Le Grand Phew

On Wednesday I was 19 weeks and 4 days pregnant, and we went in for our ultrasound.

Before I get to the results of said ultrasound, let me describe for you who have not had one what the process of getting a second trimester fetal ultrasound is like. When I booked the appointment, the woman told me to drink two litres of water starting two hours before my appointment. Maybe that was 1 litre of water 2 hours before, but I couldn't specifically remember, and went for the gusto just in case. I had two glasses before I left home – which is totally fine, I normally have a large glass in the morning – and then panicked on my way to town that I hadn't had enough and had sabotaged the entire process and so I had to stop and buy a bottle at a dépanneur. So that means two glasses of water, plus a bottle. Add to that my tea, which was too hot to drink so I sipped it slowly in the waiting room. I only made it through half a cup.

Well. By the time I was called in to get my hospital card the situation was already critical. I felt like perhaps my bladder was going to fall out of my body and land on the chair. I pictured it all swollen and pressing downward and I didn't think I would be able to make it from the waiting room to the ultrasound room. I made hubby hold my tea, because I didn't want to be reminded of the existence of liquid. I went in and begged them to let me pee, but the receptionist didn't speak English very well, and said "10 seconds". I took that to mean I would have my ultrasound in 10 seconds, but that was not the case. She meant I could pee for 10 seconds. Anyway once I sorted that out, I ran to the washroom and peed a bit. Turns out, once you've started peeing and you really have to go badly, it's quite hard to stop but stop I did, proudly. I went back into the office and they told me it would be another half an hour; I was irate. I sat in that waiting room and 10 seconds later the situation became gloomy once again. Hubby went to find the cafeteria to get something to eat, since he hadn't eaten breakfast and it was going on 11 am, and left me squirming in my chair. Finally I decided to take matters into my own hands. I angrily jogged to the bathroom, peed most of what I had, then marched out, dumped my tea into the water fountain, filled my cup with water, and started all over again. Man alive, it's torture to make someone drink all that water and then make them wait an additional 30 minutes. They should know that these things are timed very carefully….

The ultrasound technician was very nice, though language was still an issue. I could understand her, she just couldn't understand us completely. Anyway. She didn't have much of a sense of humour because when I asked her to please tell me that my baby's head wasn't too too big, she didn't get it. I think I even said "I don't want to pass a giant head" but nothing. Silence. I can't complain, as she was very sweet, patient when the baby wasn't cooperating, waited for the baby to get into a good position to see what sex it is even though it's not part of her required exam, and gave us four pictures to take home instead of the standard two.

All news was good news. This baby is freaking adorable, and so far perfectly healthy. We saw the heart pumping, the little empty stomach, the brain (a genius, of course), the little toes and fingers and nose and mouth and chin and everything. All in all I would estimate that all stretched out, baby is approximately 9 or 10 inches long (this includes legs, which don't usually get measured, as they're all folded up). By the end of it, I predictably had to pee like a racehorse once again. The moral of this story is that Gennyland only requires like one large glass of water before having a fetal ultrasound. Gennyland has a tiny bladder.

So here's the result: our beautiful baby girl. I have never seen anything so perfect in all my life.