October 8, 2012

I lay on the exam table in the ultrasound room.  This room seemed much smaller than the main ultrasound clinic upstairs.  It was filled not only with the very large machine itself, but with a desk, complete with computer, printer and everything else one would need in an office.  The room was, of course, dark but cozy, as Cecilia squirted warm jelly onto my belly and pressed the ultrasound wand to my abdomen.

Having a typical PCOS belly (in other words, lots of abdominal fat) I worried that she wouldn't be able to get a clear picture of the baby, but I was wrong.  She moved the wand around just a little and all of a sudden there she was on the screen, protesting at the intrusion as Cecilia pressed the wand into my belly.  "There's that little cutie pie!" Cecilia exclaimed. Tears of  relief sprang to my eyes, but didn't fall as I watched our baby wiggle and squirm on the screen.  She moved her arms around, kicked out tiny legs, her heart steady and strong, the sound musical and very much like the clomp of a racehorse.

Cecilia moved the wand expertly around scrutinizing various parts of the baby's body, assuring us that everything looked good.  Every so often she would freeze the image and take a measurement. I don't know what she was specifically looking for and I didn't ask. I simply lay there mesmerized by the image of that tiny little person who was growing inside of me.  Every so often she would raise one little arm as if waving or giving a high-five.  Cecilia commented several times that she saw a very strong nasal bone, a good sign that Down syndrome was not present. I felt relief, but had also done enough research to know that the presence of a nasal bone didn't necessarily mean the baby did not have Ds, it simply was a soft marker for it if there was an absence of one.

When the baby decided she'd had enough she turned on her back and went to sleep, ending Cecilia's search for the elusive nuchal fold on the back of her neck, which was the whole reason we were there.  My belly was shaken and prodded and pressed to the point of pain, yet still our stubborn little one refused to cooperate.  The procedure was very long and the pain was very intense at times.  As much as I enjoyed seeing little Cracker Jack on the screen I was relieved when it was over.

We made an appointment for a few days later, a Friday, to see if the baby would cooperate and allow them to get the measurement.

Back home, I spent the remainder of the day sitting on the sofa trying not to move. I was very sore from the ultrasound, and in hindsight the pain was one of the first indicators that I was developing Symphasis Pelvic Dysfunction.  But I was happy. I not only had video of the ultrasound, but I had a cute little picture of our sweetie pie that I looked at over and over.  Life was good.