03/15/03: Transvaginal Ultrasound
 

http://comp.uark.edu/~dmorton/images...trasound1b.jpg

I suppose posting this is sort of lame, as you can never really tell anything from ultrasound pictures. I never really got people's fascination with them. Still, I find myself sucked in, and I just can't help myself. I guess I sort of understand it all, now. It's a highly personal thing. That's why I'm compelled to share it with everyone.

Well, it appears this baby is 5 weeks along, not 11 weeks. That means this thing is about 1/4th of an inch to 1/2 inch long. It might look something like this.

http://comp.uark.edu/~dmorton/images...week-large.gif

At the doctor's office, I got to watch a strange man fondle my wife's breasts and stick his hand up her hoo-ha. My strongest reaction was not knowing where to look. Eventually I decided on straight down. Then, he pulled out this wand/dildo-looking device with something like a condom draped over it, which he inserted into my wife's vagina in order to get the first picture above. It was really neat, we even saw a hearbeat.

Actually, I found the whole thing rather awkward. I'm not offended or outraged or anything like that. I know he's a doctor and he's pretty much seen it all. I just didn't know what to do with myself or where to look. :) In all, though, I think my wife was more traumatized than me. But she rests assured now in the knowledge that everything's okay.

Awww! Look at little Juju Jr.

--or--

Aaaah! It's little Juju Jr.!!! Save yourselves!

They didn't do those cool little vestigial tail pics back when I was reproducing. How cool! It is just like a Lennart Nilsson photo.

Congratulations, Juju. If this is your first child, prepare for everything you ever knew to change.

Congratulations! You're the proud poppa of a... a...

A little dark area on a screen.

"Congratulations! It's a...ba-by!"

--Pat (Julia Sweeney's character on SNL)

That's the "amniotic sac". And the cursor is positioned over where we saw the heart beating.

The way the doc operated the machine sort of reminded me of the movie "Blade Runner", where Deckard is using his computer to scan an image for clues, and was telling it what grids to zoom in on or pan across to. Except the doc's computer wasn't voice activated. Still, he had to zoom in like 5 or 6 times before we could really get a good look at it.

The amniotic sac itself was immediately visible at first (which really surprised me. Isn't it supposed to be small?). But he had to zoom in on it a whole bunch of times before we could see the heart flutterings.

I think that little white thing below the sac is the umbilical cord.

The only sac around here is you, you nutsac.

Don't listen to ANY of them JuJu ... congratulations! The Ultrasounds will get a lot more interesting in the months to come. :)

Are you going to find out what variety you're getting or are you going to keep it a secret?

Not quite sure yet. Kathy has said that she wants it to be a surprise, but I'm fairly sure she'll change her mind. The ultrasounds are too neat not to look at, and I doubt she'll be able to not look once it's in front of her on the screen.

We'll see, though!

Yep I need to scan in our old ultrasounds.. the paper will be deteriorated in a few more years.

Heh.. when my wife went for her first one, the doctor was having trouble finding it with the "through the belly sensor". (I forget what the issue was.. maybe that the placenta was directly in front? I remember that was definitely the case because she also never felt the baby kicking due to the extra "padding".) So the (female) doctor pulled out the transvaginal probe. As she was doing measurements and making printouts, she said that the pictures were excellent.... you get so much better quality than with through the belly. So, not being as wise and mature as I am now, I piped up, "well why don't you use that as the standard procedure then?" The doctor gave me a moderately dagger-filled look and informed me that women find it uncomfortable. I'm happy to report that I was smart enough to shut up at that point, rather than say what was going through my mind. ("How do you think these pregnant women got that way? Based on my experience, I suspect at least SOME of them derived SOME element of pleasure from the process.") This bit of restraint probably explains why I am here today typing to you, rather than having been bludgeoned to death with a speculum.