First Look Inside at the Kid!

I had my early risk assessment/nuchal translucency screen ultrasound today. I've been waiting for this, as I just *knew* I needed a visual for it to truly feel "real".

And I was right.

The day started out HORRIBLY. I woke up really early to pee after only about 6 hours of sleep, and couldn't fall back to sleep. I tried and tried, and only succeeded in getting more and more frustrated. I finally gave up, but I knew it didn't mean good things for today, when I had not only the ultrasound but also other things going on. Fatigue makes my nausea so much worse. I was in tears with the combination of nausea, exhaustion, and frustration.

So the first half the day really did completely suck. I felt SO BAD. I cancelled my appointment with my therapist, lay on the couch and watched tv, and eventually dragged myself outside while still in my pajamas to shovel the front steps and walk (thankfully it only snowed about 1.5-2 inches last night). My sister came over to scoop the kitty litter, which she's been doing for me every Friday (she insists, and I don't argue!). I told her I'd pay her to take the dog for a walk, and I meant it. I finally took a Zofran, forced more significant food in than I'd eaten yet today, and eventually started to feel halfway human.

Then I showered and went to the ultrasound appointment. My friend Sara met me at the hospital to accompany me and be there for moral support. My appointment was initially at 3:45, but they called yesterday and asked if I could come in earlier. I couldn't make it much earlier (due to the therapy appointment I ended up canceling), but I ended up getting to the hospital at 3:00. Registration was quick and painless, and then we went to the obstetrical ultrasound part of the Center for Women. And walked out of there at 3:45. Wow, I had no idea it would be so quick! But not really in a bad way; I just didn't have to wait.

The ultrasound room has a flat screen tv on the wall in front of the table, so you don't have to crane your neck to see the screen. Nice. They of course don't want you to take pictures of the screen, but both the tech and the doctor left the room with the screen shot of the baby still up there, so obviously they don't care too much:

They also printed me out two souvenir photos.

The tech who did my ultrasound was pretty nice, but I wish she would've told me more about what I was seeing as I was seeing it. I asked a couple of times what we were seeing, and she answered briefly - "ovary", "cervix", but then when I asked her the crown to rump measurement, she said, "let me just finish the scan first". But then she never told me the answer, and I forgot to ask her again or to ask the doc. She did start telling me a little more about what we were seeing, though. The baby's brain, the heart, the arm, the other arm, the legs crossed at the ankles, etc. She was taking the pics and moving the probe around kind of quickly, though, so I didn't have time to really *look* at these things clearly.

Oh, the results? Well, final results are pending of course, including the bloodwork, but preliminary results are all good. Great, even. Nuchal fold measurement was 1.4mm, which I believe is about perfect (from what I've read on google). Baby is measuring right on target for how far along I am. I'm calculating (and have my midwife doing the same) from 2 weeks back from exact date of conception, since I know it, which makes me 11 weeks 4 days today. But if you calculate from the first day of my last period, which is how most pregnancies are done, then I would be 12 weeks 1 day today. And guess what baby measured? 12 weeks 1 day. :)

The doc came into the room and said I had a "great ultrasound" and that if my bloodwork comes back even decent, my risk for Down Syndrome will be very, very low. When I asked about trisomies 13 and 18 (and explained that I know WAY too much from the work I do!), he told me the risks of those are so much lower than Down's, and that I should "find something else to worry about". He said he used to have to chase women 35 and over around with the amnio needle, but that he doesn't have to do that anymore due to this test. He didn't tell me the exact nuchal measurement until I asked - I'm guessing most women don't google "normal nuchal fold measurements" the day before their ultrasound... But I knew the range it should be in, so when he said 1.4, I was very happy.

And my day has seemed SO much better ever since. I was right when I said I needed a visual. There's really a baby in there! In MY belly! WTF?!

It definitely seems more real now. :)