Assuming I will make it to 40 weeks of pregnancy, I am now exactly in the middle. The baby is half-baked, like a pan of brownies that’s still too sticky to take out of the oven *g*
Considering our last experience with a horrible gynaecologist I was less than enthused about seeing yet another doctor, but at 20 weeks a structural scan is recommended to see how the baby is developing. We did want to have another look at this little one and we received a recommendation from the midwives of a ‘kind’ doctor at a completely different hospital, so one more try…
This hospital is nicer-looking than the previous one. It’s modern, with cute little sofas everywhere and even a bistro sort place to eat. We don’t have long to wait either, Jo and I are barely seated in the (empty!) waiting room when we are already called in by a nurse for a check of my blood pressure and a pee-on-a-stick moment to look for protein in my urine, and as soon as that’s done we’re on to the gynaecologist.
True to the midwives’ word, this gynaecologist is a fairly young woman, who seems friendly. When I tell her that Jo speaks English, she switches languages and makes a note of it ‘so I won’t forget next time!’. She fills out my paper work without a hitch, and she has no comment whatsoever on us being a couple or on us having chosen to do the NIPT test (and that’s how it bloody well should be!).
Then it’s time for the scan and another look at baby Sunshine. I lie down on the bench, the doctor squirts some jelly stuff on my belly, and there is baby! <3
The doctor starts by looking at the placenta. Apparently mine is on the left, with the cord attached at the bottom near the membranes, it’s called a velamentous cord insertion. That’s a bit unusual, it only happens in 1-2% of all pregnancies. There’s a chance baby will gain less weight near the end because of it, and the midwives will need to be more careful delivering the placenta, but it’s not a huge risk at this point luckily. Of course I had to be special somehow ;)
As for baby Sunshine herself, she has the required amount of arms, hands, and fingers, same for the legs and feet *g* She has a lovely spine, kidneys, a bladder (that empties during the scan! Hee, she’s peeing in there, that’s a weird idea). She definitely has girl-bits, her stomach is full of amniotic fluid. Her heart is a bit of a challenge to see fully, but the chambers are pumping blood like a pro. Then it’s on to her little face, tiny nose and lips, so cute!
She’s lying head down right now and her feet are by my belly button, which explains why I am feeling the kicks there at the moment. She is measuring three days ahead for her age, and weighs 391 grams, all really good!
The gynaecologist says she would be willing to let me go to 42 weeks before inducing (a question of mine, that’s not always the policy especially after IVF). And she says there seems to be no reason at this point why I can’t have a home birth (yay!).
Jo and I walk away happily chatting about the baby. Her little nose! Her kicking feet!
And no, this gynaecologist wasn’t particularly earth-shattering, she was just normal, nice, and easy-going. And that’s perfect! We don’t need anything more than that :)
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