June 4th, we had our latest ultrasound, but we never updated the site. (We’ve been a bit lax in that, lately.) Anyway, Perrin is doing well, and is still measuring 2 weeks ahead. That’s pretty exciting, since it means that it is more likely that he will be born in July. Anyway, on with the pictures.
He’s kind of smushed between the placenta and the wall of the womb, but you can still see his features here.
Same thing from a different view, but I like this one because you can really see his nose and mouth really well. Also, with the way that his face is obscured, it reminds me of the Phantom of the Opera.
He just looks like he is sleeping between two pillows. Don’t let these images fool you, he’s an active little bugger.
He’s still breech, and hopefully he will turn around soon, but in any case, he’s healthy and doing well, and we can’t wait to see him.
It’s official. All betting is now closed. Peanut is a boy.
Yesterday was our 18-week anatomical evaluation ultrasound. We had been looking forward to this one for a while, since this is usually when you find out the sex of the baby. At first, Bionca just wanted it to be the two of us that went, but it worked out that both of my parents, her mom, and her grandmother all came with us. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
The tech was fantastic, as she explained the anatomical structures that she was measuring as she went, and was quite funny too. Peanut was doing great, as he was just cuddled up against the placenta like a big body pillow. Some of the highlights were when we saw Peanut wave to us, and seeing and hearing his little heart. We get to the end, and she is looking to see he sex, but Peanut had his legs curled up underneath him, and he just wasn’t moving. I was worried that we would have months yet of not buying clothes, using “he/she,” and “him/her,” “the baby,” and any other generic term that we could think of.
She went to bring the doctor in, since she couldn’t get the shot of his heart that she needed, and we had hope of a second chance. Bionca immediately got up and started jumping around and shaking her belly trying to get Peanut to move. Soon the doctor came in, and we got back to desperately looking at the screen. After doing some measurements on the heart, he moved in to see the sex of the baby.
Once again, Peanut wasn’t be cooperative, but the doctor thought that he saw a glimpse of a labia. Bionca got excited and squeezed my hand, and I started grinning hopefully. After a few more minutes of moving around and getting nothing, he seemed about to give up when he finally got the right angle, and made the declaration that it was a boy.
Bionca cried while I grinned like an idiot. I’m not really sure how everyone else in the room reacted, since I was so focused on the little screen, and Bionca. It was a great moment.
We proceeded to Bionca’s Ob appointment, and after waiting over an hour, and doing the exam, the doctor declared that all of Bionca’s tests came out good, and that she was doing great. We have a completely normal and healthy pregnancy.
Today we had our 14 week ultrasound. Jason had to spend the day in the ER, so Grandma Lois came with me to get a look at the baby. It’s amazing how Peanut has grown in just these past 3 weeks. We tried to get some video but the tech claimed that it would be a HIPAA violation and wouldn’t let us get any shots.
Peanut is measuring at 15 weeks, so we might be having a big baby. The heartbeat was nice and strong, 162 bpm. Peanut was sleeping most of the time. He was sitting Indian style and we could see his little toes, so cute. The most amazing thing was when we were trying to wake Peanut and he did a BIG stretch and streched out his arms and opened his hands like he was waving at as. He was wiggling his fingers and trying to left himself up to stretch out even more. It was so incredible, Mom and I kept crying.
I am so thankful to have such wonderful in-laws. It has been a true blessing to have Mom Lois share this experince with me when Jason could not. I will forever be greatful.
We had our second doctor’s visit earlier this week. Bionca was nervous leading up to it, as she kept worrying (like most first-time moms-to-be) that something would be wrong with the baby. There wasn’t. Unfortunately, since I had a lot to do at work, I couldn’t go, but mom, Sha’Vonne, and Gabby went with her. Best yet, mom, being the shutterbug that she is, grabbed video of the ultrasound.
The first one is the regular kind, and you can really see little Peanut swimming around. He/she’s quite the little acrobat. The doctor thinks that Peanut is actually a week and a half older than we had previously measured, but since the first ultrasound is supposed to be the most accurate in this case, she didn’t change our due date. As you can hear in the video, this is clearly a learning experience for Gabby.
After checking out Peanut with the regular ultrasound, she switched to a 3D view, and we can see some more detail. Since Peanut is still so small (just over 2 inches), the picture isn’t great, but it is still very neat.
I keep thinking about all of these firsts that we are going to be experiencing very soon: first bottle, first diaper change, first word, etc. Yesterday was a first that I will always remember. The first time I saw my child.
Thinking of it now is enough to make me tear up. We were determined to get in to somewhere since it was the first day that we were able to, and we suspected that Bionca had been pregnant for a while. She called me at work at about 10am saying that she had an appointment at 10:30, and that her and Sha’Vonne were on the way to get me. The people at the doctor’s office were very nice, and took us into the exam room. The doctor did the first exam, and talked to us about all the things that we need to do, and things that Bionca shouldn’t eat.
Since Bionca hadn’t had a period in many months, we couldn’t use that to tell how far along she was, so the doctor first checked to see if we could hear the baby’s heartbeat. As she moved the microphone around, we could hear only static from the little speaker, as we strained to hear a little heartbeat in the noise. At one point we heard a beat and I got super excited, only to find that the doctor had gone over Bionca artery, and that was the source of the sound. I was very disappointed. No heartbeat, so that meant that we were not 12 weeks along yet. I couldn’t help but be a little worried, but I brushed it aside since in all likelihood, everything was okay, and it would be worry for nothing.
That worry and disappointment didn’t last long though as the next thing we learned was we were taking us in for an ultrasound, and that we were going to be able to see our baby! We were brought into a little exam room, and Bionca laid down, and the doctor started the exam. Since I’m the geek that I am, I started recording the screen on my phone, but she soon told me that that wasn’t allowed for some reason. I was very disappointed, since I saw Heather’s pictures, and video, and knew that the stills didn’t live up to the video.
Boy was I right! We got to see her/him! At first, the doctor said, “There’s your baby,” but it was just a little spot. Then she zoomed in, and there it was! (Damn English and it’s lack of a polite genderless third-person pronoun.) It started out in profile, laying down. It was so cool! We could see it’s arms, legs, head, body, and little beating heart. I cried immediately, and since I was too busy looking at the monitor, transfixed, I glanced down and saw Vonnie who was also tearing up.
The doctor checked a few things, and as she was talking, the little guy moved! This time, not like a wiggle, but like someone that was uncomfortable with their position in bed, and rolls over. It went from profile to turning it’s little butt towards us. It was an amazing moment. I went over to Bionca, and we laughed and cried.
Here’s what we learned: little Peanut is 10 weeks along, and is due August 9. It’s confirmed. We have a baby.
*Squee!*
[Edit] I was able to get some video of the ultrasound before I was told that I wasn’t allowed to record it. Stupid lawyers. The quality isn’t the best since it was taken from my phone, and even with how short and low-rez it is, this video is very dear to me.
