20 Week Ultrasound

I went in for my 20 week ultrasound yesterday. Overall, a pretty cool experience. And, in order to end the suspense, we do not know the sex of the baby. Our OB asked us to turn our heads away while he looked at the ultrasound, wrote the sex down on a piece of paper and sealed it in an envelope so we can take it to our baker (who will bake us a cake filled with pink or blue for my baby shower so we can find out along with everyone else).

It was really neat seeing the baby and him explaining all of the measurements that he was taking as well as showing us anatomical landmarks (I guess I didn't realize that ultrasounds were a strong enough piece of imaging equipment to be able to look at all of the abdominal organs individually, and to be able to see all the parts of the brain). Our baby, however, did not cooperate. Whenever the doctor tried to measure the heart, baby would cover its heart with its arm. Then doctor would move the probe and baby would move its arm. I think baby was comfortable and did not want to be bothered - our baby already has a personality, even in the womb. Then came the head measurements. Baby has decided to hide about halfway behind my pelvic bone. The problem with this is that the ultrasound does not have the capability to see through my pelvis, so he had to switch to a trans-vaginal ultrasound in order to finish up the measurements (if you don't know what that is, it is exactly what it sounds like; if you still can't figure it out and want a humorous way to learn about it, go see J Lo in The Backup Plan). Unfortunately, when I stood up to get ready for the second ultrasound, baby thought it would be a good idea to migrate upward in my abdomen, thus still making the second ultrasound difficult. Like I said, baby is not cooperative.

Baby appears to be healthy. I wasn't too worried, but there is sometimes that seed of doubt in your brain. Mine came from an inability to take vitamins during much of my first trimester. But all of baby's parts appear to be properly formed! And, weighing in at 11 oz, baby is right on track for weight.