Excited, timid, and a bit nervous I made my way to our twenty week ultrasound yesterday (even though we turn 20 weeks on Tuesday). The technician was running late with his appointments, so I quieted my heart and patiently waited for my name to be called. Thirty minutes later he called my name from far down the hall and I allowed my feet to follow his voice.
A friend warned me earlier in the day that this gentleman may not show me everything that I want to see, so I need to make sure to ask questions and let him know that I am interested in seeing as much as I can. She also strongly suggested asking him for lots of pictures to make sure that I get a few. Armed with this, I may have come on a little strong and over-exuberant.
I cheerily asked about every little thing he was looking at, eagerly wanting to know which part of the body it was and if everything was looking alright. "Is that the brain?" "Oh my gosh, look at the spine! How amazing is that?" "Wow, that must be the heart pumping! Is it looking okay?" "Awh, the hand. Can we see how many fingers and toes are there?""Look at his/her sweet face!"
Let's just say that I may have been a bit over-zealous. The technician took the probe/wand (?) off of my stomach and basically gave me the no-nonsense spiel of how he knows I am excited but he is looking for what can go wrong and he needs to concentrate and triple check everything. He was more worried about the organs than the number of fingers. He went on to say that my midwife would tell me if everything looked okay in my appointment next week. I apologized and explained that I, too, was very interested in the organs and that I was just excited to see all that I could see.
He proceeded to prod and shove my belly and the baby, while telling me what we were looking at, only occasionally without prompting. I enthusiastically continued to be just in love with our baby and his/her movements, soaking in as much as I could and still asking for confirmation about what we were looking at. After a few minutes passed he apologized for being grumpy or quick with me as he was just in so much pain from a root canal he had done a few days ago!!! Well there you go, folks :)
Nothing could possibly squash my excitement about looking at our sweet baby. I really could not get over how amazing the spine looked! It was incredible. Oh, and the fact that you can see the four chambers of a baby's heart within their mother's womb just astounds me. A few times he commented that our baby was active and moving a lot and my mind went to the half a brownie I ate before I arrived. Hmm.
At the end of the appointment he showed me 4D imaging of the baby, which was mesmerizing, and he printed off five pictures of our little one. THEN, he ejected a CD out of the computer, which I really wasn't expecting and gave it to me.
Within the next twenty minutes I was in contact with both of Baby B's grandfathers. I talked to my dad, John, on the way home and described the ultrasound and then arrived home to John, Jim's dad, who was passing through for a brief visit. I know a smile stretched from ear to ear as I told each of them the news, getting to show John B. the pictures and then asking if he'd like to see what's on the CD. We were met with nineteen minutes of video footage, documenting everything the technician had seen during my visit!! Woohoo!
Quickly we put it on pause to watch with Jim when he arrived home. We were all engaged, but slightly distracted by visiting together, conversation, a visitor stopping in, and my telling of the experience, but we rolled the footage through it all.
Tonight Jim and I plan to snuggle up and watch our baby together, uninterrupted, and I cannot wait! I hope he doesn't look too closely for the gender of our baby. The hazard of being married to a medical student when both of us want to be surprised about the gender at birth...
The baby's movements and the pictures and ultrasound imaging are making everything that much more real. What an exciting time! How are we already almost halfway through pregnancy? Breathe, Käthe. Be still. Enjoy each of these minutes... they're already flying by.
A friend warned me earlier in the day that this gentleman may not show me everything that I want to see, so I need to make sure to ask questions and let him know that I am interested in seeing as much as I can. She also strongly suggested asking him for lots of pictures to make sure that I get a few. Armed with this, I may have come on a little strong and over-exuberant.
I cheerily asked about every little thing he was looking at, eagerly wanting to know which part of the body it was and if everything was looking alright. "Is that the brain?" "Oh my gosh, look at the spine! How amazing is that?" "Wow, that must be the heart pumping! Is it looking okay?" "Awh, the hand. Can we see how many fingers and toes are there?""Look at his/her sweet face!"
Let's just say that I may have been a bit over-zealous. The technician took the probe/wand (?) off of my stomach and basically gave me the no-nonsense spiel of how he knows I am excited but he is looking for what can go wrong and he needs to concentrate and triple check everything. He was more worried about the organs than the number of fingers. He went on to say that my midwife would tell me if everything looked okay in my appointment next week. I apologized and explained that I, too, was very interested in the organs and that I was just excited to see all that I could see.
He proceeded to prod and shove my belly and the baby, while telling me what we were looking at, only occasionally without prompting. I enthusiastically continued to be just in love with our baby and his/her movements, soaking in as much as I could and still asking for confirmation about what we were looking at. After a few minutes passed he apologized for being grumpy or quick with me as he was just in so much pain from a root canal he had done a few days ago!!! Well there you go, folks :)
Nothing could possibly squash my excitement about looking at our sweet baby. I really could not get over how amazing the spine looked! It was incredible. Oh, and the fact that you can see the four chambers of a baby's heart within their mother's womb just astounds me. A few times he commented that our baby was active and moving a lot and my mind went to the half a brownie I ate before I arrived. Hmm.
At the end of the appointment he showed me 4D imaging of the baby, which was mesmerizing, and he printed off five pictures of our little one. THEN, he ejected a CD out of the computer, which I really wasn't expecting and gave it to me.
Within the next twenty minutes I was in contact with both of Baby B's grandfathers. I talked to my dad, John, on the way home and described the ultrasound and then arrived home to John, Jim's dad, who was passing through for a brief visit. I know a smile stretched from ear to ear as I told each of them the news, getting to show John B. the pictures and then asking if he'd like to see what's on the CD. We were met with nineteen minutes of video footage, documenting everything the technician had seen during my visit!! Woohoo!
Quickly we put it on pause to watch with Jim when he arrived home. We were all engaged, but slightly distracted by visiting together, conversation, a visitor stopping in, and my telling of the experience, but we rolled the footage through it all.
Tonight Jim and I plan to snuggle up and watch our baby together, uninterrupted, and I cannot wait! I hope he doesn't look too closely for the gender of our baby. The hazard of being married to a medical student when both of us want to be surprised about the gender at birth...
The baby's movements and the pictures and ultrasound imaging are making everything that much more real. What an exciting time! How are we already almost halfway through pregnancy? Breathe, Käthe. Be still. Enjoy each of these minutes... they're already flying by.
No comments:
Post a Comment