Morphberry update 3!
Yep, at least, we're pretty sure it's a boy. The Ultrasound Tech's exact words were: "It looks like a boy! No wait, now it looks like a girl from this angle. Nope! I'm pretty sure it's a boy."
I just knew my kid would be contrary. orz
But, let's start at the beginning. Since the actual point of the ultrasound is to make sure that the baby is healthy and growing correctly, that's what we checked first. I was relieved to see how big he is, considering that I STILL haven't gained any weight. I was worried my kid might not be getting good enough nutrition or worse. We had a bit of a scare because of some unexplained vaginal discharge that smelled worse than normal, but it turns out that as long as it's in small quantities and isn't pink or red or otherwise distinctly colored, that's pretty normal. Phew!
Morphberry is growing well, though. He's big for his age- I'm technically at 19 weeks, but based on size the ultrasound said he's at 21, giving him a due date of early January instead of late January. Meaning if he comes sooner rather than later, we might be sharing a birthday (Dec 31) fffff! Grandma-in-law was a RN for many many years, and said ultrasound due dates are baloney. Big girls have big babies, little girls have little babies and that's all there is to it. I guess we'll see. Morphberry's head is about 5 cm in diameter- that's almost as big as his entire body from top to bottom the first time we got to see him! The tech didn't get as clear a picture as she'd like of the head so she asked us to come in again in three weeks just to double check and make sure there aren't any birth defects or extra fluids in the brain and stuff like that. I'm ok with that. It means we get to see him again sooner. ^_^
Unedited pics are on the left, the same pic with drawings are on the right, as requested!
Morphberry's first portrait! This is the clearest one we got. One side of my family has a history of spina bifida, so Morphberry having a healthy spine is awesome news!
Morphberry wasn't a huge fan of the ultrasound, as I've mentioned a couple of times. It was the cutest thing ever to watch, though. We got a really clear shot of his little fists all balled up- and then they moved! I was delighted and wanted to just sit and watch him move around like that but the tech had things to look at. As she was shifting the sensor around on my stomach, Morphberry got more and more agitated until finally he wound up and KICKED at it, which I got to watch and feel, and it was hilarious. Probably the most special moment of the whole thing for me, actually, was that moment. It confirmed to me that the little flutters I was feeling were definitely baby, not gas, so I've been feeling him move around in there for probably about a month. I just didn't know it! I can't wait for husby to be able to feel them too, though by then they'll probably be less enjoyable for me. Heh.
A blurry pic of the face, but I like it cuz you can see his little fists a lot clearer.
The ultrasound tech kept vaguely pointing at those four dots (she put an arrow on the photo for us) and saying she was pretty sure that's a boy part. I really don't see it. So I'm glad we're going back in three weeks to confirm.
Something our doctor's office does is make a DVD of the ultrasounds, so I'm super excited to be able to see everything all over again. We can't watch it yet because she's going to add the ultrasound in three weeks to it. But when we do, I can post video clips and make my own screencaps, and maybe get some good images of the spine and heart.
After the ultrasound, I went to the dermatologist. I've been needing to go for the past two years because I have the nastiest pizza face on the planet, but I never did for fear of hearing the same things I already know... And that's exactly how the visit started. I tried to tell him the things I've already tried, but obviously he wouldn't listen the first time around and prescribed that I use them again. It's probably a good thing I'm pregnant and cranky, because I get upset easier about not being listened to and therefore more vocal about "I JUST SAID THAT" sort of stuff. So I told him probably louder than I would normally that benzoyl peroxide hurts my face, makes it redder, scalier, and itchier with lots more flakes. To which I got an "Oh, well why didn't you say so?" response. I think he clued in when both me and my husband just stared at him.
Anyway, apparently this guy was kind of the nurse practitioner of dermatology, the actual DOCTOR was someone else, and so after asking me a few questions about things that I *have* done in the past and getting a full rundown, he scratched his head and went to go get the Ph.D, who suggested I might actually be allergic to benzoyl peroxide, with a possible mild staph infection. He suggested a prescription that's safe for pregnant women, with additional amoxicillin and hydrocortizone treatments that I need to get approved by my OB, since those both are known to cause birth defects in certain cases, but they didn't think the amounts they were prescribing would be enough to cause issues. It's also possible Morphberry is far enough along that it won't be a problem, but I'm not filling any prescriptions until I hear back from the OB. I've lived with this gunk for two years, I'm not getting impatient and screwing up my kid over it now.
In other news, our boy cat, Mal, lost his collar. And I mean good and lost. He usually brings it out to the living room and plays with it after a few days of getting it off, but this time, it's vanished. It's been almost three years since we originally outfitted them as kittens, so we decided to get both Mal and Cream (our girl cat) new collars and tags. We kept their collar colors the same, but the tags are different from each other. So Cream has a pretty pale blue collar with a pink pseudo-heart shaped tag, and Mal has a bright red collar with a black waterdrop shaped tag. They look so cute! And they came with bells, which we decided to leave on the collars this time. It's kind of funny to hear the cats jingling all over the house and fills me with unexplainable glee. They like to try and bat at each others' collars now to make them jingle, too, which has lead to some interesting new kitty games. Cream has determined that it is her goal in life to learn to move around the house without jingling the bells. She's pretty good at it so far, but still epically fails from time to time in the most hilarious ways. Her "OHSMEGBUSTED!!!" face is the best ever.
Next week we'll be heading out to visit husby's family in DC, so you won't see me around at all during the first two weeks of September. I'll try to keep a travel log and post some of our experiences once we get back. It'll be my first time going out there in September, and so far it looks like we're going to get to visit the Renaissance Fair on Labor Day, as well as a bunch of other fun things that'll be a lot more exciting after the fact. ^_^
Oh yeah. I mentioned to a few people at some point about a looming epic snail battle in our window well. Apparently, it was actually a looming epic snail orgy. And we have like, six to ten itty bitty baby snails in our window well. They're so young their shells aren't even 100% opaque yet. But the really big snail is very gone. I think the gardner got it. That said, I'm hoping snails will be the new cool thing for babies. Because I'm apparently in love with them. And little boys + slimy things = epic awesome, y/y?