Ultra Sound in English sort of falls out of your mouth like a brick, but in Spanish---"ultra sonido"...doesn't that sound like poetry?
Today is my intensive ultrasound where we get to peek at all those amazing little baby parts and maybe even find out if it's "she" or "he". This is probably my favorite day of being pregnant. Someday I'm going to spring for one of those 3D picture packages where they photograph your baby in the womb...
With our first pregnancy we debated for a couple weeks beforehand whether we were going to try to find out the sex of the baby or not. Okay, it wasn't really a debate. Gilbert just matter of factly stated that "of course I want to know". I was tortured by wanting to know and feeling like it was "cheating" to know ahead of time. What about the centuries of women who had to wait and find out before they passed out from the pain of childbirth or once they were revived a day or two after? What if I got really comfortable with the idea of it being a boy or girl and then 4 months later---BIG SHOCK! Oops! Little "Jane" was "Jim" or vice versa. I really didn't have a wish of it being one sex or the other but if I had a vision of it being "sugar & spice" or "puppy dog tails" for so long, would my underlying expectations mess with the development of my child's identity?
So easy for Gilbert. When I started to rattle off these concerns, he just looked at me like I was speaking "Greek", sort of "shook it off" and then confidently said, "Yeah, Sure I want to find out." But he DID hear the hesitation and conflict in my voice so he suggested a "wise" compromise. My considerate husband said, "I will find out and promise not to tell you until the baby's born." My turn to look at him with a stare of incredulity that said, "Are you crazy?" What I actually said was more along the lines of "Right. Like you are going to know and I'm not?" He just shrugged. We took a peek and found out our first born was a boy. Wow. We had 4months to dream about all the things a son might do or be. And no more "the baby" this or "he/she" that---we referred to him by name and when we actually met him he was not a total stranger.
Today is my intensive ultrasound where we get to peek at all those amazing little baby parts and maybe even find out if it's "she" or "he". This is probably my favorite day of being pregnant. Someday I'm going to spring for one of those 3D picture packages where they photograph your baby in the womb...
With our first pregnancy we debated for a couple weeks beforehand whether we were going to try to find out the sex of the baby or not. Okay, it wasn't really a debate. Gilbert just matter of factly stated that "of course I want to know". I was tortured by wanting to know and feeling like it was "cheating" to know ahead of time. What about the centuries of women who had to wait and find out before they passed out from the pain of childbirth or once they were revived a day or two after? What if I got really comfortable with the idea of it being a boy or girl and then 4 months later---BIG SHOCK! Oops! Little "Jane" was "Jim" or vice versa. I really didn't have a wish of it being one sex or the other but if I had a vision of it being "sugar & spice" or "puppy dog tails" for so long, would my underlying expectations mess with the development of my child's identity?
So easy for Gilbert. When I started to rattle off these concerns, he just looked at me like I was speaking "Greek", sort of "shook it off" and then confidently said, "Yeah, Sure I want to find out." But he DID hear the hesitation and conflict in my voice so he suggested a "wise" compromise. My considerate husband said, "I will find out and promise not to tell you until the baby's born." My turn to look at him with a stare of incredulity that said, "Are you crazy?" What I actually said was more along the lines of "Right. Like you are going to know and I'm not?" He just shrugged. We took a peek and found out our first born was a boy. Wow. We had 4months to dream about all the things a son might do or be. And no more "the baby" this or "he/she" that---we referred to him by name and when we actually met him he was not a total stranger.
By the time I was pregnant with number 4, the thing we look forward to most was that ultrasound and finding out that key part of getting to know our newest family member before he? she? was even born. We ohh-ed and ahh-ed at each little perfectly formed part. We were like "Oh! The fluttery little heart!" and "There's the head!" and "What cute little toes." Our OB smiled because he knew we "had a thing for babies" like he did. Then he confirmed, "You want to know what sex the baby is if I can tell, right?" Yep. He was right; for us this was "business as usual", round 4. He moved the wand around, jiggled it a little and then said, "Hmm. You've got a modest one here. Sorry. I can't tell." We were both shocked! What! We had to go home with "the baby" and not know if this was little "Lily" or little "Joel"? He tried to reassure us that it wasn't a big deal; we'll just do another ultrasound next month to peek and see if we can tell then. HUMPH. I wasn't a happy camper but willing to be patient.
