Ultrasound

I'm not really sure that there's a lot of news to share about my ultrasound. It was fun to see my baby, although it took so long that my neck got tired from being cranked around to see the screen! Craig and I had agreed to not find out what we were having this time around. This had actually been my idea from years ago-- if I already had a boy and a girl, I thought it would be fun to find out the old fashioned way, when the baby is actually born. Doesn't that sound exciting? One last push and then the doctor gets to say, "Congratulations, it's a _____!" I love the idea of it.

And since I now have a boy and girl, this was the pregnancy to do it! It also helps that, after Kendra's crazy delivery, I sort of felt like I needed something that would make this delivery exciting, without Craig wanting to kill me afterwards. So I think this is a healthy way to go about accomplishing that. (The only contingency that Craig demanded before he would agree to having a third kid was that I do everything in my power to go to the hospital this time. I've already been scheming and planning to make it happen. As I was discussing these plans with Craig, he quoted Yoda at me: "Do or do not, there is no try!" He's quite serious about this, so I am, too!)

So the real question going into this ultrasound was whether or not we'd be able to NOT find out. And we didn't!

We told the technician before she could even sit down that we were hoping to be surprised, and she was great about turning the screen away from us any time she thought there was a chance we might see something revealing. And when she typed up her prediction, she even asked (somewhat accusingly) if Craig was reading over her should and told him not to! At one point Craig thought he might have seen boy parts, but the more he watched, the more he decided that he really had no clue what he was looking at. The appointment was peppered with us asking questions like, "Is that the baby's arm?" only to be answered with, "No, that's the placenta," and stuff like that. So we're just as unsure as ever. (And any use of gender-specific words from here on out are to be taken as 50/50 chance guesses. I hate saying "his/her" all the time, so don't read into it now when I stop bothering!)

The funny thing was at the end, when the technician wanted to get a profile shot of the baby. And Lucky protectively hid her face behind her arms the entire time! She was very shy. So it took a long time of trying (and some painful poking at my stomach) before another technician was finally called in to get the shot. By then, I was getting sore from laying on my back and was just as glad to be done. The new technician did get a couple-- I guess Lucky just liked her better. Or maybe it was because she wasn't poking at me so hard that Lucky didn't feel the need to protect his face! Anyway, here are the best pictures (at least, the ones where the baby doesn't look like an alien or Skelator).

Ack. For some reason, the computer wants to make them huge, so they aren't fitting into the frame at all. Grr. If you want to be able to actually see them, you'll have to click on each one individually. Sorry.

Notice the arm hovering above the face.
I think Lucky's mouth is slightly open here, too-- maybe some imminent thumb sucking?

Another profile shot.

This one's my favorite. Little tiny feet! Who doesn't love such tiny feet?

So there we have it! Picture of Lucky, gender still unknown!

It also took the technician forever to find a picture of the 4th chamber of the heart. It finally got to the point where Craig was getting nervous and asked if there was a problem. She quickly said, "Oh, no, everything's fine! I just want a better picture." Then she paused and added, "But I'm not supposed to give a diagnosis." So of course now I'm slightly nervous that perhaps something ELSE was wrong and she just wasn't telling us. But my next doctor's appointment is for the 11th, and I'll be glad to hear a doctor actually pronounce everything to be fine!

You never get to stop worrying, do you?