Beautiful in Black and White

"We had our ultrasound of BITB on September 9, at 18 weeks 6 days. It's a little earlier than usual, but still within the month time frame technicians like to use for measuring everything. We were excited to get an early view of BITB, plus I wanted the ultrasound pictures to take with me to show my family during my visit in St. Louis.

I picked Ross up from work, and we didn't have to wait very long before we were in the ultrasound room looking up at our baby. This viewing was more exciting for me than with Jackson only because I got to see the monitor screen the entire time. The room had one mounted up on the wall and Ross and I just relaxed and watched the show.

As soon as the radiology technician put the want to my stomach, we saw our baby. It was thrilling. There was an immediate profile shot, and we watched as BITB moved around. There was a leg, an arm, a hand resting on a shoulder . . . the face on shots are a bit startling as the baby looks very alien, but it was also neat to see the eyes, nose, mouth (jaw & teeth) that will continue to form into our second child.

I just marvled at the whole thing. There within me was a moving child, that I could see move and could literally count the toes of. I watched in amazement at his/her little heart beating, all four chambers moving in harmony to pump blood around, helping those little legs kick and those little arms flail.

Ross and I asked all sorts of stupid and sometimes intelligent questions about what we were seeing. It seemed like a more open atmosphere than what we experienced in D.C., but maybe we felt that way because this was the second time we've done this and we were more willing to talk openly about our little baby to the technician.

The entire process took just over an hour. The radiology technician was a very nice woman who talked so sweetly to BITB, trying to coax him/her into optimal position for organ and appendages viewing. BITB sure was a wiggler.

BITB isn't measuring too much more than my gestation date. I was at 18w6d and BITB was measuring between 19weeks, 2 or 3 days. Maybe this one will be more on time. There goes the double birthday!

After the ultrasound I had some blood work done. The end result of everything is that both baby and I look good and are healthy. We cannot wait to welcome this baby into our family!

I have my regular doctor appointment in a few days so I'm hoping to hear that I've finally gained some weight. I'm looking bigger every day."
--Clare