So we had an ultrasound scheduled at 2:00 to check fetal development as well as do a nuchael translucency where they check for abnormalities like Downs Syndrome as well as a doctors appointment at 3:00 where we will meet our new OB - Dr McMahon.
So here is the blow by blow of how things went.
- First I had to drink a liter of water before the ultrasound, a full bladder aparently makes it easier for them to so the scan.
- Clever Niels brought our camera so he could make a video of it all
- The tech took tons of pictures of the anatomy and showed us all the key body parts.
- She measured the body length, which actually measured a full week large - not sure what that means! Big fat baby!
- She took the measurements of the Nuchal Translucency which is the fold in the neck. Apparently the thickness gives a strong indication towards the risk of having certain chromosomal defects like Downs. All looked good!
- about two thirds through baby decided to dance! Niels was really excited to see baby move and he got it on video!
- And of course we got to see that beautiful heartbeat flicker (funny in dutch :-))
- overall it took about 30 minutes and by the end of it I was DYING to PEE!
Next we go upstairs for our doctors appointment. do the regular stuff, meet with the nurse, do blood pressure (which was low, yeah!), go through medical history, walk me through how they do things at UW, let us ask whatever questions we have. Then we meet doctor McMahon - and to make a long story short - SHE ROCKS! She is young, and fun, and candid, and sweet, and honest, and I am so happy Elaine hooked us up with her. She listens to our story, our concerns, answers all our questions - she is seriously just great. She walks us through all the results from the ultrasound and says everything looks great!
We tell her that we didn't get to hear the heartbeat in the ultrasound (i guess those machines have sound, the tech just had the volume off) - she says she will give it a try with the doppler but when they are this small you may not always find the heartbeat... They are a glorified gummy bear!
So I lay on the table, she squirts the cold gel on me, and sets the probe on belly and instantly there it is... the sweetest sound in the world. The whirl of our baby's heartbeat!
Today was a good day!
