The Ultrasound

Well, it happened. The ultrasound is done.

Yesterday morning before we went to the doctor, we showed Henry his ultrasound pictures so he could see what things would look like. Then, instead of just waiting in our house, we all went shopping. My stomach was already getting little bubbles inside so I thought it would make more sense to be productive. Henry starts preschool in a month and he needed a backpack. We went to a couple of stores on the Plaza and ended up finding some great backpacks at Pottery Barn Kids. As soon as we got in the store Henry started grabbing backpacks (I took this as a good sign). They were all well made with lots of different pockets and clasps. I personally like the dinosaur backpack, but Henry picked out his own. I actually couldn't be prouder because among the Spider-man and Batman ones, he picked out a Star Wars backpack. As soon as we left the store he asked to put it on. He really loves it. I know some people get sad when their kid goes off to school. Maybe because it is just preschool and maybe because I know he'll love it, but I'm really excited for him. I can't wait for him to start.

After the purchase, we went to my OB's. We were early, but he was ready for us. We got in the ultrasound room and the tech started her job. She was super nice and knew how to treat Henry and obviously loves her job. She started out by showing us the profile of the baby. At first I was a little nervous because I saw the head looked a little hollow, but I think it was just a mid-line picture and only showed the corpus callosum (the thing that connects the two hemisphere's of the brain). Then she moved the probe around and all the brain came into picture. She even measured the ventricles and they were normal. Then she went to the heart (4 chambers), spine (intact) and then she started measuring the bones. It was at this point I felt a wave of relief. Seeing all this, I knew the baby was perfect. She finished up with looking at the stomach, bladder and kidneys (of course they were good). I was exactly 18 weeks when the ultrasound was done and the baby measured 17 weeks 6 days. Not too shabby ! Also, the baby iweighs 7 ounces.

Here, enjoy some pictures.

Profile showing the perfect spine. You can even see the legs folded up and some intestinal bubbles.

This shows a thumbs up sign and then on the right you can see the legs folded up.

A scary picture of the skull with the hand right next to the face.

This is probaby the hardest to see, but on the left-hand side there are 2 little feet.

After making sure the baby was healthy, she tried to see if it was a boy or girl. Now the baby is situated breach with its legs folded up, and that made finding out quite difficult. The tech pushed on my belly a little bit to get the baby to move, and the baby totally responded. It was fun to see the baby kick its little legs. Still, no definite answer. Later my doctor tried and the tech had me roll to one side and then tried again. She said she couldn't see any boy parts (me neither) but couldn't definitively say it was a girl. I asked her how sure she was and she said 90%. Now I consider that a very high percentage. If someone told me there was a 90% chance of rain, I would bring my umbrella.

During the ultrasound, Henry did great. Right off the bat, the tech gave Henry a photo of the baby. Half way through he said "this is great." I love his enthusiasm and know he'll be a great big brother.

So now things are great. Baby looks perfect and probably a girl. Next time I have an appointment, they will try again. No more nervousness toward the baby, just excitement. I know some people feel like in their 2nd pregnancy, they are ready to have the baby right away, but that is not true for me. This pregnancy has gone by super fast and I feel now I am only grasping what is occurring. I had my first baby dream only 2 nights ago. Pregnancy isn't so bad for me right now and I'm content to let the baby cook in their a while. I'll let everyone know when I'm ready.