Ultrasound

On Friday May 27, 2011 I had my ultrasound.  We all know the end result...that we found out we are having a boy!  But the ultrasound itself was amazing, so I thought I'd talk really quickly about it.

An hour before the ultrasound I had to drink about 30 ounces of water and refrain from going to the bathroom.  This made me nervous because I have a small enough bladder as it is...then when I think about how I can't go, it makes me want to go!  I asked the ultrasound tech why I had to do this, and I guess it provides some sort of window for them to see through.  The farther along you are, you don't have to drink all the water.  Well, the baby wasn't cooperating at first in order for us to see the sex.  He was sitting with his butt in my pelvis, so she couldn't get around to see.  Then he had his legs cross underneath him!  After a while, she ran out of film and told me to go to the bathroom to see if that would help.  Sure enough, he started moving around more and we got to see him in all his glory!

There is a checklist of things the ultrasound tech looks for, measures, etc.  She'll click to take a picture (which I later found was to show the doctor) and measures various parts of the body (head, arms, legs, stomach, etc.) to make sure everything is the correct size for the age of the baby.  It's neat because it shows you in weeks what the measurement is.  All measurements for the baby were 17.5 and 18 weeks, so he is growing as he should be.  The tech said that everything looked normal with the baby, but the doctor will look at the photos as well just to make sure there is nothing suspicious looking.

The ultrasound was amazing.  I haven't felt any movement yet, so it was really neat to see him moving around in there.  We got to see his legs kick and his arm moving up and down to his face...like he was trying to suck his thumb.  He kept clenching and opening his fist, so we have a couple pictures of him "waving" at us.  There was one where he looked straight at us and you could see his mouth moving up and down (like a sucking movement) and his eyes moving.  He looked like an alien in this view because you just saw these eye sockets, nose socket and mouth!  I could have stayed there and just kept watching all day.  It's so amazing to me to see that little person inside me.  I wish I could have more ultrasounds!

On Sunday I rode with Ryan when he went to work and went to the book store.  I picked up a baby name book to start looking.  I believe we are going to keep the name we choose a secret, so you'll just have to wait until around October 28 to find out.  Next step is cleaning out the baby's room and picking out paint colors.  I guess we have to start looking for furniture and other baby things now too!

Next check up is June 10.