Doctor's Visit: Follow-Up on all the Scariness

Well, we had the ultrasound today to see why I had a huge jump in fundal height, and, like most of you assured me, everything is fine. She is growing proportionately, I don't have too much amniotic fluid, and the placenta and umbilical cord are both fine.


However ... I have a massively large super-baby growing inside me.  I am a few days away from 35 weeks, and she is measuring well past 37 weeks.  In fact (give me a moment here) ... she is already almost SEVEN POUNDS.  It looks like Jeremy's Hercules genes are hard at work in there.  


So, obviously, I am hoping she will make her entrance into the world a little earlier than August 28th.  The question is, which trait will win out: Will she be early like her mom or stubborn liker her mom?  


We also got to see some great images at the ultrasound, so it was really great.  We saw her little face and her little profile.  We saw her wave her hands and open her mouth.  AND the ultrasound tech said it was unusual, but she has SO much hair that it was even visible on the ultrasound.  CRAZY!  She even took a picture for us.  All the little squiggly white lines around the outside of her skull are hairs:

Here is her little face straight on:

Of course it might not look like it to you, but to me it looks like a little doll and not like the little alien we saw in her 20 week ultrasound.  It was really great to see her, and it was awesome to see Jeremy recognize things on the ultrasound.  He recognized her face and feet and hands before the tech even pointed them out to us.  He is practically a professional!


So, all is well ... except now I will just have to mentally prepare for the possibility that I will pushing out a 12-pound baby.  Pray for me.

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

We learned today that we are having a little baby girl, just like her momma thought!!

Of course, the ultrasound tech told us she was "99% sure" because she said she refuses to give a 100% guarantee to anyone.  But she said it was fairly obvious that she was a little girl.

At first, I let a student do some practice on me for about 20 minutes, and our little lady had her legs crossed!   But she was also being very still and making it very easy for the student to measure her head and brain and femur and look at her heart.  Then, she started bouncing around like crazy, but she finally opened her legs, and TA DA!  Nothing else down there!  Even I, who have only seen a handful of girl and boy ultrasounds, could tell it was a girl.  

Anyway, the whole thing was great.  They didn't send us home with too many great pictures, but we saw her strong and healthy heart, her baby feet, her hands up by her face, and lots and lots of images of her face (for the first 15 minutes she was lying flat on her back and looking up, so we didn't get too many profile shots).  

face picture:

face picture translated:

profile picture:

profile picture translated:

foot picture!:

foot picture translated:

(Jeremy said, "Hey, it looks like she's got all five on there!  That's good!")

Once she started moving around, it was so fun to watch.  So so exciting.  And for about an hour after the ultrasound, she let me know what she thought of all that poking and prodding!  She kicked like a mule!!

Once we found out, we made some calls and then I posted it to Facebook.  My beautiful and thoughtful cousin, Robin, was kind enough to get a screenshot of my announcement before the comments came pouring in:

It's hard to put into words just how excited I am.  I just can't wait to meet her.

Suspicions Confirmed

One of the reasons I was positive that I wanted to learn the sex of the baby before it was born was because of how much I DESPISE surprises.


I know, it sounds strange, since there are so many lovely surprises.  Jeremy brought me home a magazine and a candy treat!  Yay!  I get a package in the mail with a maternity shirt my mom bought me!  Yay!  A snow day!  Yay!  All of that is fine and good, but the surprises that you KNOW are looming?  Not good for me.  


The unanswered, the anxiety, the anticipation, the feeling that the universe is holding information over my head like it is playing keep-away with me.  It is all much too much.  My stomach eats itself. My pulse races.  I get rashes.  I go crazier than usual.  It is not a pretty picture.


I have been really excited ever since Jeremy said he was on board with us learning the baby's gender, but this past week has been terrible.  I am not excited anymore.  Instead, I have the nervousness, the queasiness, the "surprise is coming" feeling in my stomach, and it is not pleasant.  I know tomorrow will be amazing, but I can't help but feeling anxious right now, and I am SO glad that is not what I will be feeling in the weeks leading up to the baby's arrival!!


