Our doctor does a routine ultrasound when the baby has reached term to check on growth, health and amniotic fluid. Justin and I were so excited for this. We couldn't wait to see how big our son has grown! Boy, has he grown! He is definitely running out of room. Actually, I could have told you that before the ultrasound. My stomach is stretched to the max. The ultrasound technician estimated that our baby is 6 1/2 pounds. He should gain about 1/2 pound each week, meaning he could be an 8lb baby! Let's hope he comes before he gets that big.
We were able to see all our baby's organs and major body parts. Our son is head down, with his legs in pike position, so he's basically folded in half with his toes next to his head. We saw some 3D images of his face. His nose was squished against my insides. With one hand he was holding onto his foot which was pressed against his temple. Pretty cute! He was swallowing and opened his eyes at one point so we could see his lenses. It's crazy that an ultrasound can show all that!
I was tearing up with joy seeing my son's face. We love him so much already. It's hard to wrap our minds around the fact that we will love him even more when he is born.
A few days after our ultrasound, we had a routine appointment with our OB. When we got there, we found out that she had been pulled into an emergency surgery, so the nurse would meet with us instead. As she took my vitals, she asked us, "Did Doctor Nelson go over the ultrasound results with you?" When we told her she hadn't, the nurse got an uncomfortable look on her face. We could tell something was not right. The nurse told us that she couldn't decode all the jargon in the notes, but what she could tell was, "there may be something wrong with the baby's heart". She kept talking, but I couldn't hear it because I was immediately in shock and started crying. We've been believing all along that our son was perfect, and to hear this was like a punch in the stomach. It was obvious she didn't know exactly what the report said and we were extremely upset by the uncertain news. When there are inconclusive results on a test, they usually reschedule an ultrasound a few days later, but I think she could tell there was no way we were leaving that building without answers. She called and made us an immediate appointment with a pediatric heart specialist in the building, so we headed straight over. We prayed on our way down and Justin kept reassuring me that everything would be alright.
I was in a fog as we walked into the office. We had to fill out paperwork and as the receptionist was talking with us, I started bawling and said, "I don't even know why we're here! The nurse just told us something is wrong and we have no idea what's going on!"
The receptionist was great. She assured us that the specialist, Dr. Park, who we were seeing was the best, as was the technician who was conducting the ultrasound. He drove in from Gig Harbor especially to meet with us. She said they would explain every detail as they did an in-depth ultrasound of the baby's heart. We were told that the original ultrasound showed a shadow next to the heart which can indicate too much fluid and more issues in the future. At this appointment, they took 45 minutes to look at every single aspect of our son's heart. They watched the blood flow, took an up-close look at each chamber, the walls and arteries, explaining everything as they went along. At the end, Dr. Park assured us that there was absolutely nothing wrong with our baby. He said that often normal ultrasounds can have shadows that actually are nothing, but have to be looked into. This was the case for us. Now we are extra certain that our baby is healthy, this was just not the way we wanted to find that out!
It was tremendously scary, and was probably the most terrifying few hours of my life. It showed me just how attached Justin and I are to our son already. We just wanted our baby out of my tummy and into our arms. It's so hard feeling helpless. We love him so much, and he's not even here yet. It made us how much our parents love us and gives us a glimpse at how much God loves us. We are so blessed to have this little life.
