At almost 5 months, the belly is expanding a bit quicker and has gotten quite firm. The baby's still fairly small so I don't know if the size and firmness of the belly is all baby or some of it is from gas. haha We went in for the ultrasound last Monday before the 4th of July. We saw the baby alright, and it further confirms that there is something 'a brewing inside my stomach.
Prior to going into the examining room, we had to wait at least an hour. We were at Kaiser and so it wasn't a total shock that they'd be running late. I was supposed to have a full bladder to facilitate the ultrasound exam. I had been trying to hold my bladder for over an hour. How the hell are you supposed to do that and to top it off they're running late! I had enough of it and just decided to go. Right after I finished, I was finally called in. When we were about to go in the nurse tells Nick he'd have to wait an additional 20 minutes so she can do what she needs to do. Whatever that means. Poor Nick. So she and I go behind the white curtains and I laid myself down on the bed. She slathers this gel on my stomach, which I was expecting to be cold on first contact but it was the opposite. Nice and warm and soothing, it was. So the nurse is doing her thing. The probe is on my belly, she's moving it around and I'm watching her. I can't really see the monitor because she has it right in front of her and I'm at an angle. She's not really telling me what she's doing. So I start asking questions. Uhh, whatcha doing there? Does the baby look all right? Is it a boy or a girl? She tells me she's looking at the organs, bones, etc. and that she can't provide any results to me. The doctor would have to say what all these pictures mean. OK....so when can I check out my baby? So she tells me she's taking a bunch of pictures and she can't really talk now because she's concentrating.
Eventually, Nick is allowed in and he stands behind the nurse and has a better view of the monitor. Because of the silence, he starts in on the questions too. I ask him to shush because she's concentrating. He starts making faces and the nurse tells him she can see his reflection from the monitor. haha FINALLY, she is done taking the pictures she needs and turns the monitor towards us for a better view.
We see the baby moving around and are shown different views. We got to see the profile, the body, hands and feet, and even the vertebrae. It was all pretty amazing. Then the nurse asked if we wanted to know the sex of the baby. Of course we did! So, from what she can see, Nick and I will be having a baby girl!!!! Nick says he confirms it, as he can tell, obviously, that the baby appeared to be a girl. We do have a name for her. I'll share that name later.