Because we are finding out and having our surprise now, I will be prepared, and waiting for the baby will be better.  I will know that I am getting closer and closer to seeing my baby boy or girl instead of worrying and wondering.  


Ugh for tomorrow ... and YAY for tomorrow!

Boy or Girl?

Comments with your guess of girl or boy would be welcomed and cherished today.  We find out the gender tomorrow!!! (Hopefully!  I am hoping for a cooperative baby!)


I can't wait!!!!!

THERE'S A BABY (or a gummi bear) IN THERE!!!

My doctor didn't want to give me an early ultrasound?  SO WHAT!  I do what I want! :)


I got pictures of the baby, and it was amazing, wonderful, magical, perfect.  Look at my baby!

(if you don't know these pics well, this is straight on, so the lump is not my belly.  I WISH I looked as pregnant as I felt!)

The director of the Diagnostic Medical Sonography program had asked me to drink 64 oz of water before I came.  Yikes.  I drank 32, and then went over early, but then I had to wait the half an hour for being early and an extra half an hour because they weren't quite ready for me yet.  When I got up on the table, the very first thing the instructor said was "Oh my word, I have never seen a bladder more full than that.  Are you okay??"  I said, "Well, let's just not talk about it."  But then three other people were like "Oh my!  What a full bladder.  Are you sure you want me to scan you?"  The first student to scan said my bladder was gorgeous.  I told her I hear that like ten time a day, but what about the BABY?


As soon as they found the baby and started measuring him/her, I said, "You found it?!?!  The baby's really in there?!?!" And the instructor was like, "Yes, of course!  I'm sorry, they're students!"  It was just my biggest fear that I would get there and they would have to slide me off the table and tell me there was nothing there, so when the first student was gliding around my belly without saying anything, I thought they couldn't find the baby!  Once they showed me the baby, I started crying.  One of the girls was like, "Oh my God, we made our patient cry!  Is this normal?!?!"  I apologized, and said "It is for me.  I should have warned you!"


I could see the heart beating the whole time.  It was like they couldn't get away from the little heart if they tried.  At the end, he/she even started moving!!  MOVING!!


The yolk sac was a good size, and the mass that will become the brain was a good size, and so was the uterus and my cervix.  The baby measured at about nine weeks, and the heart rate was 173!! Well, mine was probably much higher than that, so the baby was anxious with me.  Something for me to remember when I am feeling anxious -- the baby really DOES feel it with me.  


It was amazing.  The only low point of the day was that Jeremy could not get off work, and he sent the video camera with me, but the BATTERY WAS DEAD!  Guh!  So, he got to see the pictures, but he couldn't see that amazing little heartbeat and the baby moving because he/she was sick of all the students poking!


I can't wait for more of these.  I could go every week!

What a Difference 45 Minutes Makes!

After I finished complaining writing my last post, I called my gal pal, Jenn, who also works at Baker College and just had a lovely baby herself.  I asked her if it was normal to not have an ultrasound until 20 weeks, and she calmed my nerves.  But she ALSO gave me the contact information for the Director of the Diagnostic Medical Sonography program at Baker.  


I sent her an e-mail saying I would love to be a patient for her students if she needed me, and ... she called me 15 minutes later!!  AND she asked if I could come in THIS COMING MONDAY FOR AN ULTRASOUND!!!!!!!!!


She said they usually don't like to do ultrasounds on women who have not had one done by their primary doctor, but as long as I realized the position they would be in if they saw something and needed to recommend I see my doctor immediately, then I could come in.  Of course, I said HECK YES, and if she DID see something, it would not have been found this early if not for her anyway, so I would be very grateful.  


I just could not be more excited!  And she will send me home with PICTURES, so next week I will have some fun stuff to post! :)