There's a baby in there!

Today Danette had the 20 week Level II ultrasound (just a targeted ultrasound that measures sizes and checks various major limbs and organs). Everything turned out normal/nominal/fine/as expected, which was great news to us. We chose not to find out the gender. We were both feeling a little ambivalent about finding out - both of us shifted a little from previous views (me: I generally like good surprises, Danette: the planner wanted to plan). We decided ambivalence, meant we should go for the surprise at this point.

All that said, watching the screen of the ultrasound was so cool. The first image we saw was of the baby's brain! Then the doctor backed off and we saw the whole head, which she measured. She then went on to measure the femur and other parts of the body. We saw both hands and a foot (the doctor obviously saw and measured more than we were able to take in). But one of the coolest and most interesting things we saw was the heart. The doctor even zoomed in on it and we could see each of the four chambers and all of them pumping away. Somehow the doctor even estimated the weight (mass actually) of the baby at around 400 g (normal). Another thing I found interesting was near the end of the ultrasound the doctor turned on a mode that had color! My geophysical mind went to work and I realized (and later confirmed on the web) that the color was from the Doppler shift due to things moving inside the baby. My web search indicated that it was most-likely highlighting blood-vessels allowing the doctor to check on yet another aspect of the kid's anatomy.

Apparently everything is in good shape. That is wonderful news as we sit here at the half-way mark. We have a lot to do before May... but we've started projects around the house that we'd like to have done before the kid arrives and have even started stocking up on new furnitute. If you've seen our house there is a low density of furniture. We picked up the all important glider-rocker last Friday and ordered a dresser for the baby's room from our favorite local unfinished furniture store. We also picked up a bookcase for baby books and toys, but haven't put it together yet. Work to do another evening...