Hanging out in mama's uterus

Written 4/4/09 at 9:48am

That's what Sticky Bun was doing. The Baby was lying on his/her back, hands behind the head and legs crossed up in the air. I was amazed that my baby looked like a baby (last ultrasound which was actually the first, SB looked like a shrimp.) And I laughed because of course my baby would be just chilling in my tum-tum, hanging out:) I admit, I cried a little because there was MY BABY and this whole experience is actually real. It's also been really trying because I have remained what I call 'conservatively excited.'
This whole time, I've been worried about the mental and physical health of my baby. I have talked to a genetics counselor because of the family history (my brother has autism as well as my cousin.) Granted, there is actually no way to detect autism. But it also made me worry about retardation and other mental problems. I received a call yesterday from the genetics counselor letting me know that my blood work came back negative and I am not a carrier of a special chromosome that could be a cause of a combination of retardation and autism. I am so happy. They stressed that this does not mean that baby is certain to become autistic but it does rule out one possibility. I am very happy about that. It so happened that yesterday was also the day I had my special ultrasound which is supposed to detect any abnormalities and, again, everything looks good. So that's why I cried. Imagine having to hold back your happiness, your excitement, because you weren't sure what was going to happen and you just didn'twant to get your hopes up. I know that moving forward, there are still endless possibilities of harm or poor health but at least I know that at this point, the baby is golden. So so happy.
The Man couldn't come to the last two appointments because of work. I actually didn't mind because I purposely scheduled my appointments during the day because it was most convenient for me (I hate waiting at hospitals and everyone makes appointments after work.) But this last appointment was so awesome, so rewarding. SB was kicking, moving around and even bounced:) I got to watch the baby for 20 minutes while the technician and then the doctor took images. I probably could have watched all day. It was surreal, seeing this little baby so active and I couldn't feel a thing. When I took two images home to show The Man, it just wasn't the same. His experience, while he was happy, just wasn't the same. So I asked him that he come to the next appointment so he can see SB as well as find out with me the gender of our baby. I think that seeing the baby move will be a much better and much more fulfilling experience for him. I can't wait!