News from the Doctor's Office

I am still intending to update about our trip, but first here's the update from our doctor's visit on Saturday. We thought we would be extra savvy this time and get there right when the office opens at 9:30, but when we arrived at 9:25, the office was already open and bustling with people. Still, we were third in line to see Dr. Lee, and I think our wait time was a little shorter than usual. Since we don't have to go through the hassle of making appointments (and then STILL waiting in the waiting room), I try not to mind the waiting too much.

Dr. Lee told us that this month he would do an ultrasound "from brain to toes" and that it would take a little extra time. He started with the baby's head and brain, both of which look good and are exactly the right size for 21 weeks. He also measured the baby's arms and legs, which both measured at exactly the right size for 22 weeks. Since we are at 21 weeks now, the doctor remarked on how long our baby's limbs are. Guess my assessment of the gangly ultrasound from a few weeks ago was right on. Dr. Lee checked the baby's lip for a cleft lip and her spine and pronounced both to look normal with no visible defects. He asked whether he had told us the sex already, and when I reminded him that he had told us it was a girl, he replied "Well, there is no change." So now we can be even more sure that we will have a daughter in July!

We had a chance to count the baby's fingers (10) and look at her feet, but it wasn't very easy to count her toes, so we'll do that next time.

Baby's hands, with fingers marked by arrows. I think she is World's Earliest Waver. So precocious.

Baby's blurry feet

In the abdomen, we could see Baby's heart beating, and the doctor pointed out her kidneys and stomach. Her stomach was full of amniotic fluid, which she has been swallowing for a tiny amount of nourishment and to practice her swallowing skills. When he zoomed in on the heart, we could see all four chambers and watch the valves open and close. Pretty cool! Unfortunately, the CD with the ultrasound video on it is scratched, so I am trying to figure out how to recover as much of the video as possible.

Overall, the baby is now about 440 grams (around a pound) and about 22-23 cm long (8.5-9 inches). Dr. Lee pointed out the baby's position to us with the ultrasound transducer: her head is down low on my left, her body stretching out to my right, with her feet up high to the left of my belly button. I can't believe how much room she's taking up already! Good thing there's still plenty of room to expand.

Baby's head. On the right, you can see a slight profile with one eye and the nose. On the left, Baby is facing the "camera" straight on, with one Terminator-esque eye (she kicked me when I wrote that) glaring out with the death ray.

Baby's face is squished into the lower right corner of the frame. You can see her forehead, eyes and nose pretty clearly. I think the bubbly stuff to the left of Baby's face is the umbilical cord.

In other baby news, we were able to move our hand-me-down nursery furniture into the nursery this weekend (pictures coming as soon as I get things a little more orderly in there). I also spent all afternoon Sunday trying on clothes to discover what still fits and what I still need. I was heartened to find many attractive options left for me if the weather would just warm up a tiiiiny bit. I also rediscovered several elastic-waisted skirts that should continue to be winners for a while. Hooray! Still, I am looking forward to finding some new things when I'm home next month.