18 weeks!

We had our ultrasound today--I must say that our ultrasound technician had a personality that left a lot to be desired....in fact, I think I must say that I prefer our afternoon appointments--I think that some of the folks in the office are not morning people!

I got up on the table, and was instructed to pull my shirt up and my pants down. No, more. No, your panties, too. (Huh??? I thought you were just going to squirt some gel on my tummy & move this roll-on thing around & make magical images appear on the screen!) Then, once I'd "assumed the position," the tech sat very stone-faced, staring at the monitor and moving the roll-on thing around a lot. Not saying anything. Not making any facial expressions. Okay, now I'm worried. Is something wrong? I look at Patrick, who is sitting catty-corner to me, and he's looking at me like "I don't know, either!" It was probably only five minutes, and the tech was probably calibrating the machine (or whatever they do to them), but it felt like forever. I felt like she was going to say, "Uh, we need to get the doctor in here....STAT!" or "Uh, do you have any lizards in your family, 'cuz this is one for the record books!"

But, finally, she turned the screen in our direction, and I saw a big smile break out on Patrick's face, and I knew everything was okay. Of course, I started to giggle....then the tech had the gall to ask me to not laugh. Yeah, right. You lay on a table, your pants & panties down, with goo on your belly & a roll-on pressing you here & there, looking at this miracle that you & your beloved has created, and try not to giggle a little bit!

We got a good long look--we brought in a VHS tape, and if we still had a VCR, I could tell you if the tape turned out or not! I'm working on a plan to get some DVDs burned, and I'll have a few copies made so we can send them out. We also got 6 pictures, some of which are posted below. They all copied pretty well, so I'll send those out, too....

We heard--and saw!--the heartbeat. 165 (it was 170 the first time we heard it)....it is so fast!!! But it was a good, strong beat.

We saw the Bean moving around some...right now the Bean is about 1/2 pound, and according to the doctor (and the ultrasound technician, who seemed to warm up a little towards the end) "perfect." Well, of course! Did you all expect anything less???


Enjoy the pictures--hopefully you can see some of the detail. The one of the face is more for size reference--you can see the head, and the outline of the body...but it's more like an x-ray than a picture. I love the one of the Bean's little hand.... And the spine is just perfect! I also included the one that shows the heartbeat....just because I think it's cool. The Bean is in the picture next to the hearbeat.

Our next ultrasound is in 10 weeks...and the tech said we should be able to see more features then, since the Bean will have a little more fat on him/her. (And in case you're wondering, the tech didn't even go where the schwing-schwang or the bajingo would be....we told her from the get-go that we didn't want to know, so she made sure that none of that would show up. So don't bother lookin'.)