I didn't care that I had to work that morning. I didn't even really care that our appointment was delayed by half an hour. All that mattered to me was seeing our baby and making sure everything was okay. Intuitively I knew it would be -- I've been feeling lots of movement, and in fact, we've both laid in bed, feeling the baby kick as we drifted off to sleep. We have had some truly magical moments in this pregnancy so far but all of them paled compared to yesterday.
Our ultrasound room was very nice. I had an extremely comfy bed to lay on and they set up a chair right next to the bed for Rick to sit in. I even had my own bathroom. There was a TV on the wall across from us so we wouldn't have to turn our heads to see all the action.
The doctor started the exam and looked at the spine (I knew it was the spine because I had read it looks like a string of pearls). But my full bladder was making her nervous so I took full advantage of my private bathroom. I laid down again and she restarted the exam. Just a few minutes later, we heard her say, "Oh, there's something." I took that to mean something was wrong, but Rick knew immediately she was talking about boy parts. So that was the first thing we learned -- Shortstop is in fact a boy. She went back at the end to double check but there was absolutely no doubt.
She went through and looked at the brain (forming perfectly), the heart (all chambers looked good and a VERY strong and fast heartbeat), arms, legs, feet and hands. She was even impressed that SS was holding both a hand and a foot at the same time -- commented that babies normally aren't that coordinated at nearly 21 weeks. She said he's definitely an athlete -- proof that Rick's nickname is actually going to stick! We also got a glimpse of his little face -- especially his nose and upper lip. Rick is already convinced the curve of his nose looks like mine.
The only thing she couldn't see clearly was his tailbone because of the way he was turned -- so she made me get up and move around in an effort to turn him. It worked. She printed off our sonogram pictures and we were on our way, immediately whipping out our cell phones to spread the happy news. I immediately emailed both my parents (who were at work) and then texted my sister and my two closest girlfriends. He called his dad (who was extremely happy to hear we're having a boy), then his mom on vacation in Florida, then texted his brothers. Then later I posted the happy news to Facebook and all night long, we listened to my phone ding as people shared their excitement with us.
The next day, I went for my regular monthly appointment. We both look great -- my blood pressure is normal and my doc seems pleased with my weight gain so far (up 19 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight already, yikes!). I honestly can't believe I've gained that much -- this puts me over where I was when I started my Weight Watchers diet. But I am all belly so I guess that's a good thing. My doc commented Shortstop's got long strong bones so she says he's the picture of health. This mom is very relieved!
Now the fun begins. We are keeping our Winnie the Pooh themed nursery and are beginning the process of clearing out some clutter from our house. We are looking at paint samples and preparing to register for gifts. There are definite plans underway for a shower in my hometown of Alton on June 25th -- Rick and I picked the menu for this "gender-friendly" party but we know no other details. Regardless, I'm sure there will be a lot of blue!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment