BABY!
I knew that when the girl in front of me at 24 weeks came out and said the sonographer was unable to tell the gender that I had absolutely no chance of finding out today.
Fortunately my "world's most boring" pregnancy is continuing to be boring, and boring is good!
Everything is normal with me and the baby. The baby is measuring 6 days larger than the last ultrasound indicated. So they are moving my due date back to 25 June. This is not accurate--I'll be surprised if the Nuggster (I think we may now have to start calling him/her KidZilla as he/she no longer resembles a McNugget) arrives before July. But what do I know--the kid has it's own ideas!
Oh, and in this pic the kiddo is lying on his/her side with his/her (this is really getting old) arm by the head. Looks just like I do when I'm sleeping, big tummy and all!!!
Since everything was normal today, they will not order another ultrasound for me unless something goes wrong. Sort of a Catch-22 because I pray that nothing unusual happens, but we'd also like to know the gender. However, I wouldn't mind never sitting in the ultrasound line again!
If you're interested in a description of what my visit was like, read on ahead! If not, I'll just sum up by saying: We are thankful for God giving us a healthy baby and we are not going to fuss about finding out the gender right now.
So the visit. . .I have to admit that I was forewarned that I might have to wait a really long time for the ultrasound. Of course, not as long as I'll have to wait to see the consultant (OB), which they say averages about 2 hours, but when you have a FULL BLADDER every second counts.
* Just a side note. . .if you are a man or have never been pregnant, you have never experienced the joy of a full bladder. I've never been in so much pain as I was today. Poor baby looked absolutely smushed because of it, but the scan was very clear. The sonographer even complimented me on my full bladder. Painful!!!*
So you go to the hospital, St. Finbarr's, for your scan. St. Finbarr's is almost 200 years old and is a sprawling complex of buildings and makeshift parking. Fortunately my appointment was early so I did actually find a parking spot. Not fun to walk 1/4 mile when you really need to pee. It felt like being back in college with the hilly landscape and old buildings. (I would take a picture of the hospital to show you all, but I'm afraid you would all get frightened. "It looks like crazy people should be hanging out of the windows" is John's exact quote when he saw it for the first time.) And it not dirty or anything--just really, really, extremely old.
I found the little building where they do the scans and went to the receptionist; signed in; told to wait around the corner. There were two ladies ahead of me and one behind. I noticed a sign behind me to "queue for scans around the corner" so I asked the other girls if we were in the correct spot and they informed me that, yes, we were, and yes, there was a second queue around the corner.
After about 10 minutes of me making chit chat and them kind of wondering what this crazy American chic was talking about, the receptionist came out and herded us--in order of appointment--around the corner to the next queue. There were three more ladies waiting for a scan. Gosh, this will take forever, I was thinking!!!
How long do you think the average time is for an ultrasound? 15 minutes? 30?
Um. . . they spent an average of two minutes actually looking at the baby. Each lady was in and out in five minutes. Except that after the girl in front of me came out (by now my back teeth were floating) they rushed in another girl who took about 20 minutes. Finally they called for me--by now there were about 10 women behind me waiting for a scan.
The lady took some information, had me hop onto the table, gooped up my belly, ran the wand over a few times to take some measurements and then it was over. Very nice but rushed. Want to know why???
If you are having a baby in Cork, this is the only place to get a scan unless you are on the private healthcare system (about 50% of women). So in the city of 150,000 plus and the whole county (we live in the largest county in Ireland, folks) this is the ONE place to get an ultrasound. No wonder they were busy and worked us over like cattle!!!
I'm certainly not complaining. Any country that will provide free antenatal care to an alien (albeit a legal one) like myself is pretty darn awesome!
So I wish I could describe the buildings and the waiting room more, but there's nothing to compare it to. Again, not dirty, just really, really old!
And, yes, I have looked into doing a 3D/4D scan in Houston when I come back in March/April (they are loads cheaper than going to your OB if you just want to determine the gender like we would) but I'm not sure I want to fuss with that. The whole "novelty ultrasound" kind of freaks me out! There are no elective ultrasound places here in Cork; the closest one is in Dublin and there's no way I'm driving 4 hours for that. We all can just keep buying white, green, and yellow duds and blankets. That will work great since we want to have more than one child, anyway!!!
So someone should celebrate for me/us tonight by having a really big margarita, preferably with some Don Picos chips and salsa and the Osmin's Favorite platter. Just a suggestion! ;-)
More to come!!!
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