the BIG ultrasound

This past Friday, at 18 weeks and 1 day, we had our "big ultrasound". I have been so anxious to see the baby again, check on his/her health and development, and, of course to find out the gender. Sam took the whole day off with me, and he and my parents helped me get started setting up my classroom that morning. It definitely helped passed the time until my afternoon doctor's appointment, and it felt great to have everybody around me so sweet to help me in my classroom.

This is my 18 week photo. Sam joined me this time.

On the way to the appointment, I was supposed to drink thirty-two ounces of water in the 30 minutes proceeding the ultrasound. I felt like I wasn't going to make it after drinking that much!

Here we are before we went in for our ultrasound... our photo before we knew if we'd have a son or daughter.

We got back to the ultrasound room pretty quickly once we arrived at the office. Our ultrasound tech did the most important things first... measuring the organs, checking for the presence of all the different little organs, measuring the leg and arm bones, checking out the function of the little kidneys, counting fingers and toes, measuring the head, checking the circulation of the four heart chambers and the umbilical cord, and all the other items on the ultrasound checklist. The baby looks great and is developing very well! She even said the baby's heart is beautiful, but we already knew that. :)

Next up was the big moment. The tech was trying her best to see the gender, but our baby was on his/her hands and knees because there wasn't much room with my bladder in the way. Our tech kept trying for a little longer to move the wand and get a view, but it wasn't really working. So, she suggested I go to the bathroom (thank goodness) so we could see if that would give the baby more room. When I got back, Little Monkey was on his/her back, batting at the umbilical cord, moving an arm around, and sucking the thumb. And, those little knees we just about glued together with the feet covering the area we were trying to see. Our tech, bless her heart, was bound and determined to get a view. She had me roll over to my right, to my left, to my right, to my left, back to my back, probably six or seven times. She had me stay on my back and was jostling my belly with the probe to try to make baby shift a little. We did that process several times, and those little legs and knees were still glued tight. I felt bad for her! Next, she suggested I try getting up and walking around to see if that would shift baby. So, I got up, walked, bounced, walked, bounced, and apparently it helped a little! When I laid back on the ultrasound table, our baby was still playing with the cord and reaching to suck the thumb, but those little legs were starting to spread a bit! We asked the tech how long was the longest it'd taken to see the gender... she said the longest was fifty minutes before they rescheduled to try again. We were approaching 35 at that point. I mentioned that we'd planned lunch for my parents to tell them the gender the next day, and she said she didn't want us to reschedule and would keep trying. Bless her. After a few more minutes, she said, "Girrrll", and I said, "I know this is taking so long. I feel bad." She said, "No... it's a girl!" I said, "What?" She said, "See... right there." I said, "OH!" She looked again to confirm that indeed, we were looking at a girl. I may or may have shouted, "Yay!" a little loudly at that point. Sam was proud of his baby gender-prediction skills and was excited! We would've been happy either way, but we both (him more than me) have had a feeling it's been a little girl in there.

So, it's officially a GIRL... Camille Ray Harris!

Our doctor had a very busy day and was backed up on his schedule, so we were very hungry by the time we saw him. Our consult was brief because Sam and I were both ready to get to dinner. He went over when to register for the hospital and baby/childbirth class, when we'd see him again, and recent symptoms. He is such a sweet doctor and was patient and chatted with us, even though it was already past closing time.

Here are Camille's most recent ultrasound photos.

What a fantastic and memorable day!

Tomorrow I'll share all about how we told the parents about little Camille.