What to Expect: Week 24

October 11, 2009

Okay, okay, I'm late posting this week's update. But I have a really good reason! I swear! This week I got to go in for another ultrasound (or is it sonogram? I still haven't figured out the difference) and I wanted to wait to post until I had fresh new pictures of the baby. I also had my monthly OB appointment, where they informed me that I gained 6 pounds last month. Guess which of these things I'm more excited about.

The jump in weight is actually not a big deal, since I hadn't gained too much weight so far, and until last month I barely had a baby bump. Now the stomach is LARGE (and I will post pictures of it soon) and I really think that's where most of the extra weight gain happened. (If you have any other opinions on the topic, you will keep them to yourself.)

The ultrasound went great and everything is looking how they want it to look (I had this ultrasound to make sure my placenta had moved safely away from my cervix, which is important because if it was too close, I could wind up having placenta previa, being put on bedrest and going into early labor. But potential crisis avoided.) The Dr. repeatedly called her various anatomical parts "perfect" - perfect heart, perfect brain, perfect head. I also had the sonographer check the private parts again so we could be positively sure we're having a girl. Unfortunately she didn't snap a picture, but OH WOW is it a girl! No doubt about it now.

Having an ultrasound is one of the most surreal and bizarre things I have ever experienced. Yes, I know I have a belly. Yes, I feel a baby kicking in there. But it still doesn't seem completely real until you see it, you know? And even with the first ultrasound pictures, she looked more like an alien than a baby. This week, she definitely looked like a real human being. And it is a TRIP!!!! There are things in life that you experience that you had no understanding of before and have no way to communicate about effectively once they've been experienced. I have no way to explain what it's like to know that there is an actual human being floating around inside you, growing hair and eyelids and fingernails and slowly becoming the child that you're going to spend the rest of your life with. I just know that it has been totally amazing for me.