 | Diary Navigation:
|
November 11, 2001
November 11, 2001
20+ Weeks
HEALTHY BABY! And I couldn’t be happier! Hahaha! Got you there, didn’t I? Certainly you didn’t all think I would give in and find out the sex, did you? Of course not, but I will admit, it was tempting. The whole appointment was an amazing experience, but before I talk about that, let me backtrack a day or so...
For a lot of women, it appears to me that the night before the midway ultrasound is a night of great anticipation and excitement. So many women (and men as well), cannot wait to find out the sex of the baby and are simply chomping at the bit to get to the appointment so they can learn whether they need to start decorating in blue or pink. This was not at all the case for me. The night before my ultrasound was one filled with complete worry because for that whole day and probably one or two days before that, I felt not one fetal movement at all. Not a kick, not a flutter, nothing, so of course, I just KNEW something was wrong. At around 10 o’clock, after Charles went to bed, I went upstairs, sat in the den, and cried uncontrollably for about 5 minutes envisioning possible scenarios of the next day’s ultrasound. I envisioned the u/s tech scanning over a non-moving baby, telling us that is was dead and that they would have to do a D&C or whatever it is that they do at this stage of the pg. After about 5 minutes or so of sobbing, all of a sudden, I felt a very distinct kick. I stopped mid-sob and put my hand on my stomach and then again, I felt another kick, this time I felt it both in my stomach and on my fingertips. I simply couldn’t believe it! It was like an act of God or a miracle or something to me because the baby moved at exactly the time I needed it to. It was almost like my baby was trying to say “It’s OK Mommy, I’m still here.” Never in my life have I felt so relieved about anything and after feeling my baby kick for another ten minutes, I feel asleep on the couch and slept calmly until morning.
The next morning my mom arrived at our house around 9:30 and then Charles, my mom and I all left for the appointment. (My dad arrived later that evening as he would never have made it though this appointment - he is quite squeamish about anything medical, even if no blood is involved). I was lucky that I didn’t have to drink any extra water, but I could not go to the bathroom for one hour before my appointment. I had tried not to drink much that morning though because I didn’t want to run the risk of a full bladder in case my appointment was running late. We got there early and the u/s tech was nice enough to take me right away. She brought the three of us into the back and had me change in a little changing room while Charles and my mom waited outside. I had to take everything off except my bra and in exchange, I put on a dressing gown that opened all the way down the back. Now, for those of you who read my preconception diary, this next bit will ring familiar. As I started to peel off my knee-high stockings, I noticed that my toenails were blackened on the tips. Horrified, I realized that due to nerves, my feet were sweaty and my black Joan & Davids had leaked their dye onto my toes - real nice. So, I decided, the hell with this, I am leaving my knee highs on, it won’t matter. There was no way I was going out with what looked like dirty feet! As I exited the little changing room, I see my mom and Charles and another expectant father all standing there as I bounce out in my hideous ensemble - naked me, ass half exposed, with knee-highs - not a pretty picture. I then turned so that my back was facing the wall, closed my gown and edged my way down the hall to the u/s room while all three of them snickered at my situation. This could only happen to me.
Once I was lying down, the tech squirted some very warm gel onto my stomach and started rolling the scanner thing over my stomach. The first thing the tech said was that the baby was moving an awful lot and asked me if I could feel it moving. Honestly, I couldn’t feel a thing. It was comforting to know though that my baby could be moving that much and I still might not be able to feel anything.
