we were actually able to wait and open the envelope on christmas day. we opened it alone and the announced to our families, and we were actually nervous before we opened the envelope. i felt a bit like i did on our wedding day, which is strange, because it's not like there was possibly bad news inside. (it's not like that was a bad day, either!)
turns out we are having... a little girl!
the ultrasound tech was 99.9% sure and said we could confidently paint the nursery.
i started crying when i saw the note on the ultrasound picture. i think i had secretly wanted a little girl, but only a teeny bit more than a little boy. i would have been more than thrilled with another little guy in the house. i still do want boys.
now of course we have to have the endless debate about what to name her. brian says i don't like anything he suggests, but to be fair he doesn't like anything i suggest either. we do have a shortlist of the few that we are both agreed on. i personally don't have a need to give her a name right now! seeing as how we still have four more months to change our minds, but we'll see.
we are at: 21 weeks.
Showing posts with label ultrasounds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ultrasounds. Show all posts
Monday, December 29, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
now available for viewing
if these are kind of funky-looking, it's because i couldn't get my scanner at home to work properly this morning and so had to print the photo, scan, and edit at work. it's a long story.
here is our little person, just hanging out:
and sucking his/her thumb!
i think those little teeny fingers are just about the most amazing thing i have ever seen. along those same lines, the u/s tech also showed us his/her teeny little feet, from the bottom up (as if spot were standing on the camera), and we could see all the little toes. amazing.
we are at: 20 weeks 1 day.
here is our little person, just hanging out:
and sucking his/her thumb!
i think those little teeny fingers are just about the most amazing thing i have ever seen. along those same lines, the u/s tech also showed us his/her teeny little feet, from the bottom up (as if spot were standing on the camera), and we could see all the little toes. amazing.
we are at: 20 weeks 1 day.
Monday, December 22, 2008
the big one!
so, i forgot to scan the ultrasound pictures from this morning. i'll post those tomorrow or so.
to sum it up: it was wonderful to see our little person, and it was just as awful as i thought it would be. worse, even. the joke in my family is that i have a bladder the size of a thimble (exacerbated by road trips, of course). unfortunately this was confirmed by the u/s tech, who told me, "wow, you're really full!" then while i was in the bathroom she told brian i have a very small bladder, and that i didn't need to have drank the full 32 ounces of water. i could have been fine with half of that, she said. so our regular checkup before the u/s, the wait, and the beginning of the u/s were pretty awful. and just think, labor is even more fun than that! such things to come!
on the wonderful side: i laid down on the table for our checkup and the doctor said, "my, you're distended!" which i guess is a nice way of saying i have a good pregnant belly. she also listened to baby's heartbeat which was 140 beats per minute. mil thinks it will be a boy because last time the heartbeat was 120 bpm, and apparently slower means boy and faster means girl. so i guess this throws that whole theory out the window. or maybe we're having a hermaphrodite.
we waddled (well, i did) down to radiology where i saw the line to register and almost cried. and then waited, and waited, and waited some more. we were early for the appointment, hoping they could get us in early, so every second felt like an eternity to me and my full bladder. and i hate needles, but i told brian i'd rather get another couple blood draws than do this u/s again.
the u/s tech got some great photos and man are they thorough. she took about 40-45 minutes to do the full scan and they check for everything. at one point she mentioned that she was trying to check spot's lip but he/she had its hands over its face. i think our little person was a little sleepy too, because spot was not as wiggly as it has been in the past. this u/s was later in the morning than our usual appointments and in the last two weeks i have been able to feel him/her moving around and kicking earlier in the mornings. (conveniently this morning, right on my full bladder!) she also was able to tell the sex, but she didn't tell us. she said she was 99.9% sure, and we have the answer and a picture of the "parts" in a sealed envelope to be opened on christmas.
so we're on pins and needles for the next few days. on the bright side, the u/s tech said everything looks perfectly healthy and spot seems to be developing normally. we haven't had anything come back that would give us any cause for concern, so it seems like we have a perfect little package in there.
on a slightly different note: the doctor said we never heard anything about the chromosome test because everything came back fine. i'm a girl! i have 46 chromosomes, all in the right places. (they refer to me as 46xx.) no evidence of a translocation. i'm perfectly normal, so brian has to find some other excuse for my crazy.
we are at: 20 weeks.
to sum it up: it was wonderful to see our little person, and it was just as awful as i thought it would be. worse, even. the joke in my family is that i have a bladder the size of a thimble (exacerbated by road trips, of course). unfortunately this was confirmed by the u/s tech, who told me, "wow, you're really full!" then while i was in the bathroom she told brian i have a very small bladder, and that i didn't need to have drank the full 32 ounces of water. i could have been fine with half of that, she said. so our regular checkup before the u/s, the wait, and the beginning of the u/s were pretty awful. and just think, labor is even more fun than that! such things to come!
on the wonderful side: i laid down on the table for our checkup and the doctor said, "my, you're distended!" which i guess is a nice way of saying i have a good pregnant belly. she also listened to baby's heartbeat which was 140 beats per minute. mil thinks it will be a boy because last time the heartbeat was 120 bpm, and apparently slower means boy and faster means girl. so i guess this throws that whole theory out the window. or maybe we're having a hermaphrodite.
