It's . . . a . . .
baby!
We had our level 2 ultrasound today and it was great. Everything looks good with the baby and he or she is measuring just about right for somewhere in the vicinity of October 6.
I have to say I was tempted. We asked the tech not to look and she was very nice about it, but I looked anyway. First I thought I saw a little something and thought to myself, "It's a boy!" Then I thought I didn't see something and thought, "Well, maybe it's a girl." So, there you have it. It's one or the other. I promise I do want to find out early with at least one baby someday, just to see what it's like.
Speaking of babies, my current favorite Theo-ism is "stop and smell the flowers." I showed him how to smell flowers a while ago and now whenever we are on the go and he notices flowers, he wants to stop and smell them (indicating this by squirming to get down from my arms or out of the stroller while simultaneously sniffing furiously).
Anyway I was a little nervous about this ultrasound today. Then the tech seemed to take forever; she kept zooming in on its head and saying, "Just taking another look at the brain." Then--this was actually pretty cool--she spent some time messing around on the 3D function and kept trying to get a picture of the baby's face--difficult because his/her hands were covering it. But in my mind I'm thinking, "What's the matter with the baby's head, what's the matter with the baby's face?"
Of course it all looks somewhat ghoulish to me and all I can make out are various bones with the occasional gray or black spot. With the 3D it's all reddish lumpy skin. The entire time Theo is saying, "Baby, baby" over and over and I'm going over all sorts of sad scenarios. But, it turned out that she was just having some fun with the 3D and everything is fine as far as they can tell.
Of course I won't stop the tiny worries in the back of my head until I am holding that baby in my arms . . . and then of course is when the real worries start, right? I mean of course that's also when the intense love and joy starts too, but, at least with Theo, I thought once he was born I would always know he was okay because he'd be there in front of me. He's only 16 months old and I still haven't figured out how to know that--I still check on him after he's gone to sleep, too. Matt and I joke about how we wonder if we'll still be doing that when he's a teenager. Funny how something as normal and everyday as a healthy baby isn't actually normal or everyday at all. It is a miracle.
The pictures are cute; they look just like Theo's ultrasounds. And like every other baby's in the history of baby ultrasounds.
I didn't tell Matt until afterward, but I secretly wore the same shirt that I had worn to Theo's ultrasound. Embarrassing? Maybe embarrassing that I remember what I was wearing last time. Well anyway, it looks like the lucky shirt pulled through and as Matt said, that's one more milestone done with and we're on our way to babydom. Just . . . 20 more weeks or so.
The mental image of you checking in on a sleeping Theo when he's a teenager reminds me of the book, "I'll Love You Forever" when the mamma drives over to her adult/married son's house and rocks him to sleep. (Except maybe not that creepy. ;-))
ReplyDeleteActually, I've always thought that was such a sweet story, the message at least, if not the actual image of the co-dependent mother rocking her adult son.
I'm glad everything is fine. It's always such a relief to get that clean bill of health.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm curious. You seem to be a more spiritual, body-conscious person than I am, so do you have any inkling as to the sex of the baby? I thought I did, and I was always wrong. You don't have to say what you think it is, but just that you might think you know would be enough.
I always thought I was having a girl - and I was right 4 times!!
ReplyDeleteI think I just related to femaleness and couldn't imagine a boy. But I did have two boys!
So much for having an inkling!
I have to admit--I really hate that I Love You Forever book! The illustrations are so bad, the story is badly written and, as you said, gets creepy near the end...and yet...it is appealing because the emotions behind it are so true for moms. Well for me anyway. In fact I have a copy. But I still hate it. :)
ReplyDeleteRelated, tonight--personal aside--when I went to put Theo to bed he was so tired he laid his head on my shoulder and closed his eyes. I couldn't resist sitting with him in the rocking chair for about 20 minutes before putting him down. (Usually he just goes in the crib with a prayer and good-night kiss.) It was so nice, sitting there in the dark with the breeze coming in from outside and a little Thelonious Monk on the stereo...I could have sat there for much longer. In fact, when I did put him down I almost felt guilty. I thought of that e-mail forward that my friend Alisha recently posted with the line about what it feels like to have your heart outside your body.
Keli, I don't know what I'm having, although I do keep thinking girl. But maybe that's because I already have a boy. Weird? I don't know. With Theo I was pretty sure he was a boy, starting at around 6 or 7 months. This was encouraged by the fact that everyone I met said, "Yep, definitely boy."
I guess we will see. Maybe when I start showing more I'll have a better idea. Although I am already kind of sticking out in front the way I did with Theo. So maybe it's a boy. (I totally buy that old wives' tale, if you didn't notice.)
I'm glad I was not the only one who was a little grossed out by that 3-D ultrasound thing. I'm happy looking at the black-and-white fuzz images.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I still check on my kids before I go to sleep, and any time I wake up in the middle of the night (which happens more often now that my bladder is being kicked on a regular basis!). I'm not sure when I'll grow out of that, but I think its nice to remember how beautiful and innocent children are when they're sleeping.
Glad to hear all is going well!
I am totally paranoid at the beginning of ultrasounds. Last time the tech seemed to not talk forever and kept looking at the heart and finally I was like, "Is everything okay with him?" She said she had to let the doctor talk to me about that, and I was like no! Something's the matter! Finally she explained that she had a cold, which is why she wasn't talking at all, and it all looked fine but she can't say for sure because she's not the doctor. Dumb story but my point was I'm glad I'm not the only one who worries when you go in there.
ReplyDeleteAlso, my mother-i-l gets a feeling for what my babies are going to be, so when she said boy for this second one I just started buying boy clothes and she has been right for both. But this isn't in a fortune-teller type way.
The profile pictures are the only cute ultrasound pictures, in my opinion. Seeing the face straight on is kinda scary.
ReplyDelete