Ever since being about 9 weeks pregnant, and having a second ultrasound that showed that there was actually a baby in there, and that we were not in the middle of our 3rd miscarriage in a row, I have waited for this day.
I briefly considered being amazing like some of my friends and waiting until the day of birth to find out the gender of this baby. But really, who was I kidding?? I haven’t ever made it through a birthday or Christmas without knowing some of my presents and I’m not gonna make it 9 and some old months through nausea, puking, back pain, stretch marks and other awesome pregnancy related happenings to find out the gender of who I’m gonna meet. These kids of mine have plenty of personality to keep me surprised the rest of my life!
So, the day finally came this week. The gender ultrasound. Or at least that’s what it was to me. My order read “20 week anomaly scan” and my doctor referred me to a different hospital that houses a more sensitive sonograph machine.
We arrived early in the morning to the walk-in ultrasound clinic and were promptly received and routed to a waiting room. Eli, Lucy, daddy and I waited. Eli and Lucy were GRUMPS with a capital “G” from about the moment they climbed into the car in Thika. Not quite what I had envisioned for “our” happy day, but I rolled with it.
Here we are with the doctor, as he was reading the ultrasound. I have never had such a detailed ultrasound through these last 4 pregnancies and 2 births. It was kind of cool. He looked at the different portions of the brain, measured leg and arm bones, checked for the nose bone, ruled out cleft palate, identified the 4 chambers of the heart, ensured that all of the organs were inside the body and checked the spine to make sure that the neural tube was complete and closed. It was really cool!
Looking at the different parts of the baby's brain
And, being quite skilled at his craft, he kept the suspense of the gender to the very end, and then pointed out 2 lines, identifying them as “f.g.” Huh?? I was thinking for sure, those must boy parts hanging around there. And now that I think about it, I remember thinking the same thing during the ultrasound for Lucy. Nope no boy parts there. Those lines were female genitalia, as the doctor very quietly said, “Girl”.
For sure I thought we’d get a great reaction out of Lucy who had been rooting for a partner in crime since finding out that there is a baby rolling around in my tummy. Just a slight grin and head turn from her. Eli just sat blank stared. He’s in shock over the fact that there will be 2 little girls to deal with. He seemed much cheered by my telling him that he was all the more special for being “the only boy” and that for sure this new little sister wouldn’t want to steal his toys…..she’d for certain go after Lucy’s toys. Now he’s back to his usual self!
Everything looks great, I feel great, and it was exciting to see this new little one.
Here is a picture of the baby in the 3D mode of the ultrasound. Here, it looks a bit like that cartoon from the 80’s: Skeletor, but you can see her holding her hand up to her face. When we saw the picture at first, Ian exclaimed that the baby, “Looks like your brother Andy!” and I said, “Wow, it has big lips like Eli did!” I can’t wait to see how she changes and develops between now and 2 months from now when I go back for another scan.
a side view of the baby's head on the left, with the arm and hand on the forehead on the right
Thank you to all of you who have shared in this long baby journey with us that began before Africa and will continue long after. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!