The 12 Week Ultrasound

*Note: Going forward, I'll refer to the baby as "he" in our blog posts. We do NOT know the sex of Baby O. But as he becomes more real to us, it feels weird calling him "it." I don't really have a strong feeling one way or the other yet if we are having a boy or girl (it changes day to day, depending on random signs from the universe, dreams, and unscientific internet quizzes) but I thought I'd just go with the odds based on my family tree. A shout out to my scads of brothers/boy cousins and two girl cousins!

On July 20, we headed back to the clinic for our 12 week ultrasound. This appointment was the most entertaining by far up to this point, thanks to Baby O's acrobatic skills and (adorable) lack of cooperation. So....that sweet little blob from a few short weeks ago had transformed into....a person! Ahhhh, they grow up so fast. As soon as the image came up on the screen, Baby O was waving his hands, kicking his feet, arching his back, looking from side to side, and even crossing his legs. Basically, he was doing everything possible to avoid the position the sonographer needed in order to get the proper measurements.

I didn't help the situation by laughing and causing the image to become even more challenging to read. (It's fun being able to giggle at my child's unruly behavior now, before he is born and it ruins my motherly credibility). All of this was beneficial in a way, because while the sonographer waited for Baby O to get into the correct position, it gave me and Nate a lot of extra time to watch him dance, listen to his heartbeat, and look at the profile of his sweet little face. We could have stayed there all day. 

After about 20 minutes, we got the measurements we needed and were handed more pictures of Baby O. (Yay! I posted them below.) The tech said that everything looked normal and the baby appeared to be developing right on target with healthy heart rate of 171 beats per minute. Now the fun part was fast approaching - telling the world our awesome news! 



Baby O - Head and profile on the right, body on the left.



"I'm ready for my close up."