"So You're Sayin' There's a Chance!"

Yesterday, we went for what Dr. Dixon called "early testing" for certain chromosomal disorders that our baby could have.  These tests were to look for early indicators that Wolverine Baby might have Down's Syndrome or Edward's Syndrome.  The first test is done by ultrasound and is a nuchal translucency screen.  The second is a blood test, so I'll go back to Quest labs today and let the vampire phlebotomist take yet another vial of my blood.  (Seriously, since I've gotten pregnant, I've had seven vials drawn.  That's more than I've had drawn in the last four years combined.  And I really don't care for needles.)

Everything looked really good on the ultrasound, and the technician who was running the machine was really great.  She printed lots of pictures for us and seemed to really enjoy looking at the baby with us and seeing our reactions.  In addition to checking the fluid at the base of Wolverine Baby's neck, she also checked to make sure her heart was in her chest, that she had two arms and two legs, and that her skull was forming as expected. 

This ultrasound was much different than our first, perhaps because the machine is better, or maybe just because there's been more development of the baby.  Ray got a huge kick out of this picture and expressed his concern that Wolverine Baby is already flicking us off.

Isn't that kind of a creepy picture?  I mean, I'm glad her facial bones are forming and whatnot, but based on this picture, maybe we should start calling her "Skeletor Baby."

I've been using feminine pronouns when referring to the baby since I was about six weeks pregnant.  I have been completely convinced the baby's a girl.  This is based on absolutely nothing since, at the time, I had nothing to go on.  However, I was 100% sure it was a girl (and, of course, then completely prepared for it to actually be a boy because I was so convinced it was a girl).  Ray eventually confessed that he also thought it was a girl because "SF guys always have girls."  (Not always, but there are way more baby girls than baby boys among the SF guys we know.) 

Our technician asked if we were interested in finding out the sex of our baby before it was born, and Ray and I said that we were.  She then explained that although reproductive organs have not developed at this point in the pregnancy, there is something she could look for that would give an indication of what we'd have.  We asked her to look, and this is what she showed us:

I know this isn't the greatest picture ever, so let me explain what she showed us.  See the arrow on the left hand side of picture?  That's pointing at something (I'm sorry I can't recall what she called it) that is a good indicator of which reproductive organs will develop in the coming weeks.  If this thing is parallel with the body, it's likely to develop into a clitoris.  If it's perpendicular to the body, it's likely to develop into a penis.  Because Wolverine Baby was squirming so much, it was hard to get a picture that showed both this part (I really need to find out the name of this thing) in relation to her body, but... It was definitely parallel.  So, at this point, we are 80% sure we're having a girl!  We'll find out for certain at our next appointment with them on May 1.

Yay for a healthy baby and for another September girl!!