Spring has been late coming to the city, but the past week has finally fulfilled its yearly promise. Grass is green and tree buds are bursting into new leaves and flowers - and everything outside smells so good; I feel lifted up every time I step out of the house and take a breath.
We went in today for Ember's detailed anatomy ultrasound. At this U/S they look for all the external body parts as well as the internal ones. We were hoping to see Ember healthy and developing well and we weren't disappointed. :-)
(As an aside - I happened to run into my substitute teacher before leaving for the appointment, and I ended up telling her where I was going and why. It turned out that she had struggled to conceive and had had a stressful first pregnancy - that ended well. It was nice to make that connection and feel like I could be honest.)
(As an aside - I happened to run into my substitute teacher before leaving for the appointment, and I ended up telling her where I was going and why. It turned out that she had struggled to conceive and had had a stressful first pregnancy - that ended well. It was nice to make that connection and feel like I could be honest.)
At the last U/S (12 weeks 2 days) Ember was pretty quiet, other than some arm and leg movements. Not so this time, baby was wiggling all over the place! That was very cool to see. Ember's heartbeat was 142 bpm and we looked right inside the heart at all the chambers. We saw the more developed hands, feet, legs, and internal organs, and a few details of the face.
After a few minutes the tech asked "if we see anything significant, do you want to know?" I said yes - of course I want to know about anything significant! Although there was nothing insignificant about anything I was seeing. Then the anxious pessimist in me started to think "does he mean something significantly wrong?" and I started to feel jittery - until I realized what he was actually referring to. *groan*
After pointing out some blobs on the screen that I couldn't recognize as anything in particular, he said "I'm pretty sure that is a hamburger not a hot dog...." which is U/S sound code for....
Ember is a GIRL!!!
Mr. Turtle has been having baby girl dreams so I guess he was right on this one. The best part is that now she can start to feel more and more like a unique individual to us.
Other than the awesome experience of seeing Ember dance away on the screen, assuring us that her little spark of life burns strong, the tech was able to see all the vital parts so this was all good news. She measures 18 weeks and 5 days today and weighs 250 grams.
Here are some photos from the ultrasound. Other than the fact they show Ember's growth and progress, I confess that I'm not crazy about U/S photos. Honestly, they all look the same. But here are a few favourites.
A profile of her little head (that might be a hand or a foot near it - she kicked herself in the head a few times)
The head again, and that round staring thing is an eye. When I say U/S photos all look the same - I don't think I've seen one with such a freaky looking eye.
Feet. The hands and feet are still my favourite thing to see because they are so recognizable and so cute, especially when flailed about.
As for me, I am re-affirming my goal to move forward with a good attitude. I've done OK at keeping positive the past month. As we move into the summer my other objective is for us to start actively tackling all the other big questions - you know, the ones that have to do with an actual baby arriving in the next few months. I've kind of avoided thinking of Ember as an imminently arriving baby, in part because of superstitious fear and anxiety, and partly because I'm just a little intimidated by the thought of all we have to decide/do/buy/learn/schedule. I know I just have to take a deep breath, jump off the deep end and swim for it, and it will be fine.
At the same time, it fills my heart up to just sit still and be.