Well I know everyone is probably dying for the results right? :) Have I made you suffer enough?

So this morning Den and I drove into the hospital where my ultrasound was to be done – apparently my doctor’s office doesn’t have an ultrasound machine. It was my first look at that wing of the hospital – the wing that handles all prenatal care, ultrasounds, the midwife group, and labor and delivery. It’s a very large wing, with a central registration desk and such. I had to sit down and go over all my information with a lady at a computer. Birthdate is [date]? Yep. Still at [address]? Yep. Married? Yep. Insurance is ConnectiCare? Yep. Once that was done they sent me back to the ultrasound waiting room – which also happens to be the same waiting room for the midwife group. I checked in, sat down, and was shortly called back.

It was a young tech around my age who took us back, who said she was a student tech and only going to do the first few measurements, then someone would come in to do the rest. She led me into a curtained off ultrasound room and told me to hop up on the sheet-covered table. I paused for a minute. “Is this transvaginal, or abdominal?” “Oh no, it’s abdominal!” Wow. I didn’t have to dis-robe! I unbuttoned my pants and tugged them down a bit so she could get a clear shot at my lower abdominal region. She tucked a towel into my pants and one against my shirt which I had pulled up under my boobs, then she squirted warm gel on my stomach. Not bad, not bad. Then she put the probe against my skin and started scanning back and forth.

“There’s your cervix,” she pointed to the screen. I took her word for that one. I was looking up at an awkward angle, trying to make sure there was a baby still in there somewhere. Sure enough she scanned over the big black sac and the baby was inside it. I caught a flicker of a heartbeat. And then… baby moved! It kicked its little legs and moved its arms around, then settled down again. She measured the heartrate – 147 bpm – and showed us different parts of the baby. The little knees, the little hands. How freaking amazing was it to see our baby MOVING around in there. No longer just a little blob. It looked like a real baby.

Of course, being our child, baby was obstinate and stayed curled up in a little ball. She kept scanning back and forth from different angles trying to get a good measurement of the crown-to-rump length, but baby would not uncurl. The other ultrasound tech came in and suggested I sit up for a while, then lay back all the way and stretch out. The first thing the other ultrasound tech said was, “Her uterus is pretty tipped, so laying them out really flat can help baby move around.” So yes, apparently I have a very tipped uterus. So they layed me out flat and were finally able to get a good measurement of the baby’s CRL – 6.07cm. Baby has more than doubled – nearly tripled – in size since 8 weeks.

Of course at that point she was having difficulty seeing anything at all and said my bladder was filling up and pressing on my uterus, I should go empty it. Yeah, make me pee after not having had anything to drink! That took some coaxing! And there was ultrasound gel on my undies… must have gotten pushed under the towel. Yech!! But back onto the table I went to get some more photos.

She was trying to get a look at the baby’s neck, but of course baby was being obstinate again. At one point baby had its hand up by its face and she was jiggling the wand trying to convince it to move, lol. Then baby wasn’t facing the right way. I tell ya, from straight-on baby’s face looks totally like a little alien! Craziness. Finally baby rolled over enough to get a scan of the neck. It was this little crescent-shaped sliver that she measured. She said it was very small, just like they want to see.

And now I know what you are waiting for! Pictures!!

First is the photo that I can’t stop looking at… the profile of my baby’s face. OMG. It looks like a real baby!

This is baby’s little hand. :love:

Then we sat and waited for a while. They came back with paperwork and directed me to the lab room. I was very unimpressed with this part. All I needed was a little finger stick, but the ladies were freaking yabbering about parking and left me just standing there. She tells me to wash my hands in warm water and warm up my fingers, so I do that, then I dry them and walk over to her station, and just sat there waiting for them to finish yacking. Finally she gets around to pricking my finger and dropping a little drop of blood on each of 5 little circles on one of my paperwork. And that was that. They said I’ll get my results in 7-10 days – results being a probability of a chromosomal defect, against my “base” probability.

I am just feeling so relieved and so happy today. Screw the damn nausea. I just want to sit here and bawl I am so thankful that baby is doing okay in there. It feels like a freakin’ miracle that somehow that one embryo decided to stay with us, and has come so far already.