Wednesday, June 15, 2005

twelve weeks, one day

and this is the last week of my first trimester.


not my baby, but I saw mine doing the exact same thing, aw

Since we last met, my kid has grown past its frivolous 'Look at me! I'm a button! Weee!' phase, and into its more serious 'I've got arms and legs and I'll kick yo' ass' phase. Crown to rump, it's around six centimeters in length, which makes it a week longer than its gestational age would have it (and folks, that extra week is, in fetus land, like ten human years worth of growth). With its big head and short legs, it still looks a lot like its father, but given that ol' brutus in there is already taller than him, ahem, I can deal.

The obstetrician, Nina, and I spent an hour watching my child (my child? :eek: ) float around in there, and it was the most magical hour I think I've ever experienced. Oddly enough though, none of this feels real yet, not even after yesterday. When we first peeked inside, it was asleep, and stubbornly so, which augers well for the future. It was an abdominal ultrasound, which means drink a litre of water and hang on, thankyou very much, and Nina was squishing the damn ultrasound thingydoover into my belly to get bugalugs to wake up and roll over so she coould measure its neck. I was squishing my damn face up so as not to pee all over Nina. My efforts worked, thank fuck, but hers didn't, so then she had me and my exploding bladder roll from one side to the other to try and shake the little bugger into place. No dice. I kept up with my face squishing, Nina kept up with her belly squishing, and when it was good and bloody ready, my baby woke up and waved its arms, kicked its little legs, and eventually rolled over and showed us its neck. It was so active in there for the rest of the exam, it was practically doing the hokey pokey. Meanwhile, I thought my heart would burst.

As an aside, is it wrong to call it an 'it'?

Visually, everything looks perfect. My blood gets drawn next week to look for any other markers, and then all the results will be analysed to give me the odds of any chromosomal disorders. Even then, nothing is certain, so this type of tesing is really more of a guide to whether or not an amniocentisis, which is a definitive test for Downs Syndrome and other chromosomal disorders, is warranted.

As a part of an international study, the hospital has been supplied with the only 4D ultrasound technology in this city, and these scans are scheduled every month for the next three months, and then every two weeks until I give birth, and that is about as cool as shit.




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