Second Trimester Ultrasound

We had our third ultrasound on Monday!! It was awesome, interesting, wonderful & not-so-fun all rolled into one! We were there for almost three hours *whew!* If there is one thing there isn't a shortage of it is pregnant women - Associated Women's Specialist always has a full waiting room no matter what time we go. We met the new Ultrasound Tech and she can't be any older than I am...which is fine, really...but my level of trust for her to not slip up and tell us the gender of the baby is not so high. She hasn't had as much practice keeping quiet as the other more established Tech that we met for the other two ultrasounds. Alas, she kept quiet this appointment thank goodness!!

We shook hands and before she got a word in I blurted "WE DO NOT want to know the sex of the baby!!!!!!" I think she saw the intensity in my eyes :)
From the second the ultrasound started the baby was daaaancing all around! The first shot we saw the baby was waving its arms while the little legs were crossed at the ankles. She took a picture of it but its pretty hard to decipher if you don't know what you are looking at.
It was SO amazing to see the baby moving - I have no idea how I'm not feeling it yet...little one was non-stop rolling, tumbling, waving & kicking! The Tech did a "full anatomy scan" where she checks every single size, shape & detail of the baby. Well, with all that dancing, measurements were just not happening. She'd get the exact spot she needed and riiiiight as she was about the push the button...twist! She would just hang her head and try again.

As this was my first "belly" ultrasound, I didn't realize how hard she had to push on my tummy to get the images. After about 20 minutes of laying on my back and getting my belly prodded, I went from freezing cold to hot and sweating. Then the "I'm about to pass out" feeling washed over me. She kept asking if I was okay and Ryan could tell I was not at all. She had me roll to my left side and drink water until I felt better. This happened twice during the appointment! I think I finally believe all that stuff about laying on your back reducing your blood flow that I had thought was mumbo-jumbo!

Baby wasn't having a very fun time either. She was having the hardest time with the head measurements, so she kept poking right in on little one's face! Tiny little hands would immediately fly up and cover his/her face :( Poor kiddo! We were all giggling with how agitated the baby was with all this poking. She told us when she was about to measure the legs so we could look away. I rested my eyes...peeking at Ryan from time to time just to make sure he wasn't looking!

Doctor Howerton met with us after and said the pictures were awesome and that the baby was in perfect health!! She said everything looked great and the heartbeat sounded strong and healthy. Before she came in Ryan and I made a bet that she would call me out on gaining too much weight - I was just sure that she would complain, and Ryan said he didn't think she would say anything negative! She told me my weight was right where it should be!! We both started laughing and he told her about our bet :) She told me to call her ahead of time so she could be on my side. I bought lunch nonetheless!!

It was an awesome experience, dizziness and all. I can't wait to see you again litte one!! <3





*click the pictures to make them bigger!*

If you look real closely you can see a little hand resting on the belly.

In the second picture from right to left are the knee caps, the leg bones & the little left foot crossed over the right!