We are now officially halfway through the long nine month road that leads to the arrival of our sweet little baby girl! For nineteen months now we have been eagerly waiting to see the first glimpse of our little one and to find out if we should be decorating with blue or pink. Early this morning we traveled to our long awaited ultrasound to watch a very cute little body on the screen squirm, turn, kick and punch. Our quite active baby twisted into every position possible to keep us from getting a good view but after an hour and a half the technician gave us an educated guess that we will be expecting a baby girl late this summer. She reminded us that while it was not by any means a 100% guarantee, she did not see any evidence that suggested otherwise. She also informed us that our baby was what the doctors like to refer to as an “aquatic baby”. I know what your thinking but no I am not talking talking about a little one with webbed feet and the ability to breath underwater. The term simply refers to the baby being extremely mobile as opposed to more the more typical preference a postpartum baby has to stay in one position.
Our baby girl
Baby waves hello
Although it may be what parents look forward to the most, determining the sex of the baby is not the only reason for the 20 week ultrasound during pregnancy. There are many reassuring and important things the experienced technician will look for to make sure that the baby is developing properly.
So what do they check for during the ultrasound?
- Baby’s heart for four distinct chambers and the number of beats per second.
- Two arms and two legs with ten cute little fingers and toes.
- They also like to see an open hand with the fingers all spread out.
- Baby’s facial features including the eyes, nose, and lips.
- The spine and many different parts of baby’s brain.
- Baby’s bladder, kidneys, stomach and other internal organs.
- Umbilical cord, blood flow and amniotic fluid.
- Accurate measurements of the baby’s head, leg bone and more which may call for adjustment of the due date.
- Finally they check on mama’s placenta and cervix to make sure everything is adjusting properly.
Then it is on to the fun part of telling all your friends and family the exciting news about your baby girl or boy! Or if you decide to keep it a surprise it is still lots of fun to tell them about the very neat things you saw during the ultrasound and show off all the neat pictures you were sent home with.
gardenmamma 
Oh, how exciting to see and learn about our new little baby granddaughter! What a beautiful way to present her to the world! I would guess James and Kaydin are ecstatic (not to mention you, the new mama). Babies are SO precious… and at this delicate stage, she is nothing less than a true miracle of love!
Thank you for sharing yourself, your family, your wisdom and your new bundle of sweet joy with us.
🙂 Love, Mom
This is very exciting!! Congratulations! Do you know anyone else that is expecting?? Three girls from my work are pregnant and I’ve been told that pregnancies occur in three’s! So that would be interesting to notice…!
SO cute! Congratulations! I just found out that I am going to be an aunt and have been very excited and fascinated with babies lately because of it. It is so fascinating! You’re half-way, hang in there!
This is very exciting! Congratulations. I hope the next four or so months go as well as the first couple months have gone. Have you thought about names yet? I don’t yet know all of the joys of having a baby, so names are still my favorite part! Hope she comes out healthy!