Oh boy! That was AWESOME!

So we had our NT Scan yesterday, which is part of the 1st Trimester Screening (testing the probability for Down's and two other chromosomal abnormalities). The total exam consists of a blood test (not bad, just a pin prick on the finger and then filling up 5 lil' dots on the paper with blood -- apparently I'm a "very good bleeder" -- nice!) and then the ultrasound! Our ultrasound tech, Kelly, was so friendly and really patient with showing us everything rather than just rushing through with her measurements (we were with her for an hour!). Apparently the two main things they're looking for during this exam, other than the normal stuff, are the amount of fluid behind the baby's neck and the existence of the nasal bone. We have to wait til the midwife gives us our results at the end of next week, but Kelly seemed to think all looked very good.

Baby H is still measuring right on track at 11w, 3d, just about 2 inches CRL (crown to rump length) and the lil' heartbeat was at 169bpm. It's so nice to know that all is going well in there!

Mike and I both really enjoyed the experience. He kept asking questions ("is that normal?" "what's that?" "um, why's the baby facing a different direction now -- are there TWO!?!"), which would set me into laughter and mess up the pic on the screen. Whoops! But, in the end, we got some great pics. We started with the normal 2d u/s and then switched over to the 3d and 4d u/s. 4d is actually real time video and is absolutely amazing. Baby H spent most of his time lounging back with his lil' ankles crossed but then started moving his little legs and stretching out. So cute!

A BIG surprise: you really aren't supposed to be able to tell the baby's sex until much later (about 16 weeks) even though by the end of the 11th week (from what I've read) the genitals are developed. We went in fully thinking there was no way we'd even get an educated guess at Baby H's gender (Mike had even asked me earlier that morning if we'd be able to, and I assured him he'd have to wait at least another month before we knew anything). Anyway, as we started looking at the 3d u/s things became much clearer (obviously), and Mike with his questions had to ask what a certain lil' something was on the baby. Kelly started laughing and said she was fairly certain that was a penis and scrotum. I was shocked! Not because I've been certain Baby H was a girl (so much for mother's intuition), but because she was even willing to make such a guess so early. After much doubtful questioning from me, she conceded that it is early but if the baby is well developed that they can occasionally tell early on with the new 3d/4d ultrasound equipment (that being said, she was so impressed by Baby H that she mentioned showing the pics to her co-workers for evidence of penis and scrotum between 11 and 12 weeks -- ha ha!). Anyway, she went on to start showing it to us and said she was actually pretty certain when she was looking at the 2d u/s that Baby H was a boy (she went back and showed us a couple of those pics and what she was showing us made sense). So long story short, we think Baby H is a boy; however, even Kelly said we should hold off telling people (yay right-- try keeping Mike quiet after 3 Jack and Cokes at the HH we went to last night!) and not buy any blue until the confirmation in about a month (absolutely!). But it's kind of exciting! As most of you know, Mike has been holding out hope for a little boy even though (so cliche) we both just really want a happy and healthy baby. So I'm happy that he's so happy! Ecstatic is more the word, and quite proud of the development (so far) of his lil' boy's boy parts...now let's hope Baby H doesn't turn out to be a girl. Ha ha!

I mentioned pics...She was more than generous and gave us 10! Awesome, right! I won't bore you with all of them, but here's quite a few. Enjoy!






xoxo-
Vicky