16 Week Ultrasound

Having a high risk pregnancy is largely not fun. There is something that is really nice about it though - lots and lots of peeks at the baby! I also do feel fortunate to have such good monitoring already, although I am sure I will quickly tire of driving to the doctor's every week in the third trimester.

Yesterday we had an ultrasound at 16.5 weeks to check on the size of my cyst, (which has not grown,) the placement of the placenta and the development of Little Bit.

About 3 days before the ultrasound I started to get very nervous. People tell me that this is normal, and several have shared that they were nervous before every ultrasound or appointment all the way through. That made me feel better, because I was thinking that I was a bit irrational. Now I realize that although I am irrational, at least I have good company. I have been lucky enough now to feel the baby regularly for a couple of weeks. So I should have known that everything was okay, yet I was worried that there wouldn't be a heartbeat or something.

Not only does Little Bit still have a strong heartbeat, but we got a peek at its chambers. We saw a (big) head with a forming brain, a long spine, strong bones forming in the arms and legs, and a pair of big feet that even the sonographer had to comment on. (I am wondering if big feet are the reason I can feel movement so much.) To our delight, and the sonographers chagrin, our baby is very, very active. We watched Little Bit roll, beat, kick, and curl up for over an hour.

Of course, knowing that gender can be determined as early as 15 weeks, we were also hoping to be able to clarify that. Little Bit had a different idea though... his/her idea was to move around like crazy during the entire ultrasound. (The ultrasound was over one hour thanks to all of this movement!) Little Bit also thought it was funny to keep his/her legs together and actually covered his/her private area with a hand when we thought we were about to get a good peek! So - while we did get a look, it was brief and not enough for anyone to be 100% confident on gender yet. So sad for us, because I would really like to start planning some things. I guess I will just have to be patient for 4 more weeks. In the meantime, I am having a lot of talks with Little Bit and asking for better cooperation next time.

Here is Little Bit at 16 weeks and 3 days... I am very excited to be entering month 5 on Friday!