It's a girl!

A quick blog to update you on my 20 week scan from last Friday.

All looked fine and we found out that the baby is a wee girl. She has long legs and is on the big side (no surprises there!). It was funny to see her on the screen as she was pumping her wee legs away, kicking the hell out of my insides. I couldn't feel a thing either which was quite strange as she looked like she was giving me a good, hard kicking.
The Sonographer was really funny and nice and he took all the important measurements, showed us all the important bits and was very patient with all my daft questions - some truly numpty ones as usual from me.
We saw the heart chambers and vessels as well as the different areas of the brain. He showed us the Cerebral and explained that the shading and the shape showed that there was an almost zero chance that the baby has cerebral palsy - another reassurance for us. Heartbeat was 150 beats per minute which is good and healthy.
All limbs look fine and he showed us the developing sex organs - although I couldn't tell what they were but he assures me it is definitely a girl.

How exciting we are having a daughter. It shows you the power of the mind and my dreams telling me it was a girl already. I am now listing all my girlie names to try and decide what to call her. I have so many on my list and they are a mixture of modern, traditional and Celtic names so I just know it is going to be very difficult to make a final decision. What a responsibility giving a living being it's name as I believe a name is important in how a person is viewed. Like the quote from the movie The Breakfast Club - "Clare is a fat girls name" - and every name I come up with has some history or opinion that will affect our decision.

After the sonogram we saw the doctor. Dr Sartawi again and I really like her as she seems very matter of fact. She is quite young and I feel like I could be her mother but she really puts me at ease and does not have any of the american bullshit you sometimes get (perhaps because she spent her childhood in Saudi Arabia). I have put on 10 lbs which she says is perfect for the halfway mark as you should only put on between 25 and 35 pounds in a healthy pregnancy. Again she was patient with all our daft questions.

Well that is all the news from the visit so here are some of the scans and the latest pisture of my bump.



In the one below she is actually having a yawn which was so lovely to see. the sonographer had a laugh and made used this and the previous still photo to make her talk to us.

You can just see her long legs on the right hand side as she was doing her bench presses against my Uterus. I was not expecting any 3D scans so it took my breath away when the sonographer suddenly switched the machine over to 3D mode. The joys and benefits of expensive American healthcare system and the advance equipment it provides. You can make out her face and the ears, eyes, nose and mouth were very clear as well as her wee left hand up at her mouth.


Giving a smile for the camera!

The bump at halfway through. I am still in regular clothes for now with the help of my belly band for my jeans, so not had to spend any money on pregnancy clothes yet. I am sure in a month I will invest in some but holding off as long as I can.