After the park we drove home. Jeremiah met us there. After settling everyone in, Jeremiah, Saoirse, and I headed out for my appointment which was farther south than where we had been that morning. So lots of driving! We got there early for the paper work. It was a long wait, as I didn't see the doctor until almost 45 minutes past my appointment time. I am SO glad I only took Saoirse with me, and not the whole crew. That would have been a disaster!
It has been a while since I was last there, five years. But, I was very much hoping that I would not get the same doctor that I did the last time. This ultrasound center is different than most. They specialize in OB/BYN ultrasounds, and it is a doctor who actually does the scan, not a tech. This way you get to talk about what you see on the screen, as the scan is going on. As opposed to having a tech do the scan, who can not tell you what they are seeing, and will only tell you that you need to wait to speak to a doctor about your results. So that is the wonderful benefit of choosing to go to this particular u/s center. The downside? They used to have two doctors, but now only have one. The one that I do NOT like. The last time I was there I got a very lengthy lecture on my *ADVANCED* maternal age. He was rude during the scan, as he wouldn't tell me what he was scanning unless I asked. I had also told him that we did NOT want to know the gender of the baby, so when he was moving toward that area, if he could let me know, so I could look away. Well, he didn't tell me, and he just whisked that scanner down there at one point, showing what VERY much looked like boy parts. I tried to reason with myself that it could have been the umbilical cord, but Isabella who was with me said, "MOM! There was NO WAY that was the unbilical cord! That was a BOY!" Yeah, it was that obvious. Grrr. So I definitely went into the scan with reserve when I saw that this doctor was going to be doing it (I had hoped that another doctor would have signed on since my last visit). I even had my own "lecture" to give, should it be needed.
I am very happy to say that the doctor was much more pleasant this time around! No lecture, and he wasn't rude. He even told us before the scan that since I was 19 weeks along, the gender would be quite obvious, especially to someone who has had multiple scans in the past. He said he could turn off the screen. But I told him, no, I wanted to see the baby, but if he could just warn me when he was heading that way. And he did! A much nicer experience than last time!
The baby had been active the 15 minutes before the doctor came in. But then was quiet when he got there. When the doctor first put the probe on my tummy, our first look made Jeremiah and I VERY concerned. The baby was curled up in a ball. Think of a baby at 8 or 12 weeks gestation, and you get the idea. The doctor said it was an uncommon position for a baby to be in, but it didn't mean anything was wrong with the baby. He said, once we got the scan under way the baby would likely wake up and move around and stretch out. And that is exactly what happened. Phew. This was one VERY active baby, once he woke up (I'm still thinking boy). The most active baby on u/s that we have had so far!
The doctor was great about telling us what he was looking at, and he warned me when he was heading 'south'. The first couple of measurements that he made were of the baby's head and tummy. I was 19 weeks 1 day along, and those first couple of measurements were calculated to be 18 weeks. I know that it is normal for an u/s to be off by a few weeks, but I asked if those measurements were ok. The doctor said that if my dates were truly accurate then the scan should be no more than 1 week off. He said that those measurements were just within the normal range. This had me a little concerned to see what the rest of the baby's measurements were. I think since I've had to take allergy meds during this pregnancy I've been a bit nervous about the baby. The ONLY other baby that I took ANY medications at all with, was with Jedidiah. So seeing that those first two measurement barely squeaked into the 'normal' range had me worried. But the rest of the baby's measurements were for 19 weeks, and the average of them all came out to be 18 weeks 5 days...totally in the norm. Phew! And, yes, I worry too much :-) That is my job. Ha, ha.
We talked about further testing options, since you know, my age (ahem), but we decided to just have another scan at 28 weeks to make sure all is still well with the baby. We left with some pictures of our wee one, which you can see below. The rest of the night I was tired from being out in the heat for most of the day. But I managed to make a yummy dinner and then I crashed :-) On the way home I asked Jeremiah and Saoirse what they saw on the u/s. Saoirse basically said she was clueless. ha, ha. Jeremiah said he thought he saw, "two buns"...which if you've seen u/s pictures of girls (you can google that), that would be a girl. BUT that being said, for the few u/s that were done of our girls, he thought they were boys. So who knows! I will say that having a girl would go along with this pattern breaking baby :-) I am still sticking with it being a boy for now. I suppose I will get more of an idea when a name starts vying for my attention. So far, 7 out of 7 pregnancies, I've only liked ONE name each time. And that name happened to be for whatever gender we had! But, again, if this is going to be a pattern breaker...anything is possible.
Here are pictures of our sweetie:
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