8 AM Getting ready for work
Today is the day! How exciting! In less than 12 hours, we'll be in Dr. Liu's office. We're going to see the results of glucose and CA-125 values from my last blood test. I've also prepared some questions to ask the doc. Most exciting is that we'll get to see you again on the sonogram.
I can't wait!
6:30 PM Waiting Room, Tri-Service Hospital, Taipei
While we were waiting, daddy showed me this pregnancy tracking program he'd downloaded on his iPhone. It's got week-by-week still 3D sonogram pictures of a baby. We "reviewed" what you looked like last time we saw you -- a tiny bubble with a yolk sac on its side -- and studied what you'd look like now -- a tiny human-shaped fetus with fingers and toes.
7:30 PM Ultrasound Room, Tri-Service Hospital, Taipei
I had rehearsed this moment in my head a number of times.
When I rehearsed this moment in my head, I had nothing to go on but what other people had reported. I expected myself to be overcome with emotions when I saw a tiny, vulnerable human-shaped image on the screen. "Most parents find the experience very moving," reported Baby Center.
Moving, eh?
Given my current hormonal state, I didn't know if I'd simply let out a little cry or perhaps tears of joy would start streaming uncontrollably down my cheeks... so much so that they'd have to leave me in the room to pull myself together. Regardless of how I might react, one thing I was certain was that this was going to be a dramatically touching moment. Maybe I'd see soft clouds of yellow ducklings floating in the air with faint lullabies playing in the background.
Nothing as described above actually happened. No tears. No strange noises coming out of my mouth. No yellow ducklings. No lullabies. The ultrasound image of a vulnerable human fetus that I had anticipated was replaced by an energetic dancing fetus with arms and legs moving about.
Instead of shedding a tear, I actually wanted to laugh.
I saw your arms and legs "in the air" even when the female doctor was still trying to locate your exact position to get a better look. You were moving so much that, when she finally got a hold of you, the three of us just stared at the screen in awe. We were so busy watching you we forgot to photograph/videotape this moment. You just kept on dancing and turning and, as it appeared on the screen, having the time of your life. With your little heart flickering like fireflies, you curled your body into a ball and stretched it out again. At one point, daddy noticed that you turned your head and were facing toward us.
"It's a very active baby," the female doctor chuckled.
The Little Peanut facing away from "the camera"
CRL = 3.06 centimeters at 10 weeks and 3 days
All my worries were washed away by the sense of elation I experienced seeing how active and happy you were.
Your life is connected to mine, as mine is to yours (now I'm going to cry).
Your life is connected to mine, as mine is to yours (now I'm going to cry).
2 comments:
Well, once again, it's Kate, so we knew ur experience/story was going to be a bit different than others :) not a sleeping or 'lifeless' baby, but a healthy dancing baby, who hasn't been taught, but already learned, to look at people in the eye when they're talking to him/her and who was very ready-can't really say born-ready- to show mom and dad that s/he is healthy and very well by showing his/her first kongfu moves as s/he knows well that his/her parents are tough, so she has to, too.
oh, i sooooo wish i could have been there to meet LP n see the kongfu moves!
I was going to invite you to the next doc's appointment, but then I realized you have to teach in the evening.
We'll make sure that we videotape the next ultrasound session.
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