Ultrasound

On Tuesday night, Mark and I went in to the hospital for our 1st ultrasound. We were so excited because as I said before, even though you know the pregnancy is real, seeing that little person up on the screen puts everything in perspective.

We got there about 15 minutes early and had to check in at the ER desk (the regular desk was closed for the night). We got our paperwork and were sent to the diagnostic imaging waiting room. We checked in and waited. I had drank about 2-3 full bottles of water before we left our house (per the ultrasound directions), so I was doing a modified potty dance while we waited. After about 5 minutes, the ultrasound tech came out (at Allina, a technician does your ultrasound, not your OB) and said that she had an ER patient she had to finish up with and that she would be with us in about 15 minutes. She told me I could use the bathroom if necessary (thank goodness!), so I went and did that. Then Mark and I decided to walk around the hospital, see if there were any babies in the birth center (there weren't-they were all in their rooms), and look around at the posters, gifts in the gift shop window, etc.

After about 10 minutes, we walked back to the waiting room and sat. Our tech came and got us not more than 5 minutes later. She was very nice and apologetic. "Sorry about your wait. Are you ready to see your baby?" Yes!!! I've been waiting for this since I first saw "pregnant" on my home test. She geleed up my belly and began. I noticed that being a technician, she took a lot more measurements than Dr. Menzies ever did. We got to see it (it is about the size of a kidney bean) and see its' heartrate (either she didn't have the volume turned up or it's still too small to hear well). She said she only saw one baby (again, thank goodness-I don't think we could handle twins) and that based on my measurements, the baby will be due March 25 (which is one of my good friend's birthdays). She gave us two pictures (which I would scan in, but our scanner is broken), said she would see us around 20 weeks for the gender ultrasound, and sent us on our way. Again, very good experience with Allina. My next appointment will be September 11 at 3:40 when I officially meet with my OB, Dr. Teri McNelis. As always, I will keep you posted on how that goes...