Immediately we saw what looked like a gigantic spine. The spine was so damn big and pronounced (to me), it looked like something you would see on some early unevolved fish, dating back thousands of years ago. Of course, I immediately thought this didn’t seem normal and could only mean - spina bifida. I didn’t say anything because I figured I would wait to hear the tech’s commentary. She wasn’t saying a whole hell of a lot, so I finally just asked her - is the spine OK? She told me that it was perfect and looked completely normal. After looking at the spine and back for awhile, she started checking thehead and the face. It was so bizarre because the baby was moving so much so on the screen before us, the face would pop in and then out, in then out. It resembled this giant blinking skull and reminded me of something I saw on TV once. If any of you were avid Brady Bunch watchers, you may remember the episode where Marcia was having a slumber party and the boys wanted to scare Marcia and all her friends? Do you remember the part where they put a blinking skull in the refrigerator and whenever someone opened the door, the skull would blink and make noises? Well, this is exactly what my baby’s face looked like to me, minus the noises. A big, blinking skull and honestly, the sweetest little skull I have ever seen. The tech checked the eyes, nose, mouth and lips and to my delight, confirmed that there were no deformities, no cleft palates and that the skull/head is the right size. She checked the brain, the heart with all its four chambers, the kidneys - everything looked great she said. Then she moved on to the arms which she said are long, but not abnormally long or anything. This did not surprise any of us because both Charles and I have extremely long arms, especially me, being a woman. I am forever trying to find shirts that have sleeves long enough to fit me. When we told the tech we didn’t want to know the sex, she told us we had better look away because if the baby is a boy, you can often times see the penis and ruin the surprise. When it came time to check the legs, she told us it was time to turn away so Charles and I both looked in the other direction. My mom decided to look and vowed she could keep her mouth shut either way. After it was all done, the tech reassured us that the legs were normal, both feet had all its toes, etc. The whole appointment took about 45 minutes. When it was over, the tech said she thought our baby looked like a perfect fetus and that I am measuring exactly according to my due date. She then indicated that she had to go over the results with the doctor who would return to speak with us as well. While we waited for the doctor, my bladder bursting by that time, my mom said to us that she looked really hard when the tech was scanning the genital area and she saw nothing there at all. I still don’t think that means a thing though, it was hard enough making out the arms and legs, so a penis could be easily missed. Time will tell.
I have to say this next part more for my future child than for any other reason: seeing my baby’s face on that screen was one of my few memorable life’s experiences. Though I always felt that I already loved this baby and felt bonded to it, nothing compared to seeing its little facial image in front of me. For the first time ever, it finally clicked with me that there is a little soul in here, a little being that literally needs me, and the most amazing part about it all is Charles and I MADE that. It is a total cliché but life is a true miracle. Now I can’t stop thinking that if this simple, intangible experience has made me feel more attached to my child, what will actual childbirth bring? I’m sure it is quite unimaginable and I simply cannot wait.
Another wonderful part of the appointment was that my mother was able to be present. I cannot stress to you enough how incredible it was to have her there with us. It made me feel good to provide my mother with an experience she was unable to have with me, obviously because ultrasounds didn’t exist way back when. If any of you out there have the opportunity to have your mothers present at your ultrasounds, I highly recommend asking her if she wants to be there, it is a truly special experience.
After the appointment, the three of us went to the baby furniture store where we had chosen the furniture I described in an earlier entry. A nice person had recently posted on my boards that there was another store to check out before making our final decision. She had said the store that we were looking at tended to be pricey so we decided to put our order on hold and check this other place out first. A week or so ago, Charles and I went to this other store which indeed had beautiful things. However, we didn’t see anything we liked as much as the furniture we had originally chosen. Luckily enough, the set we chose was very similar in price to what this other store offered, so we didn’t feel like we were getting ripped off.
My parents paid for our furniture and we will be forever grateful to them for their generosity. It was really sweet of my mom when she told me that it gave her great pleasure to do it because when I was born, my parents had no extra money to go out and buy new baby furniture. Practically everything they had for me was hand me down so my mother felt that if she couldn’t afford furniture for her own child, it meant a lot to her that she could provide it for her grandchild. Isn’t that sweet?
So, the furniture is due to arrive around the beginning of January and that is when we will focus on decorating the baby’s room. Only two months left to go, it’s amazing how time flies.
I have a couple of questions on a few different topics that I was hoping some of you could provide answers for. Here they are:
1) Is it safe to eat raw oysters or any shellfish for that matter, while pg? I couldn’t find any information regarding shellfish, only tuna, sea bass and shark. Yesterday my parents and I went out to lunch in Old Town Alexandria and I had a half dozen oysters. I couldn’t help myself! Of course, I felt so guilty for the rest of the day because somehow it felt wrong eating them. What do you think?
2) Cleaning Products - are they safe to use even if you inhale just a little bit? Charles normally cleans everything for me, but I wanted to get a jump start on the house since my parents were coming to spend the night. My goal was to simply do the bathrooms and nothing else but after two minutes of inhaling loads of Lysol disinfectant, I just left everything where it was and did laundry instead. I read in WTEWYE (What to Expect When You’re Expecting), that there is no conclusive evidence showing that inhaling cleaning products can harm your unborn child, still, this doesn’t seem right. If I inhale fumes and start coughing uncontrollably, that can’t be good for my baby, can it? Yet, I am sure there are plenty of us out there who don’t have cleaning ladies or husbands generous enough to do all the housework. These women still have healthy babies, right?
