Ultrasound -28 weeks & update

[Elly]

I had the ultrasound today - I had one two weeks ago but the ob/gyn said she
wanted to do another one because the baby was moving so much and she had a
lot of patients that day and so couldn't spend her usual 20 minutes at it.
Well, everything is fine :-)

Of course, the baby moved during the scan, but it appeared as it has just
woken up so the movements weren't so vigorous so ob/gyn was able to do the
morphology scan and take the usual measurements:
- BPD = 71 mm (28+4)
- FL = 55 mm (28+6)
- AO = 246 mm (28+6)
- heartbeat = normal
- posterior placenta

My ob/gyn is very satisfied, and so am I. We came back on the subject of
fundus height being 4 cm ahead of my dates 2 weeks ago (she didn't measure
it this time), and she said it is really not that accurate, and according to
the U/S measurements everything looks perfect so not to worry.

She asked me if she told me the sex already, and I said, "No, but I don't
want to find out." Then I paused, "Can you tell for sure?" . She said yes,
but then I repeated, "No, please don't tell me, I'd prefer a surprise.".
I looked at the monitor the entire time, but as the baby was moving around,
I didn't see any *gender-specifying* parts myself ;-)

To be honest, although I never wanted to find out the sex before the birth,
I was always curious about the way I'd behave when the opportunity would
appear - whether I'd get so curious and suddenly would want to know, or
stick to my decision. I'm so glad I stuck with the decision!
After the ultrasound, I thought about it for a while and talked about it to
my Mom - she was kind of disappointed by the fact we (she) will not know the
baby's gender until its birth, and I asked her why, and she said it's
because of "baby clothes and being prepared". I said that as far being
prepared goes, I don't believe that knowing I'm expecting a boy or a girl
would change anything about my feelings or behaviour towards this baby, and
as far as the baby clothes go, I think girls can look just as pretty in blue
as boys can in purple or red - I wouldn't buy anything pink even if I knew
it's a girl, I don't like the colour, and anyway, if it turns out it's a
girl, plenty of people will give me pink stuff anyway!
As for the baby's name, I really want to choose both male and female names,
so knowing the sex would spoil that wish - and of course, in the end she
might turn out a he or vice versa (she said she is usually more than 90%
right about the gender) and then I'd be left with no name.

I'm still on the every-4-weeks schedule, my next appointment is on August
7th - so I'm free to join DH at his place and do some major baby shopping
next week - yay!.

Otherwise, I'm doing fine. We went to a wedding last Saturday and stayed
from 5 pm until 5 am and had a lot of fun! In the end, DH was more sleepy
than me or the baby ;-) Of course, people were very nice to me, coming up
and asking me how I feel all the time, the waitresses served me meals first
(*pregnant ladies must eat* syndrome!), we danced a bit (but nothing too
strenuous) and walked occasionally because the chairs at the restaurant were
rather uncomfortable for my back.
In fact, the wedding dinner took place at the city where I'll give birth,
and from the restaurant terrace you can see that hospital - and the floor
where the D&L department is. A few lights were on, and DH & I were thinking
how there must be someone giving birth at that very moment and were sending
them our vibes ;-) (I guess we got a bit emotional - the wedding was really
nice, if not the best we've been at - apart from our own, of course ;-)
Oh, and I wore my pre-pregnancy black dress (slightly stretchy, but very
acceptable) :-) I had people commenting on my bump, from "It's so big, are
you carrying twins?", to "Are you pregnant, you are hardly showing", so I
guess the *size of the bump* depends on who is actually looking at it ;-)
Oh, and there is a photo of me standing there with my hand on the bump -
baby was really kicking then - I must ask Diana (a friend who got married)
to scan and e-mail it to me!

Well, now I'm off to do some work on my baby shopping list (it has to be at
least 98% finalised by the weekend)!

