Week 12 -- Perfectly Average

Well, I had my NT scan this morning, and all went well. I got to gaze adoringly at my imminent offspring for a good 20 minutes or so, while the Bagel moved all around and generally was uncooperative. I think the sonogram technician was getting a little frustrated that Diana Jr. wouldn't stay still long enough to check out the spine.

So the NT scan consists of 2 parts: 1) blood work and 2) an ultrasound. The ultrasound we did today and everything came out great. They measure the thickness of the spine to the back and then compare that to the length of the baby. They want that ratio to fall between two lines on a chart, and the Bagel fell smack dab in the middle. I happily told him/her that s/he is "perfectly average." They still need to test proteins in my blood, and that should take about a week.

I got to see all kinds of things on the ultrasound. They have a nice flat screen set up so I can watch everything that's going on. I saw the Bagel kicking its legs all around, and s/he kept moving around. I got to hear the heartbeat again. Going strong at 155 bpm. I could see its cute little nose (hopefully Rob's and not mine). I'll post pictures from the ultrasound hopefully later tonight. I got one picture of the hand and you can see the little bones! Pretty cool.

Bagel is measuring 12 weeks and 6 days, which is 3 days ahead of schedule. We have a prodigy on our hands.

I asked about finding out about the sex, but the technician said it's too early, so I guess some doctors/technicians are just wizards and can divine into the future and others, like mine, are just not that talented. Oh, well. Maybe we'll see at my next OB appointment in a few weeks. I just read that this week, reproductive organs are "distinctly male or female" so a good ultrasound should be able to detect the sex.

This week, the Bagel is the size of a plum. We've moved on from garnishes and into afternoon snacks. That's good because I'm getting hungrier. In keeping with that, the Bagel can now open and close his/her mouth and is chugging the amniotic fluid. The Bagel also now has eyelids.

In mama news, I now have a distinct pooch, although Rob swears I don't (I know better). About two or three days ago it just popped right out. Seems a little early to me, but whatever. The sooner I get past the "Is she getting fat or pregnant?" stage and into the "oh, she's totally pregnant" stage, the better.

Update: I scanned in the ultrasound pictures they gave me, but I seem to have accidentally saved them as pdfs rather than jpegs (oops) and so I can't upload them til I get home and fix it. Hopefully tonight. Sorry.


UpUpdate: Here they are. I couldn't get them bigger. My jpegs are being jerks. There's a cool pic of the hand and you can see all the little bones, but I can't get it uploaded it so it's big enough to see. LAME.