Mid-trimester Scan

This is the scan that everyone gets excited about because it's the time you can find out the sex of the baby if you want (unless you have had the NIPT blood test as I did, in which case you are able to know much earlier).

It is also known as the Anomoly Scan, and takes a closer look for any structural problems or birth defects of the baby, as well as taking a look at the uterus and the position of the placenta. It is usually done at 19-20 weeks.

As always, the couple of days leading up to the scan make me feel a bit nervous. I don't think this feeling will ever go. Will there still be a heartbeat? Will I hear those dreaded words again, starting with 'I'm really sorry but...'. The words still ring so strong and I can't shake the image of that scene in my head. But I have to stay positive. This is a different pregnancy and there is no reason to say that the same will happen again....

As soon as we get in there, The sonographer asks if we know the sex of the baby or not. We look at each other just in case one of us ends up shouting out 'no, but we want to know now!!' We both behave though, and say that we still want to kept in suspense!

She goes straight to that heart and I can see it flickering away - I can breathe again :-). I'm pretty certain that Jay had stopped breathing in that moment too, and resumes again with the sound of relief. He continues to be my strength through these things, giving me a little smile, and those kind eyes that say 'I'm scared too, but it will be okay'. I don't think he realises but in those seconds that feel like hours, it really does give me the strength that I need.

There are many measurements being noted - everything from the kidneys and lungs, to counting the number of fingers. We even get to see the ventricles of the heart . The detail is amazing. What's even more awesome however is when we switch to a 4D view, and there is our little poppet - we can see a clear face, with eyes and nose. It actually looks like a real person for the first time. That is our child's face - OURS - how crazy is that?!!! Now, I'm not planning on being one of these mother's who praises her own kid the whole time, but I have to say he/she is off to a pretty good start because it has the cutest little face in the world! Then, just as I thought it couldn't get any cuter, we see a thumb in it's mouth - takes after me then, as my dad had to practically bribe me to stop sucking my thumb when I was younger! I can't wait to show my dad - it's the thing he always remembers so fondly of my childhood.

I look over to Jay. He is just as amazed as me - if it wasn't real before, it is now! I feel like I say this at every different stage, but it's true, it gets more and more real with all these little moments we experience. There's a baby in there, a real baby, who now looks like a real person! Okay so this probably should have hit home a bit earlier than now, but sometimes you just kind of sit back and think about it, and it still blows my mind! I'm growing a real person....!!!

Anyway...

We get to the part where the sonographer is going to look over the baby's kidneys and lungs, so she asks us to look away just in case we see something that we shouldn't see, and it gives away the sex of the baby! It's so hard, knowing that she can see if it's a boy or girl right now! She knows, and we don't! She asks us if we have a particular feeling on whether we are having s boy or a girl, to which we easily respond that we think it's a boy, purely because I've had a few dreams and it has always been a boy. That's it - no science! To this, she simply says 'oh right', and carries on. That's it. Total poker face  -no sign of giving anything away at all! What the...??!!! I'm near to tipping point and about to shout out 'okay just tell us will you!', but resist..

There is a point where she is measuring and sticking to assessing the same part twice (who know what they are looking at sometimes on that black and white screen - it all looks the same to me!), and I can tell it is something she is concerned about, so ask if there is a problem. She replies saying that something doesn't look the way it normally does, but she will check with the doctor after she is finished - great bit of detailed explanation there!

We finish up and she goes off to check with the doctor about the something that doesn't look like it normally does - apparently she thought the umbilical cord wasn't entering the placenta centrally, which could be a concern, but he seems to be okay with it - not really the most reassuring, but I'm going to accept it, and obviously talk to my obstetrician about it at my next appointment just to check! Other than that, I have a slightly low-lying anterior placenta, which will hopefully move up in the third trimester, but nothing to worry about at this stage apparently.

We walk away with a dvd of the session and a couple of 3D photos of the little poppet. At $395, it's the least we can get!