Ultrasound #1

So today was a great day for us. It was our 2nd prenatal appointment and our first ultrasound. We met with our midwife, Polly, again first. This time she had a midwifery student with her learning the ropes who was very pregnant herself. We went over general issues and then they brought out the doppler. The doppler is basically a wand (like an ultrasound wand) connected to a speaker. They put some gel on my abdomen and then put the doppler wand on me and looked for the heartbeat. The student was having a little trouble finding it at first but Polly thought she could hear it in the background. At this point my uterus is just starting to peak over the top of my pubic bone so it's a little tricky finding the right spot. Polly took over and found it right away. It was nice and strong and just how it should be. The baby's heart was beating in the 150s per minute; which is right on target. Polly said baby's hearts beat about 120-160 bpm.

I got cleaned up and waited for my turn at the ultrasound. We didn't have to wait long which was nice. We moved into the ultrasound room and started working with an ultrasound tech. Again, more gel and the wand. We saw the baby right away. He was laying on his back on the back of my uterus (so we were both facing forward). He was sucking his thumb (as you can see in the pictures below, the fuzzy blob near his mouth is his hand). He was quite content laying there. The technician was pushing on my abdomen trying to get him to move for a while but he was a bit stubborn. Finally he started moving a little bit so she could take the measurement of the fluid in the back of his neck (the whole reason for the ultrasound). At that point he decided he wanted to move all over the place. We saw him arch his back up several times and stretch one leg up and the other straight down. Unfortunately I can't feel any of this yet but it was neat to watch him moving all around. For the last half of the ultrasound the tech had to chase him around he was moving so much.

At that point a doctor came in to take some more measurements. She double-checked that the technician got a good neck fluid measurement, took some more measurements of the baby from crown to rump, and took a measurement of the baby's nasal bone. If the baby doesn't have a nasal bone, or its very short, this often predicts downs syndrome. Thankfully our baby has a nice little nose just as it should be.

Based on the measurements of the baby taken from crown to rump, his estimated age is 12w6d. According to my midwife (based on my last menstrual period), he is 11w6d. According to MY estimate of his age, he's 12w5d. So it looks like the due date is somewhere between April 24-30th. Since the ultrasound was after my visit with the midwife she may decide to change my due date at the next visit.

You might be wondering why I think my due date is different from the prediction my midwife made. Due dates are calculated based on the first day of your last period assuming that you ovulate on the 14th day of your cycle. This is an average across all women. As the women out there know, we're not all average. In my case, my cycles are shorter (22-24 days) and I believe I ovulate on the 11th day of my cycle. How do I know that? Ovulation can be assumed fairly accurately by taking an oral temperature each morning at the same time when you wake up. Your temperature spikes on the day of ovulation. Other signs can also point even more accurately to the day of ovulation. Many women use this method (called the Fertility Awareness Method) to get pregnant or as a means of preventing pregnancy. This is different from the rhythm method.

Ok, now for the part you've all been waiting for...




Happy Birthday Grandma Sue!