Baby's face and round little belly!
This one shows the spine pretty well
The heart is the black spot in center of the chest, the little arm is also sticking up!
Cute little ribs!
The white line is the little femer. Baby's month looks open, I think
Little legs, feet, and arm (hand covering face)! 
Here is the full story:
Michael and I arrived at the Dr.'s office, and as soon as they called my name we were taken back to the ultrasound room. The tech was super-chipper and positive, and went over our paperwork. She asked if we wanted to find out the gender or be surprised, and we said, "Surprise!" in unison. She also said that she called all babies "he," not it but told us it didn't mean anything. That is correct grammar when referring to a person, even those these days some view it as not "politically correct."
The cold goo was squirted and spread all over my belly, as our eyes fixed on the little computer screen. Our first glimpse of our little one was a pair of feet kicking at the device the tech was using! Next we saw the little hands sticking up, and could count all 10 fingers and toes! It was so cute and amazing, I was practically giddy. Combined with the tech's exaggerated baby talk (like "What's he doing!" and "Look at him trying to kiss his knee!"), I quickly became slap happy. I kept laughing and the whole screen would shake! The tech said, "An earthquake is going on in there!" and also said the baby was just as laid back as ever as though he was used to me laughing a lot.
We got to scan the body and see the heart with all four chambers (132 bpm), the lungs, the bladder, the kidneys, and the brain. She briefly went down to the rear end once, and I admit I did try to peak, but she moved it away too quickly for me to tell if I saw anything telling or not! I'm still loving the suspense!
Next she checked to make sure the proper veins were running through the umbilical cord (they were), there was no cleft palette, and also told me the placenta was in a great position. The baby was positioned with head down pointed more toward my left leg, with the rear end up pointed toward my right shoulder. Basically, everything looked perfect.
Now it was measuring time. They always measure the babies to be sure they are on target for the due date. We watched her measure the top of the head, the belly, the femer. The u/s predicted the weight was around one pound. The due date the computer gave me from the ultrasound is Halloween. If you go by the traditional pregnancy wheel, my due date would be October 28. But, November 3 is remaining the "official" due date, based off my actual cycle, and the fact the ultrasound date is close enough. It's really a range anyway, nothing ever says babies are going to take a set number of days!
Overall, the baby seemed very peaceful and laid back. There were quite a few kicks I could see but not really feel, so that assured me even though I don't feel strong movement yet not to worry....it is happening! I continued laughing at some of the funny movements, mostly where we got to see the baby yawn as the tech was saying, "Here it comes, here it comes! He's been wanting to do that for awhile, I could tell!" I had tears running out of one of my eye at one point I was laughing so much. I had to look away from the screen where the little "earthquake" was taking place! Michael was sitting but had come up to stand beside me. He was rubbing my should and was making comments too. I think we were both just in awe. Even though the baby sometimes looked a little extraterrestrial, there was still something familiar about it I cannot describe.
After that, Michael went back out to the waiting room (a couple in our church who recently found out they were pregnant again were coming for a 4:30 appointment, so he got to chat with them and show off the pictures first). I got weighed (I gained 4 pounds over the last 4 weeks, I think I'm up around only 6 total....which is fine, as I'm supposed to gain at least a pound a week from this point on. My blood pressure was also still good (120/60). I used to have pre-hypertension a bit in high school so I always am glad to see it low. The Dr. saw me and measured my uterus, and it is measuring around 20 cm or so which is pretty much on target. I measured around 21 cm myself at home. I asked the Dr. if he minded if we had a doula, and he was open to whatever I wanted to do.
After the appointment, we went back home to eat dinner and straighten up the house before our potential doula showed up. I mentioned before, but this lady is a good friend of Michael's who is the Office Manger and Technical writer at the company he used to co-op with for a few years. She came to our wedding, and is super sweet and encouraging. I really enjoyed talking with her, and her and Michael also caught up. We talked for two hours, part personal and part about what she does as a doula and her philosophies. After talking to her, Michael could see why I was interested in having a doula in the first place and why I was interested in a more natural birth experience too. I enjoyed hearing the details, and I'm sure I'm going to have a million more questions in time. Finally, we worked out a payment agreement. She is only charging us half price (an amazing blessing of only $250!), because we are friends. I also am designing a logo for her doula business too, as an exchange of services! This was a fair deal we are all happy with. Donna is definitely going to be our doula!
We are officially buying the crib! We worked out an acceptable deal with the Hungarian family, who are very happy to know a nice family will be using their crib next. I'm going to pay them half in check, and we'll give them the rest in cash when we go pick it up before they leave on July 8.
I honestly was just in awe at this whole experience, and I know it will be nothing compared to the actually birth experience and meeting our child for the first time. Seeing our baby in the womb gave all new meaning to a verse I have heard many times before, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." (Psalm 134:13,14)
Today I had fun taking the pictures into work and showing them off. Everyone was amazed at how clear they were (part of me is surprised they are aren't blurry since I was laughing so much but the tech assured me she's good at capturing moving targets). They were also surprised there were so many all in a row like a film strip. I scanned them during my lunch hour, and of course had to start emailing a few. My appetite has kicked it up a notch, as I have been extremely hungry even unusual times of day the last 24 hours. Right now, I also think the baby is bumping "his" head against my bladder!
My good friend Isaac told me a funny story. He works as a motion graphic designer in California, and ironically is working on a project where they were looking for a good profile shot from a sonogram. The one I sent out to friends and family was the perfect image they were looking for but hadn't found yet. He said at one point, the art director and the producer were both looking at the picture and said if only I had high res video. If I did, our kid could have appeared in a title sequence for a movie or show. I thought it was funny!
1 comment:
so exciting!!
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