We waited in the reception area each making our own predictions and desires known. Sam wanted a girl, Lisa was non committal, and I wanted a boy. Our little entourage entered the darkened room and let Lisa get up on the table. The technician squirted blue jelly all over Lisa's belly. (Yes, Lisa finally has a belly! Although still not in maternity clothes, her bulge sticks out noticeably now.)
The woman took the ultrasound wand and began to probe around Lisa's stomach.
Was that a foot?
That looked like something!
What was that?
There's an arm!
Slowly we made sense out of the black and white images on the screen. The technician showed us the baby's head - it was the right size for this week of the pregnancy. She showed us the spine - again developed appropriately. She took measurements and captured images on the screen.
Samantha was beginning to burst wanting to know if she was going to have a brother or a sister. However, this woman was a pro and she knew that the best part of her job was building the anticipation. I told Samantha the joke on how to keep a 9 year old in suspense - I'll tell you later - she was not amused. The technician wasn't going to let on right away and continued her tour (inspection?).
There was the heart. The ultrasound passed right through all four chambers; beating, pulsing, forcing blood through still forming organs. And then, there was the face; eyes, nose, mouth all clear enough to see the calm expression on the baby's face. The baby was asleep. We knew this because the woman tried to wake the baby by jiggling and poking Lisa's stomach in order to get the baby to move. No luck, that kid was down for its nap.
The woman took images of the baby's face and feet for us. Then she looked at Sam and asked her if she really wanted to know the sex of the baby. By this time we all wanted to know! Yes, yes, tell us what the baby is!
The woman expertly moved the wand and with the caveat of announcing only a 97% success rate told us we were going to have a
Funny thing about suspense - it works on grown ups too!
To be continued
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