Here are all the highlights from our anatomy scan this week! It’s quite amazing how we are able to see parts as small as a nose or fingers from the outside!
I was surprised that the US started with yet another vaginal peek. This time to look at my cervix, which I believe looked normal since there was no concern brought up. I thought I was done with that wand!
Then all the belly goop and poking began!
The first thing the tech said when she put the wand on my lower belly was “This baby is breech!” Of course this panicked me a bit because she said it in such a way that suggested this was a permanent position. No wonder I’ve been feeling kicks down a lot of the time! When I talked to my doctor afterwards, she said there is absolutely no reason to be concerned at this point. I know that babies can turn up to the last few weeks of pregnancy, but I am still worried that he prefers feet down in some way. She said not to worry, but I can’t help but want to do things to encourage him to like the other direction. Hang out in down dog?! I do think he swings his legs around like a pendulum based on the kicks, but I haven’t ever felt any to the ribs…
Love this shot of his legs! So clear and so baby-like!
Our tech started the scan by going up the abdomen and spotting the bladder, stomach, kidneys and heart. I have no idea how she could spot these! Ultrasound techs are very talented conceptually/visually. I was so relieved when these major organs looked healthy. I wasn’t too nervous about this ultrasound until the day before when I realized this could be a major turning point if something were to be wrong, but thankfully everything looked great.
Four chambers to the heart! Valves (?) in the right directions –
His little head! The brain looked normal (she verified that there were spaces in all the right places). I didn’t noticeduntil now that his head is in the 96th percentile for circumference – and that put my estimated due date at August 20-26th! Maybe he won’t be a Labor Day baby after all. Although….let’s hope that head doesn’t cause any troubles coming out either!
The spine is always crazy to see on an US:
The only animal spine I see regularly is a sardine’s, so this is my sardine baby shot : )
We found the boy parts!! Since we’d had our earlier elective US, I wasn’t surprised to hear “It’s a boy!” but for some reason this time it brought tears to my eyes?! I didn’t cry the first time – I think just the shock of knowing and letting it settle in. But this time it was even more special.
Here’s a nice arm stretch – probably poking my stomach right then!
A little hand. He still likes to put them in front of his face.
It’s funny to me that women often say when their babies are born “he has 10 fingers and toes!” because we got to actually count them all this day. Guess there could be error though : )
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It was about 20 minutes into the US when I started to feel kind of funny. Clammy, a little nauseous. I wondered if maybe it was just all the belly poking that was making me feel sick. Then I started to break out in a sweat and feel tingly all over. I had felt like this before - I was going to FAINT! I wondered if I was just nervous and needed to breathe more or it was the poking, but finally I said “Can I sit up for a second?” I really thought I might throw up! The tech told me to roll on my left side right away and within 2 minutes I felt much better.
I had been lying flat on my back with my feet lower than my heart in kind of an arched position and we suspect this was a classic case of vena cava compression. When you’re on your back, the uterus, which for most women and definitely for me, is right-side tilted and it presses on the vena cava, which returns blood back to your heart. Generally if you’re not experiencing symptoms like I did then it’s not a problem, but this is why they say to sleep on your sides and not your back or lie on your back in an exercise class. I hadn’t felt anything like this before, but I was also on a really hard surface. It took me a while to get back to normal though (I kept wanting to lie down again) and it wasn’t the most fun way to experience the ultrasound. Not blaming the doctors office at all – I should have spoken up sooner!
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Perhaps the most incredible shot is this one of his nose and lips! I think he has my wide nose : ) His little hand is covering his chin. Looks kind of like he has a big white mustache!!
I told the tech I was hoping for a nice profile shot and she was nice to try to get one for me (which was difficult in his position), but this one is pretty good! My mom says he looks like a poet or anthropologist like his dad : ) Funny that so many of our family have said he looks like Matt!
Compared to his 12 week portrait! Growin’ boy!
We’re hoping to do a final ultrasound at 30 weeks or so to get some of those once-in-a-lifetime 3D photos. And then the big day of a real life shot! I can’t WAIT to meet him!
PREVIOUS 22 WEEK POSTSThings I Love About Prenatal Yoga PREVIOUS WEEKS |
It’s been a while since I’ve felt like an athlete, and with my second-trimester energy, an athletic conditioning class sounded like a good challenge. Throughout the class you build on a series of exercises that you do as a routine at the end. The exercises involved more jumping and bouncing than I expected in a prenatal workout, but that’s also why it was such a good challenge!! I was a bit timid to jump around at first but found that I had no problem doing it. We did jumping jacks, running in place, shuffles and more. Each exercise built on the last and by the end performance we did them all together in a 2-3 minute stretch. It was hard!! The class lasted almost an hour including the warm-up and cool-down, so there was no need to repeat anything. I had considered doing another segment when I started, but I was too beat to think of it when it ended! 
] Throw them in my diaper bag and I’m set!
