Friday, June 22, 2012 was our BIG day! We were so excited and anxious to get to this appointment. During the work day, every time I'd think about it, I'd get butterflies in my stomach! I couldn't believe that in a matter of hours, we'd KNOW the gender of our baby! And know if everything was ok or not with all the baby's parts & pieces!
The appt was at 3:30, so Caleb had to come straight from work (half an hour away where he gets out at 3). I left work at 3 as well to make sure I was there in time to check in, do the urine sample, etc - oh the joys of pregnancy! Nothing is sacred! :)
They ended up calling me back before Caleb got there, so I was texting him from the bathroom asking where he was and saying I'd take as long as I could, without being weird, to do the urine sample! lol Luckily, he was only a few minutes away by then. So when he arrived, we were just starting the ultrasound.
Laura, the Sonographer, started out by looking at the heart. I was PLEASED AS PUNCH (understatement) to hear her say, "OH! Look at that beautiful heart!" PHEW! In fact, I'm pretty sure I said, "Hallelujah!", when she said all 4 quadrants are there and it is pumping away beautifully! Seriously, hallelujah! :) Heartrate was 166 when I first arrived. By the time Caleb got there (only a few minutes later), it was down to 154. I think mommy's anxiety/excitedness level is in direct correlation to baby's heartrate!
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| Multiple pictures, but especially showing the 4 quadrant heart! (the black parts in the middle of the white circle) |
Laura did a bunch of measurements and notations about the RVOT and LVOT, etc. Then she moved on to the abdomen. She said the bladder and the stomach were full, so that means the baby has learned to swallow and that the digestive tract is working, as are the kidneys (she made sure there are 2 kidneys). She showed us the 3-strand cord that is the umbilical cord, made up of 2 arteries and 1 vein, and the cord insertion point on the baby's belly. She said that is important because it tells us that all the major organs have migrated correctly into the abdomen.
When Laura looked at the head, there were a few things she checked out - the cerebellum, which she said looks kinda like 2 eyes in the back of the brain - and that looked great. She also looked upwards at the face (like up the baby's nose) to see the upper lip to make sure it isn't cleft. It's not! :) I remember she took some other measurements from one white line to another, but can't remember what it was specifically. I'll say that everything she looked at looked fantastic! Not one thing that concerned her! I'll say it again; Hallelujah! :)
Now that we're in the 2nd trimester, baby doesn't get measured from head to rump anymore, as the baby is getting more cramped in there and is all balled up most of the time. Instead, they take 4 measurements; the head circumference, the head diameter, the abdomen circumference, and the femur length. She did check out the fibula and tibia (our baby had his/her legs crossed, so we could see all 4 calf bones in one clear picture) and the arms and hands, but didn't measure them.
The below image shows that the head circumference was a little small at 17w3d, the 26th percentile (50 being average), while the head diameter was right on track at 17w5d. The abdomen was also pretty close to the right day at 17w6d. The funny part was that the femur length measures in at 18w1d! 61st percentile! Maybe baby will take after Momma and get my height (I'm 5'11)! Altogether, when the 4 measurements were averaged, baby measured in at 17w5d - spot on! While talking about size, I'd also like to mention that the baby weighed in at 8oz! My Baby Bump App says at 18 weeks (I wasn't quite there yet), baby should be about 6.7oz. I'm hoping the extra weight is in those long leg bones! :)
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| Baby's measurements at 17w5d |
Lastly, Laura was going to check out the nether regions anatomy for us! We were so excited, but wanted to find out the gender just the two of us so we could react in whatever manor we wanted (ie shouting, crying tears of joy, etc). When she was ready we looked away while she took a peek. She wrote it down on a piece of paper for us, folded it in half twice AND stapled it and gave it to us to take home. As a sidenote, Laura has let us video every ultrasound we've had, so I was willing to wait to see the gender part on video so that Caleb and I could have our own special moment finding out the gender alone. As soon as we found out, we went back and watched the video to try to see what she was seeing or not seeing!
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| Beautiful picture of baby's spine and heart and cutie profile! Any guesses as to who s/he looks more like? A Winn or Farrell? |
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| This picture cracks me up - the legs are as long as the rest of the body put together! No wonder I've been feeling stronger kicks/movements! Doesn't it look like there's a smile on that little face?!? :) |
After the ultrasound, I had some blood work taken to check for chromosomal abnormalities and then went to wait for the doctor to see us. First thing she asked when she walked in was whether or not we knew what we are having! We said no, but she knew, so she wanted to make sure she didn't spill the beans.
She said from what she could see on the sonograms, everything with the baby looked GREAT! Yay! Then she answered our few questions -
Safe to bleach teeth and get a spray tan for my sister's wedding? Yes.
I'm having headaches I never had before, but BP was good, so that's normal, right? Yes.
Is there anything else I can do to prevent leg/foot cramps? Increase potassium intake... which I'm already doing.
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| Before Laura found out the gender, we saw the baby doing this! Laura said it must be a girl - such drama! :) |
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