Today at the ultrasound, we were doing the first part of a 2-part genetic screening test. The first part is an ultrasound at 12-13 weeks, the second part is a blood test, I believe at 18 weeks or so. They had to measure something called the Nuchal Translucency or something like that. Basically, the ultrasound lady measured the distance of a small, blurry area on the back of the baby's head.
To be honest with you, I don't know how the ultrasound specialists know what the heck they're looking at! I can see the baby, but I couldn't point out my ovaries if my life depended on it. It's all gray and blobby, and it all looks the same to me!
Anyway, the baby was upside down, facedown in my uterus, not moving. I was worried about it, but I could see the heartbeat, so I guessed it was just asleep.
"Is it asleep?" I asked.
"I think so. We need baby to wake up and flip over!"
"Want me to stand on my head?"
The lady started laughing. "Maybe! I'll let you know."
Gentle prodding didn't entice the baby to move at all. Stubborn little thing! "It's my kid all right," I joked.
She had me cough a few times, in an effort to wake the baby up. Apparently the coughing makes your abdominal muscles contract sharply, which often will wake up the fetus. Two coughs and some persistent poking with the ultrasound wand successfully woke up the baby. He/she flipped quickly onto his/her back... and promptly threw a fit! Those little arms and legs were going crazy!! Clearly that baby was not pleased about being awakened so rudely.
His/her little hands were moving all around. We could see all 10 fingers. So cute! Finally, the baby settled down long enough for the lady to get some good measurements. She printed us out like 6 or 7 ultrasound pictures. It's really getting cute now! You can see its' profile, and now it really looks like a baby (not so much like a gummy bear.) The heart rate was normal (one hundred and fifty-something beats per minute) and it measured correctly for just over 12 weeks. Maybe a little big, actually!
A few weeks back, I had told the fetus, "If you can just hang on until 12 weeks, and have a good ultrasound, I'll buy you your first stuffed animal!" So after the appointment, Corky and I went to Toys R Us to pick a stuffed animal. We found two whole aisles of them! FAO Schwartz had a huge selection. I wanted to get the baby an elephant toy, but Corky said they were too big. He then chose a koala bear that was just as big as the elephant (funny how size no longer was an issue), but I didn't want that. It would have been twice as big as the newborn! We found teddy bears, dogs, kittens, everything in either baby blue or baby pink. Since we don't know the gender, we couldn't choose either of those.
I crouched down and was looking on the very bottom shelf. I spied something olive green near the back. I reached in and pulled out..... this!
"What the heck is this?" I said, laughing. At first I thought it was a toucan, then I thought maybe it was a dinosaur. "It's PERFECT!" Corky shouted. So that was, of course, the one we bought. It's ridiculous and weird, but it's adorable.
Hah, what an adorable little dinosaur-type thing! Congrats on the good ultrasound. You're right, he/she's starting to really look like a baby! Exciting :) I remember when I had lung scans done, and the specialist was pointing out what was what, and it all just looked grey and blobby to me. I guess that's what they're paid for!
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