Look at those itsy bitsy feet.
I'm still pregnant :)
I can't wait to start feeling the baby move, or seeing some physical evidence that I'm pregnant, because some days I start to wonder. But yesterday I finally got to see the tiny one hanging out in my womb and it. was. awesome.
We went to the UNC-Chapel Hill Women's Hospital, which is HUGE. But once we found our way to the ultrasound place, it was relatively cozy. We had a little room that was dark and comfy and there was a TV on the wall so we could see what the tech was doing. She started off with what she said was the "boring" part where she took lots of measurements. I didn't think it was boring because she explained what she was looking at and it was pretty cool to see things like a tiny little cerebellum and my right ovary, etc. I just love that we can see that stuff. So cool. After all the measurements, she put the numbers in the computer so it would calculate an "exact" gestational age. The computer said the baby is 18 weeks and 3 days old, and I am at exactly 18 weeks according to the magical due date wheel. Pretty close! Jonathan said the baby is gaining a day every 6 weeks, which means we just might have a St. Pat's baby after all. Fingers crossed, people!
The wee one's heartrate was 161 bpm, and (s)he weighs about 9 ounces. As the tech said, a little more than a block of cream cheese and not quite as much as a can of pop.
All the body parts appeared to be normal. We got to see the spine, kidneys, all 4 chambers of the heart (SO cool to see and we could really easily pick it out!), the brain and some structures in it, hands, feet, etc. We skipped the special bits since we don't want to know the baby's sex, but the tech had to do some measurements nearby so she just had us look away during those parts. She was very careful not to let anything slip.
After the "boring" photos, she went to get some fun ones for us, like feet, hands, face, profile, etc. But our formerly wiggly baby had decided that enough was enough and curled over and went to sleep. She held the sonogram thing still for a while and we watched the baby just snoozing away. It was difficult to get good pictures then, since it was turned away from the camera and all curled up, but she still got a couple for us. We said we'll just have to wait to get a good look in March.
That's probably our first and last ultrasound, unless something comes up and we need another, but it was totally worth the $7 we ended up having to pay. I thought we'd be paying out of pocket for the whole thing but it turns out that my grad teaching assistantship is good for something after all, and my maternity benefits are pretty good. I thankfully also have Jonathan's insurance as backup, so somehow it all worked out.
I already can't wait to meet this tiny person! Eighteen weeks down, 22 to go!
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