The technician switched transducers at one point, and suddenly we saw this:
A 3D image of Baby!
Dan said to the technician, "This will all be on our DVD, right?" She didn't really reply, as we all realized that I had not even given her the DVD to place in the recorder. (Amazingly, that was not my biggest DUH! moment of the day.) We quickly corrected the situation, and she spent a few extra minutes with us so we could have a decent amount of "footage."
It looks really, really, really cool on the DVD. Really.
Dan said he felt like we were cheating a little bit.
I felt complete awe. I've gotten used to looking at the ultrasound images and having to make out each 2D Skeletor part. Looking at these images...was like looking at a photo of our daughter. Surreal doesn't begin to describe it.
Baby weighs about 5 pounds, 10 ounces, according to their estimates. Do you know how they estimate that? A grandparent was inquiring the other day. They measure Baby's head, belly, and a leg. They measure the amniotic fluid. They estimate the size of the uterus based on the number of weeks of gestation - remember? I'm 34 weeks, so from pubic bone to the top of my uterus measures 34 centimeters. Then the computer puts it all together and calculates the approximate weight. She's in the 56th percentile this week. I think that means that about 56% of babies are smaller at this stage, and 44% are larger, but my understanding of percentiles began fading quickly after completing my obligatory Stats & Probability courses for my B.S.
In other news...the small amount of time remaining before the birth of our daughter is starting to dawn on us. We're starting to put together a schedule to finish the nursery and everything else on our To Do list. We're trying to go on more dates - last night we walked across the street to the auditorium to see Patty Griffin perform, and she was amazing as always. We hired a doula this week to attend the birth, and tonight we have a "postpartum" class at the birthing center. Lots to do, enough time to do it, but...the count-down has begun!
Here is the update from BabyCenter.com:
How your baby's growing: Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.
4 comments:
What's your doula like? From what I hear, a doula that you have a good "fit" with can be a huge asset. Will she be helping you out after you come home, too?
Our doula is very cool. She has a mellow but very cheery excitement about babies and birth in general...you can tell by watching her talk about what she does that she loves it.
She is a Reiki practitioner, a lactation consultant, and a photographer.
She gets Dan's sense of humor.
Riley liked her.
Mitten...well, what do you expect? Mitten stayed asleep in the bedroom, wandered through the room at one point, then returned to the bedroom for a much-needed graphic grooming session.
I definitely feel that she is a good fit with our needs, wants, personalities, and our idea of labor and birth.
She'll be checking in after we come home, but we're not hiring her for post-partum support. Primarily she'll be helping us prepare - writing a birth plan, practicing poses, being available to answer questions, providing a Reiki session for me to "get things moving - and helping during labor, however we choose to use her presence. She can help with massage, positioning, communicating with the medical staff, helping Dan help me, creating a calm atmosphere for laboring, etc.
Sounds great. I think it is not unimportant that she gets Dan's sense of humor. Speaking of Dan, how much time will he get off from work to be with you and Vi and adjust to the new reality?
He's planning on taking a week off when the baby comes, then he'll take off 2 weeks when my maternity leave is over, maybeover-lapping with the last week of my leave.
I wonder how much time off it would take to adjust to the new reality...? :-)
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