Happy pregnancy/parenting everyone,
Elly
28 weeks + 1 day
EDD October 6th

[Em]

"Elly" > wrote in message
> I had the ultrasound today - I had one two weeks ago but the ob/gyn said
she
> wanted to do another one because the baby was moving so much and she had a
> lot of patients that day and so couldn't spend her usual 20 minutes at it.
> Well, everything is fine :-)
>
> Of course, the baby moved during the scan, but it appeared as it has just
> woken up so the movements weren't so vigorous so ob/gyn was able to do the
> morphology scan and take the usual measurements:
> - BPD = 71 mm (28+4)
> - FL = 55 mm (28+6)
> - AO = 246 mm (28+6)
> - heartbeat = normal
> - posterior placenta

Sounds like everything is going so well with the baby! Glad you resisted the
temptation of finding out the sex! I know you are quite committed to not
knowing, but it still seems like it could be easy to have a moment of
"weakness" and then regret it.

<snip>
> As for the baby's name, I really want to choose both male and female
names,
> so knowing the sex would spoil that wish - and of course, in the end she
> might turn out a he or vice versa (she said she is usually more than 90%
> right about the gender) and then I'd be left with no name.

We do have a girl's name for our baby too, just in case (it was picked
before the ultrasound & we are still quite sure that we would want to use
it. Probably for a future baby as well). I was quite convinced by our
ultrasound that this baby is definitely a boy, but I guess there is always a
tiny possibility of error. I don't know how I would handle it if the
ultrasound was wrong--I think it would really freak me out. He has such a
little identity & *personhood* to me now, that includes being a boy (among
other characteristics that would be the same regardless, such as extreme
kickiness!).

> Oh, and I wore my pre-pregnancy black dress (slightly stretchy, but very
> acceptable) :-) I had people commenting on my bump, from "It's so big, are
> you carrying twins?", to "Are you pregnant, you are hardly showing", so I
> guess the *size of the bump* depends on who is actually looking at it ;-)
> Oh, and there is a photo of me standing there with my hand on the bump -
> baby was really kicking then - I must ask Diana (a friend who got married)
> to scan and e-mail it to me!

Sounds like a fun time! I know exactly what you mean about people's
comments--I have yet to get any "you're so huge" or "twins" comments, but I
do get "wow! you look so pregnant comments" right alongside "wow! how can
you be due in Sept. you're so tiny!" As a matter of fact, Friday at work a
man came in and in the course of our conversation he asked if I had
children. I said, "just the one on the way" and he was utterly surprised and
hadn't noticed at all. That is the extreme though, often I just get the,
"can't believe you're due so soon" type comments. It seems like how big
people think I look is directly proportionate to how well they know me--the
less well, the less pregnant they think I look. Hmmm.

> Well, now I'm off to do some work on my baby shopping list (it has to be
at
> least 98% finalised by the weekend)!

Fun! Congrats on the great ultrasound and the 28 weeks so far! Those of us
with fall/late summer due dates are really getting close aren't we? I know
I've commented on it several times before, but I juat *cannot* believe that
I'm sitting here 30 weeks pregnant right now. I remember the TTC time and
the early m/c fears so *vividly* that it seems impossible that they are so
many months behind me now & I'm on the downhill slope to d-day!

> Happy pregnancy/parenting everyone,

Thanks! Hey, how have your headaches been lately? You haven't mentioned them
very much recently, so I'm crossing my fingers that they are being less
problematic lately.

--
Em
edd 9/23/03
(30 weeks today!).

[Kari]

Everything sounds great! Im glad you resisted temptation about finding out
the sex, I was worried when I started reading your post :)

