Drum roll, please.

Baby Hill is a girl. And I have the pictures to prove it.

Last Thursday I had a second ultrasound and we were hoping our baby would cooperate so we could find out the gender. Knowing my luck, I was sure our little one would curl up in a ball, stubborn like mommy.

But our little girl was practically doing somersaults while the ultrasound technician was checking her over so it was easy to get a clear view.

“It’s a girl,” she said … dang it, I should’ve gotten the name of the technician.

Of course, I grinned, and said to my husband, “A girl! Your mom will be thrilled!”

My mother-in-law has two sons, a brother, a husband — she’s surrounded by testosterone. I know that she secretly rooted for a granddaughter, but she’s too sweet to have said so before hand.

When my husband called her Thursday afternoon as we were leaving the doctor’s office, I wish he had put her on speakerphone, I would have loved to hear her reaction. Jason, my husband, said he’s sure she was doing the Tiger Woods victory fist pump after hearing the news.

As we got a look at her kidneys, her beating heart, her hands, her feet, her rear end even, I turned the idea over and over in my mind. So many people were so sure our baby was a boy that I was not surprised to find out we’re having a girl. That’s just a Hill for you, doing things just to be contrary. Heh.

Knowing that we would be telling quite a few people this news, I asked the technician again if she was sure it’s a girl, and she said, “I’m sure.”

She sounded completely confident so I rolled with it.

Later I looked at the ultrasound images the technician printed up and saw that she had labeled one of them “girl” so we could examine more closely. I had read up on how technicians can tell the sex of the baby so when I got a good look at it over the weekend I could see why she was so sure.

Now that I’m positive, I’m happy to share with everyone the news.

Plus we can now really start planning. We know we can pick out the letters at the craft store to put her name on the wall above where her crib will be and grandma can start buying little girl clothes — I am insisting on keeping pink to a bare minimum because I can’t stand the color. If she ends up loving pink in a few years we can deal with it then, but for now let’s go with the other girly colors in the rainbow.

We did go with gender neutral colors in the nursery since that was renovated more than a month ago. First, we wanted something that would grow with our baby, and second we didn’t want to overdo it. Funny enough, her room was a little girl’s room before we bought the house, and was pink and yellow. We initially painted it a light green and now it’s more of a cream color.

There’s a Winnie the Pooh theme going in there, too, since I love Pooh Bear. But we’re going modular, hanging things on the wall rather than painting murals or putting up wallpaper, so that as she grows and her personality as well as taste develops then changes we can easily move things around to grow with her.

I’m just so excited to know what we’re having because I didn’t really have a preference. More than anything I just wanted the mystery solved. I’m kind of a control freak and not knowing was driving me crazy. Plus I am so relieved that she is developing normally, everything looks fine, she’s the right weight and as long as I’m careful with my diabetes that will continue.

Some of you who have access to my Facebook profile found out almost immediately since I posted the news from my phone between the ultrasound and the appointment with the obstetrician.

I told you I was excited.

As far as planning goes, we would like to get some input on names, so look online soon for a baby-name contest at www.covingtonreporter.com and www.maplevalleyreporter.com. You can see two ultrasound images from July 2 online.

To help narrow things down, we are looking at L and R names.

In the meantime, I am testing my blood sugar six times a day, and I have to say it’s driving me crazy. But, for my daughter, I’ll do anything so she can continue to grow and be healthy, not just now, but for her entire life. I’m struggling a little bit with some things, like most breads and pastas are totally out, while other times my blood sugar spikes after eating things that never cause that to happen.

I go back this week to discuss what my numbers look like with another OB while mine is taking a week off and then I might soon be complaining about insulin injections.

But if you read my first column about my pregnancy you know as much as I hate jabbing myself with pointy objects I’ll do it if that’s what it takes to keep her healthy.

Besides, if I do get put on insulin, I may actually get to eat carbs again. I’ve got my fingers crossed.