Growth scan

I was 34 weeks yesterday and had a growth scan to check how the little guy is doing. Scans always make me anxious, there's always that little niggling worry about finding something wrong. But I was fretting about nothing. So far he seems to be bang on target and doing well. He's growing at the right rate, current estimated weight being 5 lbs 4 ozs, and all measurements show as right in the middle of the range. We looked at brain, spine, kidneys, bladder and heart, and everything looks good. Good blood flow from the cord and placenta posterior high. Baby is also head down, as I'd suspected, and in good position. They announced it's just a matter of waiting for him to be ready to leave now, and the Obstetrics clinic don't need to see me again unless something else comes up so they discharged me into midwife care which is what I'd hoped for.

All good news and quite a relief. Now I'm counting down the days left at work (less than a week now!) and entertaining my in-laws who just arrived yesterday.

Where is the fourth dimension?

We booked a 4D scan for when I was almost 29 weeks. It had to be done at a private clinic and we deliberated over whether or not we should spend the money but figured it would be a fun thing to do for the first baby. I was a little confused and slightly disturbed by the 4D title though. Physics-defying timelord baby scan?? Weird!

It was cute though. Really weird, the imaging is kind of bizarre and it is a little like watching a slow squirming alien! Add to that a rather weird and twee sonographer who reminded me a little of one of those TV supernanny types, and the whole experience was a little surreal. But fun.

Our boy really isn't cooperative during scans and doesn't seem to like them much. I feel kind of bad that we keep putting him through it if that's true, especially this one which was for fun! Every time we have a scan he seems to want to be left alone to sleep. I guess it looks good for us that he's a good sleeper! He had his hands and arms over his face which he didn't seem to want to move. I had to drink a cup of very sweet hot chocolate and walk around to get him to move and even after that he still had his hands by his face and kept turning away, burying his face into the wall. After some more attempts we went to lunch and came back again. Who knew he would be so shy! We did get a few good moments though. He's quite the comedy baby. He seemed to be folded in half with his feet up by his head and we saw him touching his head with his foot. We also saw him smile, yawn, suck in fluid, rub his face with his fist and got an adorable picture of him sleeping on his arms. The clinic had infinite patience trying to get good images and we came away with a DVD of clips and a CD of several stills. I'd say it was a Saturday morning well spent!

Anomoly scan

At 22 weeks I had my anomoly scan to check Baby's progress. Following the great experience we had at the 12 week scan, this one was kind of anti-climactic. The sonographer we had this time wasn't as nice nor as patient and I felt like we rushed through it. She was all business which I guess was fine, as long as she did the checks she was supposed to do I guess that's all we could ask for. I didn't get to see as much because of the position I was lying in. Every time I tried to raise my head to see better she told me to lie back down because it was making my abdominal muscles tense and interfering with the image. We didn't get very good images, and I wasn't sure if that was because I have too much belly fat or if it was because Baby wasn't cooperating. When he first appeared on screen he was sucking his thumb and he seemed to just want to be left alone to sleep after that!

All seemed well and good, and we found out we're having a boy! :)

Meeting the black and white blob

We had our first ultrasound scan at 12 weeks. I don't know about the rest of you who have had this experience but for me this was a huge milestone, the point where it all started to really feel real. It was like, I'm PREGNANT!!! Up until then I knew it, and yeah, I kinda had proof and I had a whole host of symptoms to remind me, but this was real, this was PROOF.

And if it felt that way to me, it was even more so for Hubby. I absolutely recommend every partner attends that first scan, it is essential. The moment the picture of that little blob appeared was unforgettable. The sonographer said, "There's your baby!" and Hubby gasped. I will never forget his face at that moment, I could see it all sinking in and see how happy and proud he was. At that point Baby was only a tiny little bean but it was amazing how much we could see - little arms and legs, spine, brain, little beating heart, etc. Everything looked good and we had all the tests for abnormalities which came back clear so we went away feeling happy, excited and having just had a bonding experience that probably won't be beaten until Baby actually arrives. We also looked forward to announcing our news to our families and friends.