Surprise! Ultrasound!

Yesterday I had my 37 week check up with my obstetrician. Hooray for now being full term! As far as I knew I was just getting the usual check up (weigh in, pee in a cup, check my blood pressure, listen to the little one's heart beat, ask any questions, see you next week) with the new addition of checking my cervix for dilation. I was, therefore, extremely surprised when the nurse who called my name lead me back to the ultrasound room - I haven't been there since I was about 10 weeks pregnant and our darling was nothing more than a teeny tiny squirmy thing that bore no resemblance whatsoever to anything human (the second ultrasound was done by the hospital). After making note of my blood pressure in my file, the nurse asked me, "Did the doctor mention why you were having an ultrasound?" I could see the neon pink post-it affixed to my folder with the word "ultrasound" scrawled on it, but "No," I told her. "I didn't even know I was having an ultrasound."

The doctor took long enough to come to my room to give me plenty of time to work myself into a good worry. Why was I having an ultrasound? If the doctor had felt something was wrong last week she would have mentioned it last week, right? She had mentioned that he was BIG, so maybe that had something to do with it... maybe she just wanted to be sure I didn't have a small giant preparing to destroy my uterus. I didn't know and though I wanted to be excited that I was going to get to see my baby (whom I haven't seen for about 18 weeks), there's something nerve-wracking about an unscheduled ultrasound.

When the doctor finally entered the room, her first question was, "So do you remember why I said you needed an ultrasound today? Was I worried he might be breech? Too big?" "Well, you did say he was big, but we never talked about an ultrasound," was my reply. Huh. We're both baffled. She palpates my stomach and confirms that Roger is in the head-down position. Not breech. All I can think of is that it must have been a clerical error, another patient who had an appointment around the same time as myself, a post-it note that ended up on my folder instead of hers. Whatever the situation, now that I know nothing is egregiously wrong, I really want the ultrasound even though it's obviously not meant for me. I always knew that (pending a healthy pregnancy) I would only be getting two ultrasounds, so no need to get my hopes up for an unscheduled third. Then she says, "Well, since we're already in here and all set up, let's do it just for fun. We won't charge you for it." Score! I was beyond thrilled.

So that is how it came to be that I got an ultrasound yesterday (and confirmed that Roger is, in fact, still a boy, which is fantastic since his nursery is totally unsuitable for a girl). Obviously the first ultrasound wasn't much to ooh and aah over since he looked more like a baby chicken than a baby at that point, and our evidently very bored ultrasound tech who did the second ultrasound sent us home with a picture of a foot and another picture which had us questioning whether I had, by chance, been inseminated by a creature from another planet, so I was really excited at not only the opportunity to HAVE a third ultrasound, but that the pictures actually turned out really well. His little face filled up the whole screen (as he's obviously grown a lot in the last 18 weeks since my last sonogram), but short of a 4D ultrasound, I'm elated at how well you can see his face.

He has his daddy's hairline:


I have started to dilate just a most negligible amount - not even at a centimeter yet - so the doctor predicts it'll probably be another couple weeks before I go into labor. I'm off to the hospital today to finish up my pre-registration and just in general ready to get through the next few weeks...