52% of babies can’t be wrong

With all the mental preparation behind, under, and inside of me, I went for my 26 week 2-vessel cord growth check ultrasound today.

As soon as we walked into the darkened room, I asked the ultrasound technician to please speak to me as he works — let me know if he is getting the pictures he needs, or if the baby is not cooperating. (Last time, the tech had me turning this way and that for forever until I finally asked her what was up and as soon as she verbalized the problem, the baby moved to where she needed him to. I figure it can’t hurt to request that I/we be kept abreast, so to speak.)

He was happy to comply, in a friendly, thick, and mumbling Indian accent. I have no idea about most of what he said, but at least he said it in a very nice tone of voice, so Scott and I figured that nothing bad was happening.

One tip, if you are pregnant and reading this and about to go to your next major ultrasound: Drink lots of water and don’t pee. A full bladder gives them a better view, I learned. My tech had to push pretty hard on my lower belly to see what he needed to see because of my empty bladder. He did explain what he was doing though, and I got the gist, so that helped.

Also, it wasn’t 30 continuous minutes of scanning, as I’d worried. He actually would scan a bit, pick the thing up off my belly, make some marks and type something, and put it back down. If he forgot to take it off while he was typing, I would remind him. The first time I did that, he misunderstood, and raised my seat, but he had to take the thing off my belly to do that. The second time I asked, and he tried to raise the seat again, I made myself more clear — I said that it itched, which it sort of did.

So, in the end, we have reconfirmed the 2-vessel cord diagnosis, and we have confirmed that the baby is growing just fine (as I’d thought, thank you very much!). He’s also got a good strong heart, and two kidneys (woo-hoo!).

He’s two pounds, which puts him in the 52nd percentile. Middle of the curve. Good boy! (This is my first experience with the infamous world of percentiles. Welcome to parenting, I guess.)

We’ll have to get checked again for growth at 34 weeks. Tra la la.