Well today was the day we have been waiting for. After all the weeks of waiting, we were finally able to get the first glimpses of our baby.
The ultrasound lasted about an hour and the first part required that I drink 40 oz of water in about 15 minutes prior to the appointment. The point is to have a noticeably full bladder so that the images would look better. About half way through the ultrasound, I had to stop and finally relieve the pressure. By then though, the tech had captured the images she needed with the full bladder.
The baby was in a position where its bottom is at my cervix and the head is up top. Bottom first at this point is no big deal I'm told. Also long as it turns towards the end, things should be fine. The baby's back was facing out of my belly, and its face was turned toward my spine. This was great for the ultrasound tech to see the spine and head, but the face stayed hidden during the whole appointment. Unfortunately, this means that we have no good images of the face. Since she was not able to get the face, I'll have a brief ultrasound in three weeks to make sure all is fine there.
Overall the baby is at a good weight 1 lb 7 oz. The organs that she were able to see all look good. The heart had four chambers and was beating regularly. The spine was good along with all the other skeletal features. The stomach, kidneys, and bladder were all present and in good position. The cerebellum was seen and had the appropriate size and shape.
Now, probably what everyone is waiting to hear. It looks like the baby is a boy. She didn't get the very best pictures of the penis, but there were a few. The babies feet were placed in front of it. At first, I wasn't sure if she was positive it was a boy. She seemed hesitant to say, "Yeah, it's a boy." The rest of the ultrasound though she kept referring to the baby as "he" and "him." At the end of the appointment, Brian pushed her for a percentage that she believed it to be a boy. She answered she was 90% sure it was a boy. I was impressed by those numbers. So there you have it.
I'll post the pictures and hopefully you'll be able to make something out of the images.
