3rd Ultrasound

We went in and had the same ultrasound tech at the ultrasound place. It's in a swank building where the elevators are coded - the same elevator doesn't always go to the same floor! You have to check a console and then it tells you which next elevator will take you to the floor you want - there are no buttons inside (probably Emergency, but that's it).

Anyhow this was much shorter, she took some basic measurements of the femur and skull and then got to trying to get a shot of the major arteries. In the end, she ended up calling another ultrasound lady to take the image instead. That woman took the ultrasound wand and stuck it clear on my left side, outside the uterus, and dug in. Not comfortable! But effective I guess: they were both satisfied with that picture.

We felt a little better afterwards because it seemed the lady just had a hard time getting the image right - so perhaps there's no actual problem with the aorta & whatever else is a major artery. We'll find out next week at our next midwife appointment.

It was mostly fun. This kid is still breech (head up, not down) and was in fact "frank breech" which means butt down. He* was folded right in half: his feet were in front of his little face! The Hottest Computer Scientist in the Universe thought that it couldn't be a comfortable position - I'd seen it illustrated in books so I wasn't surprised but when he pointed that out I started to sympathize. We don't fold babies in half after they come out so why would it be good a couple months earlier? On the other hand, you aren't supposed to fully submerge them in fluid after they exit, either...

Guajolote, 27 weeks 1 day:

To the left is the head, the two ovals at the top center are feet, and I think the squiggly line trailing off to the right is the umbilical chord.

Don't be alarmed by the bullet holes - those are internal organs.

20 week anatomy scan ultrasound

Boring title, but a fun day. We got to see all the little parts of the Guajolote (except that part).

Heart beat: 156 bpm

I was worried it would be a rough day, The Hottest Computer Scientist in the Universe was up from midnight-4am for work. Then we had to get up at 6:45 to make it to the appointment. And it was the second day in a row he was operating on 4 or fewer hours of sleep due to work.

The ultrasound tech did the uterus, placenta, and brain measurements first. Poor THCSITU was yawning, because it's just a round shape there. But then, more recognizable parts: spine and ribs, little hands waving in front of the face, frog kicks to my bladder as she tried measuring the kidneys (yep, that's the renal system kid, good job...).

We could mostly tell what everything was without having to be told. Since I saw the 1st trimester screening ultrasound too, I knew to expect a black hole for a stomach. But it still looks weird, like a wound or something. It looks like a hole punch on the image.

He* had his little ankles crossed for the last half of the exam.

Guajolote, 21 weeks 2 days:

Ankles crossed. That's the left foot print with the toes of the right foot visible to the bottom right.

The tech offered to tell us her guess as to the sex of the baby, but we declined. So "he" is strictly a place holder still, absolutely may be a "she" instead.

THCSITU had two interesting thoughts: we know when the heartbeat started, and it's going strong even though this Guajolote probably wouldn't make it on the outside right now. It ought to keep on going, and (hopefully) we will not know when it stops. Today was hopefully the last time we will ever see his heart beat.

And also, if the Guajolote's heart is beating inside his body, which is inside of me, and we are STILL peering in to see it.... well if you can't get a little privacy in the womb, where in the hell can you get privacy in this world anymore?

Guajolote, 21 weeks 2 days:

Hand to mouth (mmm practicing future eating?). That's the skull to the right and the bump of the nose, then the hand floating to the right of that.

Wiggly!

Today was the 1st Trimester Nuchal Scan Ultrasound. It checks for Downs Syndrome and other stuff. (I do know the details, but not gonna get all technical here.) Came out fine, as expected. Turkey measured 13 wks 5 days, and I was (approximately) 13 wks 1 day on that date. (This means time lapse since start date of last menstrual period, since no one reading this so far has been pregnant. Not a super-exact way to measure time-since-conception-that-happened-about-2 weeks-later.)

But the fun part, of course, was that it was the first ultrasound we would get. It was a 1.5 hr appointment, so I told The Hottest Computer Scientist in the Universe to get there 15 minutes after the appointment began. That would give me time to fill out the paperwork and get called in without him missing extra work.

D'oh!! I was in an out of the ultrasound room within 10 minutes of arrival. :(

It was really interesting to see the little Guajolote wiggling around, but I was also really disappointed that THCSITU had missed it. :( Which was completely my fault, I made a wrong assumption.

They gave me two images from the ultrasound but on the video monitor it was so clear what parts were what: you could see all the little ribs, the hands wiggling around, little ears, heart beating, black hole of a stomach... the picture is just like every other ultrasound picture you have ever seen. "Oh, is that a baby? How nice..."

Guajolote, 13 weeks 1 day:

Head to the right, white line on the left is the spinal column. In the video you could clearly see the ribs and the little hands waving around. I like the ear too, that's a cute detail.

Guajolote

Holy Smoke.

I am pregnant.

Not totally comfortable with this idea. I think it will weird out my dad and sisters. We are in the middle of buying a house, how will we afford renovations and a baby at the same time? I *just* signed a contract for my job, which has fantastic benefits.

This was a year too soon!

But I bet s/he will be so cute! And I hope adorably fat from the get-go!!