Our Dating Ultrasound

Sidenote to my pregnancy posts:  As I post I plan to be completely honest about my feelings and thoughts as we ride this rollercoaster into parenthood.  I plan to use this blog as a way for me to process this journey.  Thanks for taking the time to read.

Our first appointment with our midwife was on a Wednesday. I thought I was 8.5 weeks along, according to my last period. It is also what every algorithm said on the internet.  She did all her tests and felt my uterus and thought I was only 7.5 weeks. Since my periods are generally inconsistent she recommended that we go in for a dating ultrasound. I'm not sure how frequent this procedure is recommended, but when John told his coworkers about it none of them remembered doing it with their wives. We wanted to know how far along we were too if the general dating method could be invalid for us so we scheduled one for two days later. We couldn't get into our regular clinic so I had to drive to Chanhassen. It was lucky we got in because we were going on vacation on Saturday and apparently the earlier this ultrasound is performed the better they are at predicting an accurate due date.

Since it was early on in my pregnancy I had to drink 20oz of water 45 minutes before the procedure. I found this slightly hilarious that they ask pregnant women to do this. In my first trimester I had to pee all the time. My uterus has moved up now, so it's not as bad, but seriously. Every bump I had to drive over on the way there was pretty difficult and then when I had to wait in the waiting room I didn't know if I was going to make it. I also hadn't been able to find a lot of information about dating ultrasounds, so I was unsure of what to expect when I got there.

I had a very friendly and knowledgeable ultrasound tech. She put me at ease. They started with an exterior ultrasound.  There wasn't much for me to see because my uterus is tilted backwards. (The midwife said they can be tilted forward or backward and it's just like being left or right handed.) She did show me the heartbeat though, which was so neat. I asked her why drinking so much water before was necessary. She told me that because the uterus is generally tucked behind the bladder it's much easier to see through it when it's full. Pregnancy fact for the day, check. After the exterior ultrasound was finished she told me I could pee, which I couldn't really do because I had held that much water for so long.

I then had to undress from the waist down for an internal ultrasound. (This was where I was missing a lot of information...) I followed instructions and the tech came back into the room. The instrument used is an internal transducer wand, looks like a magician wand. She asked me if it was okay if she inserted it. Of course I just reacted and said it was fine, but afterward giggled about what the alternative options could have been.  Maybe some pregnant moms are very involved in the process and they do it themselves. I don't know.  It was awkward, just a little uncomfortable. It's basically a camera that the tech moves around to get all the photos she needs. Although it was uncomfortable I hardly noticed because I could see our baby. It looked like a gummi bear, but later when I was explaining it's movements (aka ninja chops) to John he decided it would be the Dragon Warrior. A helpful sidenote is that John got Kung Fu Panda for Christmas. It's probably on his fave five list right now. It was amazing to see that our 9 week old was moving around. Its little arms were flailing and its heart was beating strongly. I really wish John could've made it to that appointment, but we still have our twenty week ultrasound so he'll come to that one.

In the end the tech had me measuring at 9 weeks and 2 days, but according to my period I was 8 weeks and 6 days. She said usually the midwife/doctor doesn't change the due date when it's only a few days difference. Our little Dragon Warrior should be gracing us with its presence somewhere around August 24, 2013.  

For a photo jump to the previous post or click here.