Such a Shy Baby!

We had our very first (and hopefully only) ultrasound today!

[I say "hopefully only" because I wanted to have as few ultrasounds as possible. Also, my midwife won't recommend any future ultrasounds unless I develop a complication, or there is cause for concern. So no more ultrasounds = healthy pregnancy and baby!]

What can I tell you about the baby? He/She is an expert in "assuming the position." Our baby was head down, bum up by my belly button, facing my spine; the perfect position for delivery. And boy, did Baby like it down there! We had the hardest time trying to get our Little One to turn so we could see the face!

Meanwhile, the ultrasound tech got some really good measurements of the head and spine. We saw kidneys, bladder, stomach, heartbeat, hands and feet, legs and arms, shoulders, brain.......but no face!

The ultrasound tech had me lay on my side, then she tried moving the bed so that my head was lower than my feet. Finally she let me go to the bathroom, and had me move around a bit to see if we could get the baby to move.

When she put the wand back down on my stomach, the opportunity lasted only a few seconds, but we finally got a peek at the face! The tech laughed, because the baby was folded in half, legs straight, and she said usually it's the hands nearly blocking the face, and not the feet!

The tech got a few pictures, and then Baby moved back down to where she or he started. Our baby really seems to prefer that position!

Here are some of the pictures:

Here is our Little One, folded in half, and content to stay that way.

A little foot. I can't wait to kiss those tiny toesies!

And finally the face! Even when Baby did turn, the chin was tucked, so I kept praying that she or he would lift their chin so we could get a good look! This lasted only a second, but a second was all we needed.

We also got to hear the heartbeat SO clearly! At my last doctor's appointment, the baby was moving around too much, so my doctor couldn't lock onto the heartbeat long enough to time it. But with an ultrasound, you can hone in on it much better. We even got to hear how the heartbeat sounded as the tech focused on each chamber of the heart. I thought that was pretty cool.

Anyway, heartbeat is 147 bpm. Many people out there seem to think this is indicative of the gender. Care to wager a guess?

Speaking of gender, I was really hoping that I wouldn't accidentally find out the sex of our baby, and it turns out, we couldn't have known even if we wanted to! The baby made sure to keep that a secret as well. So modest. The tech said even she didn't know, and she was glad. She doesn't want to accidentally reveal those things when couples don't want to find out.

So I had nothing to worry about. Our baby is healthy, we did manage to get a brief glimpse of the face, and we'll get to have that moment at delivery when we find out if it's a little boy or a little girl.