we waddled (well, i did) down to radiology where i saw the line to register and almost cried. and then waited, and waited, and waited some more. we were early for the appointment, hoping they could get us in early, so every second felt like an eternity to me and my full bladder. and i hate needles, but i told brian i'd rather get another couple blood draws than do this u/s again.
the u/s tech got some great photos and man are they thorough. she took about 40-45 minutes to do the full scan and they check for everything. at one point she mentioned that she was trying to check spot's lip but he/she had its hands over its face. i think our little person was a little sleepy too, because spot was not as wiggly as it has been in the past. this u/s was later in the morning than our usual appointments and in the last two weeks i have been able to feel him/her moving around and kicking earlier in the mornings. (conveniently this morning, right on my full bladder!) she also was able to tell the sex, but she didn't tell us. she said she was 99.9% sure, and we have the answer and a picture of the "parts" in a sealed envelope to be opened on christmas.
so we're on pins and needles for the next few days. on the bright side, the u/s tech said everything looks perfectly healthy and spot seems to be developing normally. we haven't had anything come back that would give us any cause for concern, so it seems like we have a perfect little package in there.
on a slightly different note: the doctor said we never heard anything about the chromosome test because everything came back fine. i'm a girl! i have 46 chromosomes, all in the right places. (they refer to me as 46xx.) no evidence of a translocation. i'm perfectly normal, so brian has to find some other excuse for my crazy.
we are at: 20 weeks.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
get a little backbone
we were only supposed to hear the heartbeat this morning, but brian really wanted an ultrasound and begged the doctor for one. so she rolled in the machine, squirted that cold jelly on my tummy, and baby spot popped up on the screen.
WOW! what a change from four weeks ago when we saw him/her last! eyes and nose were clearly visible to us and the doctor could see its brain (all i could tell was a big head). that curved horizontal line on the left side is its spine, and there were little stripes across its chest that the doctor said were ribs. spot was very wiggly this morning and we saw arms and legs flailing everywhere. apparently he/she was as happy to see mommy and daddy as we were to see him/her!
we did get to hear the heartbeat as well, which the doctor said would get stronger and easier to hear as the baby gets older. it was beating along at 120 bpm which she said was good. normal is 110-140 bpm, she said.
my uterus is up at my belly button, which means spot is growing well. doctors measure "fundal height," the distance to the top of the uterus, as a way of making sure the baby is growing enough. they just poke around on your stomach as if they are feeling for your liver or spleen or something. i had been trying to figure out where it was the last couple of weeks and have been unsure so she showed me. i was quite surprised - it is hard and firm, like a flexed muscle, and then at the top my stomach gets all squooshy again. personally, i knew that baby was growing without her even having to tell me. i only fit into a couple pairs of my pants anymore and my bias-cut, elastic waist skirts.
our next visit is in december, the same day that we have the 20-week ultrasound. next week or so i go in to the lab for the expanded alpha-feto-protein (xafp) test, which tests not only for some chromosomal abnormalities (like down's and trisomy 18) but also for non-hereditary problems like neural tube defects. i will also have a chromosome workup on myself, as there are some minor family histories that could have caused a problem that could be passed on to our baby. highly unlikely, but i figure it's just one more piece of information, and i only have to do it once. it's not like my chromosomes will change from this baby to the next.
we are at: 15 weeks 3 days.
WOW! what a change from four weeks ago when we saw him/her last! eyes and nose were clearly visible to us and the doctor could see its brain (all i could tell was a big head). that curved horizontal line on the left side is its spine, and there were little stripes across its chest that the doctor said were ribs. spot was very wiggly this morning and we saw arms and legs flailing everywhere. apparently he/she was as happy to see mommy and daddy as we were to see him/her!
we did get to hear the heartbeat as well, which the doctor said would get stronger and easier to hear as the baby gets older. it was beating along at 120 bpm which she said was good. normal is 110-140 bpm, she said.
my uterus is up at my belly button, which means spot is growing well. doctors measure "fundal height," the distance to the top of the uterus, as a way of making sure the baby is growing enough. they just poke around on your stomach as if they are feeling for your liver or spleen or something. i had been trying to figure out where it was the last couple of weeks and have been unsure so she showed me. i was quite surprised - it is hard and firm, like a flexed muscle, and then at the top my stomach gets all squooshy again. personally, i knew that baby was growing without her even having to tell me. i only fit into a couple pairs of my pants anymore and my bias-cut, elastic waist skirts.
our next visit is in december, the same day that we have the 20-week ultrasound. next week or so i go in to the lab for the expanded alpha-feto-protein (xafp) test, which tests not only for some chromosomal abnormalities (like down's and trisomy 18) but also for non-hereditary problems like neural tube defects. i will also have a chromosome workup on myself, as there are some minor family histories that could have caused a problem that could be passed on to our baby. highly unlikely, but i figure it's just one more piece of information, and i only have to do it once. it's not like my chromosomes will change from this baby to the next.
we are at: 15 weeks 3 days.
