The hubby and I have waiting 19 long…long weeks for today and were crossing our fingers that little Sprout was going to be a healthy baby with all normal limbs and in a position where we could see if it is a HE or SHE.
It all started like this: at 9:30am Michael and I ran to check-in at desk 1A at the Bellevue Group Health Medical Center for our second ultrasound ever! Sitting in the lobby the hubby held me tight to calm my nerves and over-excitement about seeing the baby again on our favorite place….the tv screen…all the while we discussed how we both know the ultrasound was going to prove Sprout is a boy. It only took about five minutes before the ultrasound technician called our names. Simultaneously we jumped up, held hands, and headed into the back of the office where a small dark room with funky equipment and TV screens waited for us. I got the pleasure of laying on the large recliner-table covered in what I would describe as an oversized toilet seat cover, and Michael sat on the chair situated to my left with a clear view of the technician’s screen.
As the gooey jelly stuff was squirted on to my chub bumps I was so thankful that the container had been sitting in an electronic warming tray and was not as cold as the white hospital-like room. Side-Note: I could never understand why new parents would put a baby wipe warmer on their registries. In fact, I was making fun of another couple at the store for picking one up. But now….NOW I understand. Don’t know if I’d want one, but I understand. Within minutes of the goop slowing sliding down the sides of my torso, we found out that Sprout was going to be a challenge today. Its head was low….and I mean REALLY LOW….and only wanted to give us a backside view. Turns out too, Sprout is only living on the left side of my stomach. I said a little prayer hoping that it'll move to the middle as it grows so I am not carrying a lopsided watermelon on my left hip for the next 5 months.
The first thing we saw, well Michael saw, was something moving around and he called it “the baby.” All I saw was a fuzzy black and white image that looked more like a static-filled tv than it did a baby. My anticipation of seeing Sprout was quickly minimized when I couldn’t make out heads or tails from what was on the screen. Maybe it was because they required me to come in with a 32 oz filled bladder and Sprout was sitting right on top of it? Finally, I saw a recognizable image of an arm, a leg, and a spine. I think I even yelled out “Yay, baby has an arm!” As we marked each of Sprout’s extremities, we would celebrate it. Hey, when you’re growing something from scratch it is pretty exciting to see things appearing in the right places. Our technician was really nice and was trying not only to capture the images she needed for the exam, but to also get us a cute photo she could print out and send home with us. But, no such luck.
Half way through the morning I was able to use the restroom (thank goodness!) all the while jumping up and down, shaking side to side and pushing on my tummy in awkward ways in order to try to flip Sprout over so we could see something besides her back. While my attempt to use gravity did not work as well as I would have liked, it did work long enough for the technician to tell us “Well, your He is a She!” At that moment I was completely shocked (thanks to the at-home gender test who said Sprout was a boy) and even cried a little while I looked at Mike and said “We’re having a girl.” Talk about a shocker! Michael’s face was stretched from ear to ear with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen, and you could see the happiness in his eyes. I just know Sprout is going to be a daddy’s girl. Okay so it maybe a guess, but our tech lady was 100% positive in her reading of the images that it was a girl. She even pointed out how she came to the conclusion by showing us where the labia tissues were and how some people might mistake the umbilical cord as the little boy parts (she changed the image to show heat and it clearly was no peepee messer maker).
As quickly as Sprout peeked around for us to determine her gender she turned right back over, never being able to get our photo. But, the good news is that not only did we miss out on the crucial photo opportunity, but so did the radiologist. Even with all of their hard trying, they could not get all of the images they needed so we get to go back in 3 weeks for a re-do! Yay!!!!
As of today, Sprout weighs 8 oz and has an updated due date of June 6th, 2010.
Friday, January 8, 2010
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