Gilbert made the effort to come to my next month's appointment simply because we were both so excited to find out if we were having a 4th boy or our first girl. It didn't matter which, we just wanted to start calling the baby by his/her name. Oh! This is not so bad. We get to see all those perfect little baby parts a second time because of the little problem of modest baby last month. Gilbert was on the edge of his seat; I was craning my neck toward the monitor like a mamma goose. And...it's...a...hmmmm. I'm now almost 7 months pregnant and HE CAN'T TELL! The baby is kind of sleepy and all curled up and it's just not possible to get a strategic angle. (I'm secretly thinking I wish I'd brought some ice to rub on my tummy and wake up the little darling.) We left the doctor's office pretty bummed and in desperate need of a hot fudge sundae.
It's a good thing we've developed a rapport with our doctor after going to him for 4 pregnancies. At least he was willing to take ANOTHER look about 6 weeks before the baby popped out, rather than pushing us into doing something so old fashioned like WAIT until the BIRTH to find out the sex of our child. This IS the 21st century, right?
Guess what! It was a GIRL! The 3rd try, Dr. Rockwell admitted that he suspected so because it's a lot harder to see something there than be confident something is not. In hindsight, this experience was a turning point. From that point on, when they couldn't tell the sex of the baby in the 5 month ulrasound---we guessed correctly it was another girl; all our boys were easy to identify with that first mid-pregnancy screeening.
Really the most important thing for us is that the baby looks healthy and we get to see the marvelous handiwork of God. (such a "pick-me-up" when I'm feeling exhausted and gigantic.) But we are human and tied to our concrete senses. Though we are mentally convinced life begins at conception, we can't really begin to know our new little person until we know him or her by name.
Who's coming to live with us this time? Brandon or Abigail? We'll let you know.
Gilbert made the effort to come to my next month's appointment simply because we were both so excited to find out if we were having a 4th boy or our first girl. It didn't matter which, we just wanted to start calling the baby by his/her name. Oh! This is not so bad. We get to see all those perfect little baby parts a second time because of the little problem of modest baby last month. Gilbert was on the edge of his seat; I was craning my neck toward the monitor like a mamma goose. And...it's...a...hmmmm. I'm now almost 7 months pregnant and HE CAN'T TELL! The baby is kind of sleepy and all curled up and it's just not possible to get a strategic angle. (I'm secretly thinking I wish I'd brought some ice to rub on my tummy and wake up the little darling.) We left the doctor's office pretty bummed and in desperate need of a hot fudge sundae.
It's a good thing we've developed a rapport with our doctor after going to him for 4 pregnancies. At least he was willing to take ANOTHER look about 6 weeks before the baby popped out, rather than pushing us into doing something so old fashioned like WAIT until the BIRTH to find out the sex of our child. This IS the 21st century, right?
Guess what! It was a GIRL! The 3rd try, Dr. Rockwell admitted that he suspected so because it's a lot harder to see something there than be confident something is not. In hindsight, this experience was a turning point. From that point on, when they couldn't tell the sex of the baby in the 5 month ulrasound---we guessed correctly it was another girl; all our boys were easy to identify with that first mid-pregnancy screeening.
Really the most important thing for us is that the baby looks healthy and we get to see the marvelous handiwork of God. (such a "pick-me-up" when I'm feeling exhausted and gigantic.) But we are human and tied to our concrete senses. Though we are mentally convinced life begins at conception, we can't really begin to know our new little person until we know him or her by name.
Who's coming to live with us this time? Brandon or Abigail? We'll let you know.
No comments:
Post a Comment