If you want to remember what gestation was like, here are his ultrasound scans.
This one is from the 12 week scan in London at the Fetal Medicine Center. Head to the left, body to the right.
Another one at the Fetal Medicine Center. If you look carefully, you can see that the little one is sucking its thumb.
This one is at the local hospital at 16 weeks (14 weeks gestation). Its not usual to have a 16 week scan in the UK, but they want to make sure the heart is developing as it should. You can see the kid with its head to the right, big bulby body, and a little bit of the legs.
Hands to its mouth this time, legs are not visible, but I assure you, they exist. The April images are smaller than the March ones because the baby is bigger now, and they have to back up further to get a whole body image. Plus it's an entirely different machine with a different operator, and all that. The baby isn't shrinking, I promise.
See? Told ya. There is a leg on the left, with a foot and everything. Its head is on the right -- you can see the top and a hint of the eye sockets. The doctor said at this point everything is absolutely normal and healthy.
Here are some 20 week scans. In this one the baby seems to have a pointy nose. That is NOT Mommy's nose. Must be Daddy's. The sonographers say everything is still looking good, and how they want it to look. The baby has been somewhat uncooperative in just volunteering the parts they want to see. Strangely enough, when they say out loud that they want to see one thing or another, Noodle generally presents it to them. What a good little patient!
Another at 20 weeks. In this one, the mouth is open, and we saw the baby having a drink of amniotic fluid while this image was being captured.
I have no idea why they take so many similar images. They look from so many different angles, but when photo time comes, it's snap snap snap. I'll take this space to tell you that the baby's head measured 44mm side to side, and 172mm circumference. The waistline circumference was 162mm, and femur length was 32mm. Growth seems to be following the ideal on the charts pretty closely.
These are from the 25 week scan. This is a left foot. Not just any left foot, but the very left foot which can frequently be observed making the front of my dress jump around. The right foot does it too, but we'll single out just the one this time.
Another one at 25 weeks. We got to see a quite developed little baby in there, with much more baby-like facial features and big cheeks. The doctor couldn't capture the entire face in one shot, so he gave us this sort of blobby one with the head on the right and body on the left, the lump between the two is a hand at the baby's neck/chest area. You can SORT of see a nose and cheeks if you use your imagination. The baby's head circumference is now 230mm, abdominal circumference is 223mm, and femur length is 47mm. The doctor said that measurements are exactly right for a 25-26 week fetus, which is what Noodle is. He showed us all four chambers of the heart doing their thing, along with the other relevant heart parts.
Here are the scans from week 32. The kid is getting too big to get much of in one shot, so you'll have to be content with various bits and just trust that the rest is where it is supposed to be. This is the image of one leg and two feet. The knee is just out of view at the bottom, the left foot horizontal across the top, with toes on the right. The doctor measured the length of that foot, and it was 6.7 cm, which is just over 2.5 inches for the non-metric among you (like me). The right foot can be seen in the background. These feet can usually be found in mummy's lungs, making her a bit breathless, especially in this heat.
Still week 32. This is a torso, the head being off screen to the right. The larger black blob in the chest is the baby's heart, which has four chambers operating in the approved manner. The smaller black blob closer to the center is the stomach. You may note that there are vertical lines through the torso. These are the shadows made by the ribs as the sound passes between them to make images. Measurements taken at this ultrasound showed Noodle exactly on the line for normal growth: Head circumference 320mm, abdominal circumference 283mm, and femur length 68mm.
I had a single glucose test, the results of which were suspicious, so I was sent for a glucose tolerance test in week 31, the results of which had been a bit slow in coming. The doctor had someone look them up for me today, and I am pleased to report that the numbers were exactly normal. I am supposed to get my blood pressure checked every week from here on out, but at this point all is well.
Finally! Week 36, and the last of the ultrasounds. It's almost over now. This is another torso shot, complete with rib shadows, full stomach (amniotic fluid...yummm!) and the heart if you know where to look for it. The doctor said that the bladder was full, lungs in operation, and all is well. Noodle has had a growth spurt, and is no longer measuring right on the normal size line, but slightly above it. Abdominal circumference is now 343 mm. The doctor couldn't get a head measurement because of positioning and size, but verified that there is the right amount of blood going through it, and back and forth between baby and mother. Femur length was 69.7 mm, spine is on the right front, and the head is not quite engaged.
We're having plenty of kicks, which can easily be observed from the outside unless you're actually looking for it. Noodle is a bit shy when called on to perform.
We have no plans to ask if it is a boy or a girl, and thus far it has not been accidentally revealed during the ultasounds.
I think we've settled on names for either a boy or a girl, but we're not telling. Until the kid comes out, all you'll get from us is that in order to appreciate both the Utah and English ancestry of the kid, we're thinking of CowLayne for a girl and LaMarmite for a boy. We're open to suggestions though, if you have any really good ones.
In the mean time, so save on using the word "It" all the time, we have chosen a fetal name. Until birth, this little one will have the name "Noodle."
