Today we got to see pictures and video of our newest teeny-tiny boy or girl.
We opted to go to a perinatal specialist to determine if our baby is at an elevated risk for birth defects. They performed three tests: a blood test, a sonogram, and an age test. Basically, the age test was "are you under 35 years old?" That one made me laugh because, as I pointed out to Steven, I could perform that one myself, haha. They also measured the baby's nuchal fold during the sonogram and found that that measurement was in the normal range as well (yay!). Once the blood test results come back, we'll know our exact risk of having a child with birth defects.
Here is a picture of the nuchal fold measurement:
So, the most exciting part of all of this (in my opinion) was the chance to see our baby boy or girl!!!
Here he or she is, stretching out after being poked and prodded for a while. The sonographer told us that this was the first baby she had seen all day who was "cooperating" with the sonogram. Fingers crossed (but not holding my breath!) that this child turns out to be this cooperative in real life as well.
The sonographer had me cough so we could see the baby wiggle around. This is the first time we had seen a 3D ultrasound in person, and I was just so fascinated with it. After several forced coughs, baby finally started to wiggle. I can't wait until I can feel those wiggles throughout the day.
The sonographer guessed our child's gender, but the doctor said it was too early to tell. Any guesses? Steven and I both have openly admitted that we would like a girl, but today I felt like if they had told me we were definitely having another boy, I would be thrilled as well. I guess we'll have to wait until 18 weeks to find out for sure. We found out that if we had taken the original appointment I had been offered, next Friday, that we would have been able to find out the gender. Ahhh! We are not so great at waiting.
Oh well, Baby Haynes, your secret is safe for another few weeks. Until then, we still love you like crazy and think about you every day.
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