3) Cat bite- Yesterday we all went to visit some family friends of my parents who live locally. These friends have an 10 year-old pure white, appearing perfectly friendly, indoor and outdoor cat. The cat was really affectionate when we got there, wanting to be petted and rubbed by each and every newcomer. Finally, the cat approached me and started sniffing my arm. As I reached out to pet his fluffy, little head, the little monster whipped around and took a three-tooth bite out of my palm, drawing blood. As you all may remember, I am a true cat person, I really love cats, but at that moment I could have drop kicked the little bastard into next week. I have had quite a few cats in my time and although some of them were prone to biting, NONE of them ever attacked people with such viciousness and force - this cat meant business, his bite was certainly no little “love nip.” After getting over the initial shock and after restraining myself from kicking in his bony little skull, it suddenly dawned on that a cat bite may not be the best thing in the world for a pg woman. The owners claimed he has all his shots, but who the hell knows? The cat spends half his time outdoors so is he really that disease-free? Should I be concerned?
4) Magazines - ever since registering at BRU and buying maternity clothes, I have been receiving order forms in the mail for free subscriptions to a variety of different baby magazines. I would like to send off for these magazines now but I know once I do this, the magazines will start coming the following month. What I was wondering is, do you think I should wait until around the time the baby arrives or slightly thereafter to start my subscription? I don’t know if it helps to start reading up on this stuff now or if it would be better to simply wait until later, when I have an actual baby in my arms and it all makes more sense to me. This is not an important issue, I realize, but I am still interested in what others have done.
I will end this entry with a discussion on “strollers.” I do not wish to discuss all the various brands, types, the benefits or disadvantages, but rather would like to speak about a whole different kind of stroller which I KNOW you are all familiar with, regardless if you have ever had a child or not. This stroller is what I refer to as “the mall stroller,” and is usually a ridiculous, plastic monstrosity, molded into the form of a race car, “horsie” or demonic clown face, etc. Almost all my life, I have seen women pushing their children in these “mall strollers,” and have always thought - ughhh! How tacky! Can’t these women just bring their own strollers? Even if you don’t want to spend that much money on some expensive brand, you could always just get a $30 umbrella stroller instead. Certainly, there was no need for these women to resort to this nonsense. Besides the fact that these strollers look like they weigh a 100 lbs, they are also usually so wide and cumbersome, it seems impossible that a person could accomplish a thing while pushing this crap around. As a result of my very strong feelings on so “important” a subject matter, I silently vowed to never, ever use one. Charles’ views on this subject pretty much mirrored mine. Then, last Thursday while at Montgomery Mall in MD, we were “strolling,” along ourselves, getting in a little baby shopping. Eventually, we approached the “mall stroller” booth where there were about 50 of these strollers all waiting to be rented. (I assume they are rented, I can’t imagine they simply let you use them for free). Charles and I both groaned inwardly as we looked on, both of us claiming that never in life would we ever rent one of these creations. At this booth was a mother with her what appeared to be two-year old son. These strollers were in the shape of little race cars (hideous), and even had a little steering wheels in the front for the child to play with. As the mother spoke to the “stroller man,” Charles and I stood and watched the little boy. He gleefully ran up to the stroller, hopped in and started moving the steering wheel around like he was in a real car. He looked so HAPPY, I tell you, it could almost bring a tear to your eye. As the mother began to push the stroller, the little boy “vroom vroomed” away, completely oblivious to the world around him, content for the time being in his imaginary world.
Charles looked at me and I looked at him, both of us fully aware of what the other was thinking. Charles then said, “So when they ask us to ride in that thing, are you still going to say no?” My response was a smile accompanied with a simple, “What do you think?” Charles said, “Me neither.” And with that we grabbed hands and continued our stroll. I have no way of knowing for sure, but I would bet that as we walked on silently for the next few minutes, we were probably both thinking the same thing: how cool it will be to one day walk through the mall, our child seated contentedly, as we push them along in their clown on wheels.
Love and hugs,
Corinne and her baby
 |  |
|
want to keep a diary on iParenting?
Authoring a diary on the iParenting network allows you to chronicle your family's story, preserving it for years to come. It's also a great way to get the most out of the iParenting community. Click here to start...
|
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families. 
