First ultrasound

First, I would like to warn you that ultrasound pictures are included below. If you are not a fan of the in-utero shots, you might want to just know that everything looked normal and we are praising God!


For those of you who would like to know a little more, you're in the right place :) Our ultrasound tech was really good at her job. This meant that she showed us cool things and answered our questions, but at the same time, if something had been amiss, I don't think we would have known from her reaction. She was very professional.

Going into the ultrasound, I had to finish drinking 32 ounces of water 30 minutes before our appointment. Yep, I was about to burst. But ultrasounds depend on fluid for the signal to bounce around nicely. At this point there isn't a whole lot of fluid in the uterus, so the bladder has to make up the difference and helps lift the uterus away from nearby bones. Now you know :)

Unlike our first ultrasound with Sarah, this technician did an external in addition to the internal ultrasound. She was looking to present the ordering physician with a size and due date. To do this she measured the yolk sack, uterus, and crown rump length multiple ways to get good averages for each, then plugged each average into their formula and the computer said that our baby was due May 6, just one day after the doctor's estimated date. We will know for sure at the next appointment which number they will stick with, but my guess it that it will remain May 5. [Side note: The technician said she thinks that just measuring the crown rump length is most accurate (and the books agree) when the baby is big enough to measure, but the hospital requires them to use all three measurements.]

Now to the miracle of the ultrasound. We didn't hear the heart beat, but we could see it. Blood was moving all around! The baby was moving, be it real movement at this point or just floating, we weren't sure. We could clearly identify body parts, especially the hand! The technician inspected everything and told us things looked good and we haven't gotten a call from the doctor saying otherwise, so praise the Lord!

Here is our miracle...

We could see all appendages! The white spot on the lower belly is the umbilical cord.

We got the most awesome wave. The technician snapped this great picture, but nothing could do justice to seeing that hand go by the ultrasound wand.

PS- Sarah was with us and did alright, but she gets pretty freaked out when we go to the doctor. I should say really freaked out when she is at the doctor and fairly freaked out when a doctor goes to work on Dave or myself. So while the TV was fun to see, she wasn't so sure about me just hanging out on the table and resorted to eating lots of Cheerios. Maybe she will understand better at our next ultrasound :)