Tuesday, August 26, 2008

We're Having a Boy!



Meet Hideo William!

My 20 week ultrasound was this morning. It was quite arduous, really. The technician asked if we wanted to know the sex of the baby (Todd met me at the clinic). I yelled, "Yes! I've been waiting for this moment for months!" Luckily, the baby was in the right position and she could tell right away we were having a boy!

I was kind of expecting a girl, but one she said boy, I got really excited and teary. I know it will be so fun and interesting and kinda scary to raise a boy. But I also think it is pretty great to get to have both a girl and a boy. It'll be neat to see the differences from this baby compared to Emiko. And I have already promised Hideo that I will never say, "Your sister did this, why can't you?" Or things of that nature.

After finding the sex, the technician was going through looking to make sure all the structures are in place. The 20 week ultrasound is a genetic ultrasound -- they want to see that the baby has all his parts and is developing properly.

The technician wasn't that friendly to start with. Then she was trying to get a good image of the back of baby's head. Baby Boy was not cooperating, and she was getting really frustrated. Which was freaking me out a little. Finally I asked if everything was ok, and she softened up a bit. She said the doctor likes all of the pictures to be in order, so that was why she was being fussy. She was pressing down on my belly really hard.

Finally she got an image of the back of the head that satisfied her. Then she took more images and things were going fine.

Next she was looking at Baby's heart. Then she started to get really frustrated and was really bearing down on my belly. I could see the baby's heart and we had listened to the heartbeat. But she still wanted to better image. Baby was not moving into the correct position -- I guess his arm was in the way. So this went on, with her pressing down on me and complaining about my baby, for a good twenty minutes. I'm getting really nervous because the heart is rather important!

My head is flooding with worries about neonatologist heart specialists and surgery and how I'm going to have to not use my nurse midwives. Finally the tech said that she was going to get another technician to come in, who was a heart expert. She said that the doctor had been called out on an emergency, so he couldn't help. But that this other tech would be able to get a good image of the heart.

The new tech came in and was much nicer than the first one. She was looking at Baby, and then she asked me if I had had genetic counseling. She then reminded me that I'm 35 (that whole Advanced Maternal Age thing again). That really upset me. I said, "No, we opted not to do that. Other than my age, neither of us has any family history of problems." She said that was fine, that everything was fine. I said, "Are you sure everything is ok?" She said that yes, she couldn't get a really good view of the heart, but that there was nothing to worry about. She said that if the doctor wanted me to come back in, he would call me.

So then I calmed down and felt better. It was tough, though. I realized later that she asked about genetic counseling because had I opted to have it and an amnio, this ultrasound would have required a follow up. But without that context, it's really scary.

The good news is, all is fine. Baby Boy has been mad at me all day, though, due to all the poking around. Which wasn't my fault! I've been nauseated and felt kinda crappy ever since. But luckily I've been too busy emailing and texting people the happy news to be too distracted.

OK, so this was a lot of detail. Sorry about that.

Tomorrow is my first day back at work. My summer is over!! I'm sure I'll be bitching about that more soon.

3 comments:

foxxychica said...

Yippee, Leroy Tyrone Fujimoto or Tyrone Leroy Fujimoito, you choose!

Katie Runnels said...

Congrats!! One of each!! So lucky!! Next time- pull a Juno's mom on the nurse! xoxo

AMY said...

I thought about pulling a Juno's mom, but I was trying too hard to not cry! It's ok -- it was all worth it in the end!