to get particularily bothered about it. I have said on a number of occasions that being a woman here is seen as such a good thing that a lot of men want to be women.... a sizeable number of men dress as women and some even get the chop. Apparently Bangkok is the world centre for transgender surgery. Hardly a surprise.

It seems to be a perfectly acceptable rite of passage to dress as a woman. I can't recall reading news about fathers beating their sons to death because they discovered them wearing make up.....I am thinking of my birthplace, Glasgow, and how your average parent would react to such a discovery. Maybe I have been away too long! What would I do if little Benedict Panya Baradero told me he wanted to be a girl?!!! At least he is probably going to be in sympathetic culture!
As I say we are delighted. I hope we can be worthy of this wonderful gift. Keep us in your prayers.