First Ultrasound

A couple weeks ago, my husband and I went to the prenatal diagnostic unit to receive genetic counseling and complete the first ultrasound. Little's first photo!

I was instructed to start drinking about 32 ounces of water an hour before so that my bladder would be full during the ultrasound. This apparently ensures that the difference between the bladder and uterus can be detected--why this is necessary if there's a fetus in one and not the other is unclear to me but we'd have to go to my sonographer pal Heather to know. What I was not told was that prior to any ultrasound, my husband and I would first undergo about 45 minutes of genetic counseling. Alas, I showed up with a full bladder and no screen to show it off on. About 4 of my 5 questions to the genetic counselor were: can I go pee now? Besides all of that, an unexpected complication caused an hour delay so I didn't actually go into the ultrasound room until about 2 hours after my assigned arrival time, which meant that I refilled and emptied my bladder about four times, in debilitating abdominal pain through the whole thing. I also learned that too much water causes nausea. I wanted to just lay down and sleep for days, or vomit a couple times before doing so.

The genetic counseling conversation was interesting. We primarily discussed family history, the likelihood of several conditions, including down's syndrome, trisomy 18, taysach's disease, spina bifida, and cystic fibrosis, and, at my request, we looked at the inherited Deafness in my family. The counselor said that the pattern of Deafness in my family going back to my great grandparents indicated that there were likely both dominant and recessive genes for Deafness in my family. This was an exciting and interesting discovery. She said that she assumed that I carried only the recessive version based on the fact that me, my brother, and my cousins are hearing; however, there's always a possibility that I'm a carrier of the dominant version. She couldn't give me any predictive probability, but even just what I learned was very interesting. Having a more precise probability figure would be possible if my Mom and my Aunt had their blood looked at for the genetic information--this is absolutely not necessary but it was even interesting to learn how this kind of genetic info could be gathered in my family. This conversation yielded yet another piece of my family history--genetic history--which I'm so happy to now know.

Then we proceeded to the ultrasound. Oh Little! He/She was very mobile, but also very well behaved. The sonographer said that Little was one of the most cooperative fetuses she's ever worked with. I'm already proud! At the very end, Little threw his hands and feet in the air, scrunched his tiny face, and then punctuated the whole thing with a flip to face downward. Then, just like his mother might do, he turned his backside to the camera to show off his bum.

The photo we brought home was truly amazing. I promise to post the ultrasound image as soon as we scan it. A remarkably clear shot of his/her face. Cute pouty lips and a perfectly button nose. One might look and suspect that Little is a girl--it's such a feminine pose--but I remind you that Little's daddy is Argentine and Italian. The Euro man face is charmingly sex-neutral. I'd venture to say that Little is gonna be a looker!