We just had the week 21 ultrasound and learned our baby’s gender. If she looks anything like her mom then I’m not looking forward to when she turns sixteen! LOL – several friends asked me if I’m going to buy the shotgun now or wait until she’s of dating age.

T had her friend Corine do the ultrasound. They met during her first year as a special ed preschool teacher when Corine worked as a paraeducator. Now shes an ultrasound tech. Worked out quite well – and she was very thorough. It looks like we have a healthy little girl. It was amazing hearing her heart beat during the follow-up appointment with the OB a day later.

Now I’ll need to buy me a few shotguns!

Today I discovered a new rite of passage in a modern mother’s life – sitting in a waiting room with an extremely full bladder, waiting for the ultrasound. I was supposed to drink 36 ounces of water between 2 and 2:30, and not go to the bathroom until after the 3:30 appointment. Really uncomfortable, but amazingly as soon as baby was on the screen I didn’t notice my bladder anymore.

This wasn’t the 20 week ultrasound where we find out the gender – this was part of a routine screening to check that the spinal column is forming as it should.

It took about 30 minutes to get a clear image of baby’s neck to be sure the spinal column had formed correctly. Our little punkin’ seems to be an acrobat, preferring to stand on its head most of the time. The sonographer needed just the right angle, without the chin being tucked in, but our baby seems to hang out on its neck/head an awful lot. Several times, the sonographer pushed the wand firmly onto my stomach and jiggled it, supposedly to shake up baby to encourage it to get in a new position. The cool thing is that, with all the angles she tried, I got to see my baby for quite a while, and from lots of perspectives. I saw it suck its thumb, move its head back and forth, move its arm up and down, do a little arching its back sort of stretching motion, and I got to count five fingers and five toes. The images on the computer were sharper than the screen shots show. It was such a cool experience!

The sonographer was finally satisfied with the measurements she was able to take, and left the room to show the images to the doctor while I got to use the restroom and wipe the ultrasound goo off my tummy. The doctor said the images are good, and baby looks healthy. I did a few more blood tests to add to the handful of vials they took last week, and in a couple weeks we’ll know with a bit more certainty that I’m growing a healthy baby.