Doctor appointment: 20 week ultrasound

Click here to compare these with Mirabella's ultrasound photos.

Just as awesome the second time around, Jeff and I got to see our bouncing baby during my ultrasound on Tuesday (Tuesday, December 1st)! It truly is amazing all that can be seen in general, but then when you really stop to think about this being a living human being, our baby, growing inside of me, it’s unbelievable. The fact that I am making bones, a heart, an entire body constantly leaves me in awe. Everything looked really good, according to both the woman doing the ultrasound and my doctor, the best news we could have asked for. Our nerves started to kick in the day of the appointment, hoping all was going to check out. Once you see everything pointed out on the monitor, all the fingers and toes, the bladder and kidneys functioning as they should, the heart beating and all four of its chambers in tact, oh, that feels incredible. They can even check for a cleft lip and palate, and she analyzed the nasal bone which if abnormal, can be a key indicator for common birth defects, mainly Down syndrome. Much to our relief, all appeared to be normal.

We did not find out if we are having a boy or a girl; we wanted it to be a surprise again on delivery day, so the ultrasound technician told us she wouldn’t try to figure it out. I was happy to hear that so she wasn’t tempted to spill any beans. She called our baby cooperative and cute. I know she said he or she was cute or called him or her a cutie many, many times. I’m sure I heard it at least ten times. Ok four times, maybe three. Wouldn’t it be nice if he or she holds true to that cooperative trait in the real world? Yes, yes it would be (you hear that, baby?)!

After the ultrasound, we met with our doctor and he concurred that all looked great with our baby. And after shooting the breeze about funny stories for much of the appointment, non-pregnancy related stuff mostly (San Francisco, wine country, talking to children about drinking and swearing, the latter provoking vast amounts of laughter amongst the three of us), we came back to discussing why we were there. My pregnancy is fortunately going very well, so there wasn’t a whole lot to talk about this time. We’ll be better able to pin point when the baby is coming probably toward the end of January when my doctor knows his April schedule. My next appointment is in the beginning of January.

Oh, and we talked about my weight gain. Stay tuned for how much the scale tipped this time!