Friday, November 7, 2008
our christmas present
this year will be finding out whether we are going to have a son or a daughter. (i'm sure there will be more under the tree than that, but that's the most exciting one.) this is because we are lucky enough to be at 20 weeks the week of christmas, and my doctor wants us to have our 20-week u/s that week. not a week before and not a week after. i know, i asked.
i am insanely excited about this but for one thing: because your bladder sits in front of your uterus, you have do the u/s with a full bladder. (the bladder is one of the only places in your body made of special cells that actually stretch like elastic. a full bladder means it's stretched thin like when you blow up a balloon.) that means two hours before, i have to empty out and then within the following hour (so an hour before) drink 32 ounces of water. i told the scheduling guy they had better not keep me waiting when we get there!
so ladies, my question is this: is it as uncomfortable as i think it will be? or am i overreacting?
we are at: 13 weeks 4 days.
i am insanely excited about this but for one thing: because your bladder sits in front of your uterus, you have do the u/s with a full bladder. (the bladder is one of the only places in your body made of special cells that actually stretch like elastic. a full bladder means it's stretched thin like when you blow up a balloon.) that means two hours before, i have to empty out and then within the following hour (so an hour before) drink 32 ounces of water. i told the scheduling guy they had better not keep me waiting when we get there!
so ladies, my question is this: is it as uncomfortable as i think it will be? or am i overreacting?
we are at: 13 weeks 4 days.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
11w3d
spot waved at us!
it looks really blobby in this photo - the doctor said we have a little kidney bean. the head is on the right and its bottom is on the left, and a couple times spot raised its little hand and waved. the doctor said everything looks good - spot looks healthy and has certainly grown since last ultrasound and is very active. (is that good or bad? good i guess, since it means the baby is healthy - but i'm thinking i might want it to be a little less active later on when he/she is kicking me in the ribs.)
next time we go in - one month - we get to hear spot's heartbeat!
it looks really blobby in this photo - the doctor said we have a little kidney bean. the head is on the right and its bottom is on the left, and a couple times spot raised its little hand and waved. the doctor said everything looks good - spot looks healthy and has certainly grown since last ultrasound and is very active. (is that good or bad? good i guess, since it means the baby is healthy - but i'm thinking i might want it to be a little less active later on when he/she is kicking me in the ribs.)
next time we go in - one month - we get to hear spot's heartbeat!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
first glimpse
we had our first prenatal exam today, and the nurse did a full physical on me. i am not sure brian was prepared for this. i tried to prep him beforehand of what they would do (the pelvic exam, pap, et cetera), but he still looked uncomfortable and a little stunned when the stirrups came out. poor guy. i feel for him (i mean, he's never had a pelvic exam, so how would he know what to expect?), but really, he has to toughen up if we're going to get through the whole labor-and-delivery thing.
along with the exams and my complete medical history (including when i had my last alcoholic drink - how should i know that date?), the nurse also did an ultrasound to determine fetal age. we thought i was 8 weeks 2 days along, but apparently it's only been 7 weeks 3 days, give or take two days. which puts conception right around august 11, which is what i've been thinking all along. which also pushes my due date back one week to may 11.
she also sent me down to the lab to have a bunch of bloodwork done. they took five vials of blood. five vials. what the heck do they need with five vials? sheesh. i wanted to ask the tech if she would like my credit card also? or fries with that? five vials.
we also got to see our baby's heartbeat, which brian said looked like tiny clapping hands. that has got to be the absolute most amazing, beautiful thing i have ever seen in my life. it's only about 1/2 inch long, about the size of a blueberry, and yet it has a beating heart that we could see. we both agreed that we could have stayed and just watched that little heartbeat all day.
brian is insanely concerned that i will miscarry. everything he's read says that the seventh, eleventh, and twelfth weeks are the most dangerous for miscarriage. here we are right in the seventh week, so he's a wreck that i'm up and walking around. he completely nixed me painting the wall in the living room also, which is annoying.
along with the exams and my complete medical history (including when i had my last alcoholic drink - how should i know that date?), the nurse also did an ultrasound to determine fetal age. we thought i was 8 weeks 2 days along, but apparently it's only been 7 weeks 3 days, give or take two days. which puts conception right around august 11, which is what i've been thinking all along. which also pushes my due date back one week to may 11.
she also sent me down to the lab to have a bunch of bloodwork done. they took five vials of blood. five vials. what the heck do they need with five vials? sheesh. i wanted to ask the tech if she would like my credit card also? or fries with that? five vials.
we also got to see our baby's heartbeat, which brian said looked like tiny clapping hands. that has got to be the absolute most amazing, beautiful thing i have ever seen in my life. it's only about 1/2 inch long, about the size of a blueberry, and yet it has a beating heart that we could see. we both agreed that we could have stayed and just watched that little heartbeat all day.
brian is insanely concerned that i will miscarry. everything he's read says that the seventh, eleventh, and twelfth weeks are the most dangerous for miscarriage. here we are right in the seventh week, so he's a wreck that i'm up and walking around. he completely nixed me painting the wall in the living room also, which is annoying.
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