Monday 26 May 2014

And everything nice

Today was a beautiful spring day.

Spring has been late coming to the city, but the past week has finally fulfilled its yearly promise. Grass is green and tree buds are bursting into new leaves and flowers - and everything outside smells so good; I feel lifted up every time I step out of the house and take a breath.

We went in today for Ember's detailed anatomy ultrasound. At this U/S they look for all the external body parts as well as the internal ones. We were hoping to see Ember healthy and developing well and we weren't disappointed. :-)

(As an aside - I happened to run into my substitute teacher before leaving for the appointment, and I ended up telling her where I was going and why. It turned out that she had struggled to conceive and had had a stressful first pregnancy - that ended well. It was nice to make that connection and feel like I could be honest.)

At the last U/S (12 weeks 2 days) Ember was pretty quiet, other than some arm and leg movements. Not so this time, baby was wiggling all over the place! That was very cool to see. Ember's heartbeat was 142 bpm and we looked right inside the heart at all the chambers. We saw the more developed hands, feet, legs, and internal organs, and a few details of the face.

After a few minutes the tech asked "if we see anything significant, do you want to know?" I said yes - of course I want to know about anything significant! Although there was nothing insignificant about anything I was seeing. Then the anxious pessimist in me started to think "does he mean something significantly wrong?" and I started to feel jittery - until I realized what he was actually referring to. *groan*

After pointing out some blobs on the screen that I couldn't recognize as anything in particular, he said "I'm pretty sure that is a hamburger not a hot dog...." which is U/S sound code for....

Ember is a GIRL!!!

Mr. Turtle has been having baby girl dreams so I guess he was right on this one. The best part is that now she can start to feel more and more like a unique individual to us.

Other than the awesome experience of seeing Ember dance away on the screen, assuring us that her little spark of life burns strong, the tech was able to see all the vital parts so this was all good news. She measures 18 weeks and 5 days today and weighs 250 grams.

Here are some photos from the ultrasound. Other than the fact they show Ember's growth and progress, I confess that I'm not crazy about U/S photos. Honestly, they all look the same. But here are a few favourites.

A profile of her little head (that might be a hand or a foot near it - she kicked herself in the head a few times)





The head again, and that round staring thing is an eye. When I say U/S photos all look the same - I don't think I've seen one with such a freaky looking eye.


Feet. The hands and feet are still my favourite thing to see because they are so recognizable and so cute, especially when flailed about.


As for me, I am re-affirming my goal to move forward with a good attitude. I've done OK at keeping positive the past month.  As we move into the summer my other objective is for us to start actively tackling all the other big questions - you know, the ones that have to do with an actual baby arriving in the next few months. I've kind of avoided thinking of Ember as an imminently arriving baby, in part because of superstitious fear and anxiety, and partly because I'm just a little intimidated by the thought of all we have to decide/do/buy/learn/schedule.  I know I just have to take a deep breath, jump off the deep end and swim for it, and it will be fine.

At the same time, it fills my heart up to just sit still and be.

28 comments:

  1. LOLing at the "hamburger not a hot dog" thing. Love it especially because he didn't TECHNICALLY break any rules and tell you the sex if he wasn't supposed to. Glad to hear everything is looking awesome!

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    1. Thank you! me too. it's so very reassuring.

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  2. Yay, a girl! The hamburger/hot dog comment is weird...we already knew the sex through genetic testing but the Dr. who did our anatomy scan told us that our baby's labia was not ambiguous, lol! Dodged a bullet there!

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    1. Not ambiguous....lol. I would be wondering "what do you mean by that? define ambiguous!!" I really think there should be some rule that techs are only allowed to use very clear language haha. Especially with nervous people.

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  3. Hooray for everything nice and Spring! It is so slow through the first trimester and now you're soon going to be counting down instead of up. Fun!!

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    1. I know, I'm almost halfway there. Crazy. Spring and good news go very well together.

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  4. Congrats, Turtle! So happy to hear that all is well with your baby girl :) Wow, the time is really going by fast!

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    1. It is; it really seemed to crawl tortuously for the first few months but now the weeks are going by....and I'm very glad for that!

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  5. Oh congratulations! This is such amazing news. A little girl and everything looks good!

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  6. I've never heard the hamburger vs. hot dog comment before and I love it. Also, that eye photo is unique :) Congrats on the great scan and the little girl - what wonderful news.

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    1. LOL, unique yes. The tech said that in an ultrasound - especially with a moving baby - you just have to "grab what you can when it comes up". So we saw the eye and we saw her opening her mouth, too. I had heard about the hamburger vs. hot dog description somewhere, so I did know what he was talking about when he said that - I have no idea where I heard it though.

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  7. I love that eye! She's going o.O at you, I love it!

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    1. haha, yes! I like that at least one of her photos is very different. ;-) Ultrasounds are magical! Also, if it wasn't for U/S technology I might have been committed to an asylum at various points of this pregnancy.

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  8. Wheee! A little girl!

    I know what you mean about u/s pictures. In one, our baby looked more like an alien than a baby. But mainly I'm just happy every time I see our little guy moving around and see his little heart beating.

    I know what you mean about being scared about the big stuff. I asked my husband the other day if we really need more than a car seat and some diapers in order to bring the baby home!

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    1. Yes, the best part is to see the baby moving with a good heartbeat!
      I plan on starting with the Bare Bones Baby guide:
      http://unclutterer.com/?s=bare+bones+baby+guide
      Don't even want to wrap my mind around the baby shopping universe yet!

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  9. Beautiful girl :) So glad everything is going well!!

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  10. So glad that everything is looking good with little Miss Ember :)
    For me, the most magical about ultrasounds is to see them move - and that bit is missing in the pictures. But still, I always gladly take them.

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    1. you are right - the movement is the magical part! Although I have Ember's head profile on the frig - and I swear she gets cuter every time I look at her :-)

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  11. Congratulations!!! So exciting! I know ember is the nickname you use, but now that you know she is a girl, would you consider naming her that? It's really pretty! So happy for you!

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    1. Thank you! I hadn't even thought of keeping her nickname lol. We haven't yet seriously discussed names - other than Mr. Turtle teasing me by suggesting ridiculous ones. thanks for the happy!

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  12. Yay! It's a girl! I'm so glad that everything is going well and this little one is safely cooking inside you. I wouldn't have understood what it meant by "significant". What a cryptic words.. ha. Very happy for you, friend. And again, the reader failed to show your newest post so I had to find your website to see if you had an update.

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    1. Thank you, me too! I haven't been blogging a huge amount lately - but hopefully will have more to write about in the next few weeks.

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  13. You are so far along already! Time flies... so happy that everything is going well. Your little fiery girl is such a gymnast! I had such a pleasant surprise when I saw the name "Ember" - it is so beautifully unique. I totally understand the anxiety before U/S, but looks like you can finally relax now.

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    1. Ah yes, famous last words, I can finally relax now! still I think it really is getting easier. thanks for the words of encouragement.

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