4D Ultrasound

This morning Dave and I had our 4D ultrasound appointment. I couldn't sleep at all last night and was awake around 4:30 and up at 5:00. I had dreams and thoughts the entire night about the ultrasound. I really wanted Little Buddy to cooperate and show us some good pictures....make sure he really IS a boy (one more time....I guess it'd be a little late if he was a girl, huh??), see his cute little face again, and make sure everything is still developing normally. I also wanted to see about how much he weighed (if possible), how he's laying, and if he had hair yet. That's a long list of desires, but when you are paying the money, it would be nice to get all it's worth, right?? When we got there I didn't realize we had to pay with actual cash (the check thing that I assumed would work didn't...), so we had to go down the ATM that was thankfully in the lobby and rush back up for the early appointment. I think I will need to listen to the ladies a little more carefully the next time they are speaking to me! =)

The ultrasound tech and her assistant were ladies we had never had before, but they were very sweet! The tech, Shelly, was very positive and tried to get as many answers for us as she could. However, when your little boy's arm is covering most of his face for the 30 minutes you are in there, it's hard to get that "money shot" everyone wants!!! =) He would never move his arm unless he was turning back toward my spine, and then you couldn't get a shot of that anyway... Dave and I were a little disappointed we didn't get to see much of his face except a profile view of his nose and eyes, but we got lots of our other questions answered. His heartbeat was 148 bpm, his lungs and heart are working very well (it was so NEAT to see him breathing on his own and watch all those chambers in the heart do their job!), he weighs about 4 lbs 6 oz which is pretty close to average, and he is HEAD DOWN!!! =) YAY! =) Everything apparently looked normal since she never flinched or made any remarks about anythings abnormal she could have seen. I am so grateful for that! We also got a CD of the pics she made, as well as a DVD of the whole session so Dave and I will be able to look back and remember all the little movements he had while in my tummy....priceless! =) Since Shelly couldn't get the "money shot" this time, she said we could come back next week (we'll go before our bi-monthly appointment) and look to see if we can get anything better for no charge. As Dave said, it's almost worth the money just to see all that we did see and for sure know that he will most likely stay head down and that he's turning toward my spine like he's supposed to (both are signs that he is getting ready for a "normal" delivery...). We will see what happens next week! He might be being his mom's sneaky little helper and causing us to come back one more week so we can see him one more time before he gets here! =) I'm ok with that!! =)

Here are some of the pictures we got....

Answer #1

YES!! He IS A BOY!! =) That turtle is STILL there! =) Thank goodness! =)

Answer #2

Yes, he HAS hair--and apparently its pretty long in some parts (according to Shelly). We were able to see several views of his head and the hair that is on it.

Here was the best profile shot that we got....all the "string" looking things under his nose/face is actually a cross-section of his arm....he would NEVER move it (as you will see in the other pictures!) The arrow is pointing to his nose and on the far left side you can make out part of his ear....

He was scrunching up his nose in this one--I think it's because Shelly kept moving the wand around and pushing on my belly to try and get his arm to move. He didn't want to be disturbed! =) Dave didn't like it that she was pressing on my stomach like that, but it is not harmful to Little Buddy. Dave's so protective already!! =) You can almost see a better cross-section of his arm in this shot...it almost looks like it is cut and you can see inside it........

This is the "skeleton" shot that Dave doesn't like because it makes Little Buddy look creepy. However, the reason I like it is that it shows he has TWO eyes! =) This was the only time he even remotely turned his head to look in our direction, but moved it too quickly to get a good shot.

Here is where he started to turn back towards my spine and you could see his ear much better. We actually got to see both of his ears, but no picture was taken of that.

Here is one of his cute little feet. They were both up in my ribs the whole time she was trying to take pictures and he finally moved this one down so we could get a picture of it.

We are on our way to the pediatrician to have an interview with the doctor we might have for Little Buddy and this morning we already got to BOTH go tour the hospital we are having him at. And, guess what?? They have WIRELESS INTERNET so I hope to be able to upload some pics while in the hospital! =) =) =) yay!!