Kari
mom to Kaylie (7) Noah (4) and #3 due Sept/Oct

"Elly" > wrote in message
...
> I had the ultrasound today - I had one two weeks ago but the ob/gyn said
she
> wanted to do another one because the baby was moving so much and she had a
> lot of patients that day and so couldn't spend her usual 20 minutes at it.
> Well, everything is fine :-)
>
> Of course, the baby moved during the scan, but it appeared as it has just
> woken up so the movements weren't so vigorous so ob/gyn was able to do the
> morphology scan and take the usual measurements:
> - BPD = 71 mm (28+4)
> - FL = 55 mm (28+6)
> - AO = 246 mm (28+6)
> - heartbeat = normal
> - posterior placenta
>
> My ob/gyn is very satisfied, and so am I. We came back on the subject of
> fundus height being 4 cm ahead of my dates 2 weeks ago (she didn't measure
> it this time), and she said it is really not that accurate, and according
to
> the U/S measurements everything looks perfect so not to worry.
>
> She asked me if she told me the sex already, and I said, "No, but I don't
> want to find out." Then I paused, "Can you tell for sure?" . She said yes,
> but then I repeated, "No, please don't tell me, I'd prefer a surprise.".
> I looked at the monitor the entire time, but as the baby was moving
around,
> I didn't see any *gender-specifying* parts myself ;-)
>
> To be honest, although I never wanted to find out the sex before the
birth,
> I was always curious about the way I'd behave when the opportunity would
> appear - whether I'd get so curious and suddenly would want to know, or
> stick to my decision. I'm so glad I stuck with the decision!
> After the ultrasound, I thought about it for a while and talked about it
to
> my Mom - she was kind of disappointed by the fact we (she) will not know
the
> baby's gender until its birth, and I asked her why, and she said it's
> because of "baby clothes and being prepared". I said that as far being
> prepared goes, I don't believe that knowing I'm expecting a boy or a girl
> would change anything about my feelings or behaviour towards this baby,
and
> as far as the baby clothes go, I think girls can look just as pretty in
blue
> as boys can in purple or red - I wouldn't buy anything pink even if I knew
> it's a girl, I don't like the colour, and anyway, if it turns out it's a
> girl, plenty of people will give me pink stuff anyway!
> As for the baby's name, I really want to choose both male and female
names,
> so knowing the sex would spoil that wish - and of course, in the end she
> might turn out a he or vice versa (she said she is usually more than 90%
> right about the gender) and then I'd be left with no name.
>
> I'm still on the every-4-weeks schedule, my next appointment is on August
> 7th - so I'm free to join DH at his place and do some major baby shopping
> next week - yay!.
>
> Otherwise, I'm doing fine. We went to a wedding last Saturday and stayed
> from 5 pm until 5 am and had a lot of fun! In the end, DH was more sleepy
> than me or the baby ;-) Of course, people were very nice to me, coming up
> and asking me how I feel all the time, the waitresses served me meals
first
> (*pregnant ladies must eat* syndrome!), we danced a bit (but nothing too
> strenuous) and walked occasionally because the chairs at the restaurant
were
> rather uncomfortable for my back.
> In fact, the wedding dinner took place at the city where I'll give birth,
> and from the restaurant terrace you can see that hospital - and the floor
> where the D&L department is. A few lights were on, and DH & I were
thinking
> how there must be someone giving birth at that very moment and were
sending
> them our vibes ;-) (I guess we got a bit emotional - the wedding was
really
> nice, if not the best we've been at - apart from our own, of course ;-)
> Oh, and I wore my pre-pregnancy black dress (slightly stretchy, but very
> acceptable) :-) I had people commenting on my bump, from "It's so big, are
> you carrying twins?", to "Are you pregnant, you are hardly showing", so I
> guess the *size of the bump* depends on who is actually looking at it ;-)
> Oh, and there is a photo of me standing there with my hand on the bump -
> baby was really kicking then - I must ask Diana (a friend who got married)
> to scan and e-mail it to me!
>
> Well, now I'm off to do some work on my baby shopping list (it has to be
at
> least 98% finalised by the weekend)!
>
> Happy pregnancy/parenting everyone,
> Elly
> 28 weeks + 1 day
> EDD October 6th
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

[Elly]

"Em" > ha scritto nel messaggio
news:x1ZQa.71798$N7.8694@sccrnsc03...
<Glad you resisted the
> temptation of finding out the sex! I know you are quite committed to not
> knowing, but it still seems like it could be easy to have a moment of
> "weakness" and then regret it.

Yes - it could have been really tempting, but in the end I was just
surprised that I just felt so firm about the decision! I didn't know my
will-power can be that strong ;-)
As I said, the only person who complained about me not using the opportunity
to find out the baby's sex was my mother; later that day I got a bit worried
about DH's feelings - remember, he wanted to know at the beginning! So I
phoned him again (after already reporting everything to be OK and me not
wanting to know the sex and him not commenting about it), and he said that
he did want to know at the beginning, but that now he thinks it will be a
very nice surprise and totally agrees with me! He said something that kind
of stuck with me - he said, "Knowing its sex for us does not change anything
really. It makes no difference whether it's a boy or a girl for me. It is a
part of us, it has been a part of us for a long time now, and knowing it's a
boy or a girl wouldn't make us feel any different about it, would it?" -
now, this was exactly how I felt about it, only I've never put it down to
words like that! I think the whole pregnancy experience is making us so much
more connected than before - and this is our 6th year of marriage!!!

