I never thought I would want to know the gender of the baby before the little one was born, but my husband wanted to know. So if he knows, I couldn’t be kept in the dark.
At 20 weeks, Russ and I went in early on Monday morning for our baby’s first ultrasound. The sonographer started scanning my belly, telling us that she would do the so-called “boring” pictures first, ie the placenta. Our baby was actively moving to and fro in the womb. I reveled in our little one’s quick movements, which I attribute to morning oatmeal. The sonographer showed us the bladder, kidneys, stomach, spine, the flickering heart. The heart rate was found to be at 160. We watched in amazement. She then pointed out the little feet, the hands, our baby’s profile shot. All was looking good.
When it got to the part of revealing whether it was a boy or girl, our little one seemed to want to keep the gender a secret. The sonographer guessed almost certainly that it is a girl and that the baby was just being modest in not parting her little legs. Afterwards, Russ and I went upstairs to my floor to share the news and show our baby’s first pictures to my co-workers.
Later that week, I had my 20 week appointment with a different OB. I was starting to question why wait for 45 minutes for a 5 minute appointment to find out that everything was just fine? I was clearly not impressed with this OB. In trying to be a compliant patient, I show up for these appointments and also to hear our baby’s heart rate once more, which ticked at 155. I reminded myself that I need to be grateful for these quick uneventful appointments and the good health of our baby.
At 21 weeks, we took our first family photo by the Christmas tree and shared our latest joy on facebook.
At 23 weeks, my fellow pregnant friend and I had our picture taken together, proudly revealing our baby bumps.
At 24 weeks, I am happy to report that the little one has been super active in the womb. A couple weeks ago, I was playing the “push” game with her. Whenever I would feel her kick or punch, I would push back and wait to see if she would react. She often would push back and it would bring the greatest joy to me. Now, I have been pulling up my shirt at home and watching her powerful kicks come to the surface of my abdomen. She has me grinning more often than not. I guess I could also credit her active movements to my husband’s healthy and delicious cooking.
Yesterday, I had my 25 week appointment with an OB I had heard good things about. She lived up to what I had heard. She had a good sense of humor and actually asked me with genuine concern how I was feeling. If I wasn’t set on having the midwife walk with me through the rest of the pregnancy, I would certainly choose this OB. It was the first time anyone measured the fundal height, which was at 25, where it should be. Her heart rate was ranging from 151 to 160. In the middle of the heart rate check, she gave a swift kick or punch at the Doppler wand. The OB said, “I just got kicked!” The babe likes her morning oatmeal.
