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Baby was not cooperating yesterday. The doctor was trying to get a good look at him/her with the ultrasound and he/she wouldn’t stop moving. First kicks, then punches, then something resembling a jump, and an attempted barrel roll that left him/her facing the wrong way for a decent picture. The end result was a printout of something that looks vaguely like a smudge on a field of carbon paper:
Ultrasound at 13 weeks with an uncooperative baby. The smear in the middle of the page is either the baby or a pirate ghost. You decide.
Like my wife, Baby is stubborn about getting pictures taken.
But we’ve been spoiled so far with seeing Baby grow. Because we have been going to a fertility clinic for the last six months, Erin has had many an ultrasound done on her. It’s all part of the process of trying to “help things along” with getting pregnant, something we have needed since it took us some 17 months of trying to get it right. While many people would have to wait until 16 weeks in for an ultrasound, we had our first at 5 weeks.
At five weeks, Baby looks like this:
Ultrasound at 5 weeks. Baby is bounded by two small X's and looks like nothing more than a bean.
If you are having trouble spotting anything, it’s because Baby is 2.7 mm long in this picture. He/she is nothing more than a smudge with an itty-bitty heartbeat. Even so, it was very exciting to see that little heart pumping away, somewhere deep inside my wife.
At 10 weeks, Baby looked like this:
Ultrasound at 10 weeks. Baby or Munny?
He/she spazzed-out a bit for us, then settled down so that we could see the growing heartbeat, the two halves of the brain, the arms and legs wiggling away. At least he/she was starting to look something like an actual tiny person. My friend Kate pointed out that it also looked something like a Munny:
Was the Munny designed after itty-bitty babies? We might never know.
I think she’s right.
At twelve weeks, Baby looked like this:
Ultrasound at 12 weeks. Baby in profile, tucked in for a nap.
Again, Baby was not very cooperative. The ultrasound technician was trying to measure some things on him/her and Baby was having none of it. It was just more jumping and kicking until settling back down in an inaccessible bit of my wife’s internal anatomy.
I think I’ll just have to accept that Baby will likely be stubborn and uncooperative. Both of Baby’s parents are known for their digging in of heels, and I have a feeling that it runs deeply in our family.
And I know that I should be treasuring this time right now. I have been told (by many that know all about it) that I should be getting my rest in now, since I won’t be getting any of it when Baby gets here, and that I should enjoy my free time, and that I should not wish for these days to go by any faster.
But if I could speed up time and meet Baby face-to-face tomorrow, I would do it in a heartbeat.
I like the pic of the little bean at 10 weeks! It’s a cool shot. Are you going to do one of those 3-D ultrasounds later? I thought I might want to, but they kind of creep me out. Everyone’s different though. Also, did I see you write something about finding out the sex?!?! Why!? The surprise is AWESOME. But, that’s what makes you a “Green”, and me an “Orange”, I guess. I’m not much of a planner.
P.S. I just noticed that I used an apostrophe incorrectly . I probably made other fatal grammatical errors, too. Stop judging. Jerk.
Also, you are using too many pieces of end punctuation. But I forgive you.
Erin and I keep driving past a place that does the 3D ultrasounds, and I think we might do it just for kicks. But we definitely want to know boy or girl before birth. We hate surprises. There isn’t much orange between the two of us.
Would it help if I taught the people we dressed as Indians to speak Cree?
Just be careful, Mr. Green. I have two friends who found out the sex, and they were surprised after all!
Oooh! Pirate ghost!
I think this is just another sign that we have to throw Erin a pirate themed baby shower, Or, as my friend Heather suggested, a Peter Pan themed shower with fairies, pirates and indians.
P.S. I kind of like that Smee is a spaz. I think that will make him or her all the more fun when they arrive.
I like the Peter Pan idea. It’s only 1/3 culturally insensitive (I don’t count pirates or fairies as part of a “culture”). And I agree that spazzy Smee is pretty fun, but it’s a pain in the butt for getting a clear ultrasound.
Whoops! Sorry I clicked on the wrong comment to reply on!
Oh Cap’n would be thrilled to know that his pirate obsession has spread so far as a possible pirate themed shower…although I think Erin might veto that idea.
Well, Erin’s vote counts for naught. It will be up to the shower organizers, I think.
So so so so excited for you both. The whole idea of creating little beings will never cease to amaze me. You two will be wonderful parents. Give Erin plenty of warm hugs from me.
Plenty of hugs will be given. Apparently the baby is now about 3 inches long and is covered in fuzzy hair. That’s kind of blowing my mind.
I lovethe pictures and one day your little one is going to love reading about your excitement in his/her development. I was lucky enough to have an early ultrasound ( at 6 weeks because they thought it might be an eptopic pregnancy). I was truly amzed to see the little heartbeat beating/flashing when it really looked like nothing more thatn an amoeba or perhaps a peanut (thus the reason I called him “peanut” while in utero). Enjoy every minute because it doea all go by so very quickly!!!
Thanks, Heidi! “Peanut” is a solid prenatal name. Much better than my suggestion of “grainy smudge.”
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