Results of our 20 week ultrasound

I am so excited to report that our 20 week ultrasound went GREAT!

When we first arrived the sonographer told me that she'd do 30-45 mins of measurements where she'd just be taking notes, but at that point we could look around for vanity's sake. She gelled me up and we jumped right in. It was last Monday and the weather was quite warm, so my clothes were thin and sparse but the AC was blazing. It wouldn't have been so chilly in there except that I had consumed 20 oz of ice cold water to fill my bladder just prior to the appointment (I don't believe in drinking an hour before hand - no pain for me, thank you!) ... so I was stretched out on the table, in summer clothes, with cold gel slathered all over me, AC blasting right on me, with cold liquid running through my body ... and I was shivering! Though I'm not entirely sure it was just the elements, I was quite scared too.

I finally asked the sonographer if she wouldn't mind confirming a heartbeat for me and she looked surprised. I told her this was our fifth pregnancy, but our first live child (that's how I answer people now-a-days when they ask me if this is my first) so she quickly confirmed the heartbeat and asked if I could feel the baby kicking on a regular basis. As you know, I can, but there's still a part of me that gets scared that somehow the baby might have died between the last kick and when the ultrasound wand was placed on my tummy :-(

As she took her million measurements she kept placing the wand quite high on my stomach, I finally asked her "is there uterus and baby up that high?" ... she told me that my uterus ended 1 1/2 inches above my belly button and I was SHOCKED! I had heard that at 20 weeks it should be AT your belly button ... but I guess the location of a belly button ... is relative ;-) While she glided the wand over my tummy I broke out in only a few chuckles - heck, I'm ticklish! Then she had me turn on my side and I'm not kidding you - my uterus is all the way on my SIDE! When I shared my surprised the sonographer laughed and said, "well what do you think is filling up this stomach of yours?" ... so I guess it's the uterus and the baby! While I was "quietly" waiting for her to complete her measurements I mentioned: "I know you're not supposed to give me the results, but can you just tell me if you will be looking into my cervical length, amniotic fluid level, number of umbilical cord arteries, and placental location?" ... she looked at me in shock again and asked how far along my previous losses were - she was concerned I had reason to worry about all of these things most pregnant women don't even know exist. I confirmed for her that they were all early first trimester losses - but you learn a lot of scary things the years you are waiting to successfully conceive. She let me know that she'd be taking down all that information. I was relieved. I guess I was so relieved that I relaxed a bit and fell asleep! That was nice.

When we were done taking the required medical measurements, I asked to go to the restroom and upon return we would look at the fun stuff!

The baby cooperated the entire time! The sonographer said that she got a clear shot of the goods and just when you'd think that we'd ask her if she saw the pork and the beans ... we told her that we aren't finding out gender until the delivery day! However, we did ask her to write the gender down for us, in a sealed envelope, so that we'd have it in case something were to come up before the baby is due. It's morbid, I know, but I think about a family member lying on their death bed, at least we'd be able to share the gender and the baby's name with them before they go ... I guess I've always been a planner. And you'd think, with the information in an envelope, right inside our house (!!) (no, I won't tell it's location!) that we'd be tempted to rip it open and find out ... but we are excited that we'll have EXTRA motivation for delivery day. Right now, the only people that know what gender our baby is are: the sonographer, the paper greeting card, and the good Lord Himself! (but it was never a surprise to Him! ;-)

Regardless of that anti-climactic decision ... we still got our chance to poke around and see the baby's head, heart, stomach, face ... you name it! Some of the cooler things were: watching the baby gulp and swallow! (the sonographer said that that shows great lung development - exactly what you want to see at this stage!) and we saw five fingers on each hand! We tried to look for five toes on each foot, but when she went down to get a picture of the cute little feetsies, the baby wouldn't stop kicking!! It was ... too cute. Flicker is just as stubborn as her mother ;-)

Without further adieu (for those of you still faithfully reading) the actual test results:

Cervical length: 5 cm with NO funneling ... WOO HOOO!!!

Placental location: Fundal ... YIPPEE!!!

Umbilical artery count: Three! .... PEFECT!!!

Amniotic fluid level: "grossly normal" ... DOES IT GET ANY BETTER???

And the pregnancy is at 20 weeks and 3 days, with the baby measuring 21 weeks! The OB has yet to modify the due date ... so we'll hang off on changing that. The baby was measuring big on all fronts: femur, cranial, abdominal, etc. One measurement even came out at nearly 23 weeks! Hmmmm ... Berilac is 6'3'' and I weighed 9 1/2 lbs at birth ... should I start to worry yet about having a large baby? ... I'm actually quite enjoying our good news ... so I won't worry ... just yet.

And lastly, here's an adorable picture of our 6 1/2 inch Flicker:

We are praising the Lord for this healthy baby!