Smile for the see-through camera

I'm sure you are on the edge of your seat about my technical ultrasound last week.

The reason I didn't race home and blog about it immediately is that it was definitely a technical ultrasound. We visited a different doctor, an expert at this specific task. He wasn't here to make the baby look pretty on the monitor, he was trying to get the best angles possible to measure the baby's proportions. To be honest, most of the time we were there, while I had some idea what I was looking at, it wasn't very eye-pleasing. Mostly a jumble of bones and limbs.

There were some cool moments showing the practically fully-formed skull complete with eerie eye sockets, the heart's multiple chambers pumping away, and the myriad bones and teeth that already look fantastic. Thing is, when you watch the video, it's not much to post or show off.

The doc did take some stills of the baby's face profile but I have to say they are no better than the ones I got back in late July. Add in that it's been a very busy week for us and you have no posts about that visit.

The GREAT news is that the doctor said everything was fine. He confirmed my OB's assertion that it was definitely a boy (along with the usual "nothing is 100%" caveats) and that all other measurable characteristics were proportional and well-sized for this stage. This is the important bit of the visit, not getting pretty video or photos to ogle.

While it didn't take quite the hour I was told it might, about 30 solid minutes of being pushed in the belly with that device left me winded anyway. He moved the wand a lot, trying to get better angles, and often jiggling and jabbing roughly to get the kid to cooperate. The baby had a hand on the side of his face and wouldn't move it for anything, though we wanted to see that both hands were ok. The doc asked me to cough, and I did, which wiggled the womb in an amusing way, but still, the kid kept his hand to his face. After a while the doctor said he'd seen enough anyway from as many angles as possible, and the hand was fine.

Perhaps I'll watch some of the lengthy video again and find some good short clips and string them together, but believe me, it's needles in a haystack. A very boring, confusing haystack. Maybe a screenshot of the skeletal structure would make a fun Halloween-themed post.

In any case, healthy baby. Healthy baby. :)

In other news - I went in yesterday for a second diabetes test. The first one was an hour long. This one was THREE hours long. I fasted overnight and got there first thing in the morning. They drew blood, made me drink the horrible sugar drink (I make uncomfortable faces just thinking about it) and I sat in the waiting room. They drew blood every hour, for a total of 4 needles, and I just felt weak and uncomfortable. When I got out of there I made myself eat something and took a nap in my car before going back to work. The rest of the day I didn't feel too hot, either.

I get very confused about diabetes terms and types, but I do know that I've always been one to need to eat on time, or I get weak. I used to attribute this to my lack of reserves (ie body fat) but now I'm not so sure. It's never been a big enough deal for me to mention to my doctor. Everything I've read says that if that is indeed due to a type of diabetes, it's the non-medicating type which is manageable simply by eating right and on time. It's especially not a big deal in pregnancy when "eating" is the prescription to a healthy baby and mom.

Anyway, we'll see. Whatever they come back with, I'm ready to roll on, since everything else has come so easily.

Enough for today! I have a backlog of things to talk about - more posts when I get a moment!