Munchkin Viewing

We had our first munchkin viewing (aka ultrasound) on November 9th at 8 weeks of pregnancy.  Even though the baby was still very, very small (1.6 cm) and looked a bit like a baseball park peanut, we learned a lot of interesting stuff about him/her.  We found out that we are having only one baby (not multiples, thank goodness!) and we could (vaguely) see the baby's head, bottom, limb buds, umbilical cord, the yolk sac and the beginnings of the placenta.  We could also see the baby's heart beat at a whopping 166 beats per minute!

At our first midwife appointment on November 28th we got to hear the baby's heart beat for the first time.  It was amazing to hear the rapid "gush, gush" of the little munchkin's heart.  Hearing the heart beat seemed somehow more real than seeing it beat on the ultrasound screen.

Today, we had our second munchkin viewing.  We are at 13 weeks of pregnancy and have finally entered the second trimester.  Hopefully my morning sickness will continue to abate and I can stop taking the nausea medication soon.

Ian and I initially (and we realize now, naively)  thought the purpose of going for this ultrasound was to get to see our baby again and remark on how cute he/she looks now that his/her eyes have migrated from the sides to the front of his/her head and his/her fingers and toes are no longer webbed like a frog.  However, we quickly learned that the Government of Ontario doesn't pay for this ultrasound because they see a benefit in having parents meet their forthcoming offspring in utero.  The real purpose of this ultrasound is to do the Integrated Prenatal Screening where they check whether we have a higher or lower chance than usual of having a baby with a either Down syndrome, trisomy 18 or an open neural tube defect.  While it is incredibly scary to think of our baby having one of these serious genetic diseases, after much thoughtful consideration and discussion, we have decided that in order for us to feel like we are being the most responsible parents we need to know what our baby will be up against so we can plan as best we can to give our child the best chance to succeed in life.

Even though we decided that going forward with the genetic screening was the right thing for us to do, it is still scary and nerve wrecking when we think too hard about it.  At the ultrasound, I am happy to say we didn't think about the genetic screening part at all because we were totally engrossed in watching our munchkin.

Our baby was much bigger and consequently much more visible during this second ultrasound compared to the first.  The figure on the screen actually looked like a baby.  He/she is 7 cm long now and has a strong, regular heart beat of 144 beats per minute.

Our munchkin has two arms and two legs (phew!), a brain and a very large head.  And holy smokes was the baby a wiggly worm!  He/she moved his/her arms up and down repeatedly during the ultrasound and at one point planted both feet on the bottom of the uterus and pushed off (like you would do at the edge of a swimming pool when doing laps) causing him/her to go shooting up to the top of the uterus.  Our baby moved and grooved during the entire scan providing much amusement to both us and the technician.  To top it all off, the baby's nuchal translucency (the thickness of the skin at the back of the neck) is absolutely normal - which is a great sign.  Double phew!

On the whole, the munchkin viewing was a very positive and enjoyable experience and we have a photo to share with you all.  I know ultrasound photos never look like much unless they are of your baby but this munchkin is ours and I think he/she is so beautiful!