I'm so glad he feels this way - so many of the fathers-to-be around here we
know feel still very *macho* about it! Like my friend Alex's husband - when
he found out at the ultrasound that they are having a boy, he stopped taking
any interest in her prenatal care - for him it is enough to know that he
*made* a boy to extend his family line, and that's it! He didn't take the
childbirth classes (he could have since he lives and works here), he doesn't
want to be at the childbirth although she wants him to be there very much...
He *made* a boy, so he is a *perfect man*, and that's it. Alex says she is
sure he would be even more not interested if she was having a girl. I just
think this behaviour is wrong.

>Hey, how have your headaches been lately? You haven't mentioned them
> very much recently, so I'm crossing my fingers that they are being less
> problematic lately.

I'm having them less frequently, yes. I had one that lasted for 2 days last
week (it started on Tuesday, and it didn't help I was walking around running
errands from 11 am to 2 pm without the hat), and I think it was so
persistent because of the toothache. But I must admit I don't suffer from
them as badly as before (now I will jinx myself and have a huge migraine for
sure ;-) This is why I did not investigate it further (remember that my GP
was sending me to see a physiatrist, neurologist and do the thyroid probes -
I reclined neurologist and the thyroid probes (since I know the thyroid is
always a bit enlarged in pregnancy, and since I can't imagine doing all the
neurology tests now!) but had the physiatrist show me some relaxation
exercises that can help. He also thinks it's all related to the uterus
growing bigger and this making it more difficult for the spine, so I'm not
worried. Now I just take a paracetamol pill when I sense the headache will
become a migraine, and cross my fingers it will go away. It usually does.
How are yours? I hope they are less frequent, too!

Elly
28 weeks + 2 days
EDD October 6th

[Elly]

"Kari" > ha scritto nel messaggio
...
> Everything sounds great! Im glad you resisted temptation about finding out
> the sex, I was worried when I started reading your post :)

Thanks Kari, and LOL - no, I'm still a loyal member of the
*not-knowing-or-wanting-to-know-the-baby's-gender* club :-))

Elly
28 weeks + 2 days
EDD October 6th

[Elly]

"==Daye==" > ha scritto nel messaggio
...
> On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 19:42:58 +0200, "Elly" >
> wrote:
>
> >Well, everything is fine :-)
>
> I am so happy for you, Elly!!! I am glad that everything is okay
> with the baby!

Thanks :-))

>
> I admire you for not finding out the sex. We will be finding out
> because I can't wait until the end. You should see me at Xmas.
> I am horrid with surprises.

I'm one of those persons who take ages to open presents (playing with the
wrapping, ribbons, etc. - simply enjoying the surprise), on the other hand
;-)

Elly
28 weeks + 2 days
EDD October 6th

[Elly]

"Cheryl S." > ha scritto nel messaggio
...
> Elly > wrote in message
> ...
> > I had the ultrasound today - <snip>
> > Well, everything is fine :-)
>
> That's great Elly! I'm glad the baby was cooperative and there's
> nothing worrisome now. Also glad to hear you are feeling good.

Thanks, Cheryl! I hope you feel more comfortable, too - I know patience is
hard when you are pregnant, but it's the only thing left for us to do...

>
> > I'm still on the every-4-weeks schedule, my next appointment is
> > on August 7th - so I'm free to join DH at his place and do some
> > major baby shopping next week - yay!.
>
> How fun!! Enjoy!

Oh, I will - I can't wait to have a *legitimate* reason (i.e. baby needs) to
spend LOTS of money ;-)

Elly
28 weeks + 2 days
EDD October 6th

[Henrietta Louise]

Congratulations on the great ultrasound. And, good job on holding out
until the birth on knowing the gender.
I want to wait to find out, but my husband would rather know, so we will
see what happens. With my third I asked not to know, but the doctor
settled right in and said this is the left thigh and then there was this
boy part that couldn't be missed. =-)

Regards,
Henrietta
#4's edd: March 22, 2004