Daguerreotype

Ben and I can finally share our big news, which involves a baby:
we're having one!

Keeping my mouth shut for the first twelve weeks was a challenge, but at the same time it's quite nice to have a special secret, isn't it? Well, today I had a 12-week ultrasound. Ultrasound isn't standard at twelve weeks, but we got a freebie because my obstetrician's office is working toward certification in some sort of fancy extra-advanced sonography technology, and since they need to submit a series of "perfect" ultrasound images with their application they asked if we'd like to come in and get an extra glimpse at our little one. We wanted to, and we did, and it was pretty wonderful. And our baby kind of looks like a cute little turtle!

Everything was totally normal at the ultrasound. So, the rest of this post might be really boring unless you're one of the baby's grandparents (just a warning). So: our baby seemed to be sleeping, or was at least immersed in quiet meditation, when we began the ultrasound. He* wasn't in the position the technician needed for the baby's closeup, so about thirty minutes of tapping my belling commenced. I wasn't convinced the tapping would accomplish anything, but the baby started rolling around and changing position right away. At one point the poor thing was standing on his head. Still: wrong position. I hopped around a bit. Still no profile shot. Just when I began to worry that we were harassing the poor baby a bit too much, the technician gave up on the glamour shots, reassuring us that all looked great nonetheless. We left with some new snapshots, no worse for the wear. And I thought the baby had Ben's nose.**

Two more things: a few times, the baby rubbed his face with his hand! I mean, are you kidding me? I thought I might die from cuteness overload. Also, the baby had his legs crossed at the ankle, which the ultrasound technician*** found remarkably funny and cute.

P.S. Is it just me, or do ultrasound images always look weirdly like 1840s daguerreotypes?

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* We'll just say he, because the pronoun situation is already getting cumbersome.
** Right now you're looking at the ultrasound image and saying "Nose?!" But I swear, the live show was way better than the photos! We saw fingers, toes, the aforesaid handsome nose, eyes (well, eye sockets), a ridiculously tiny and amazing ribcage, and what the technician termed "a beautiful spine."
***Pat has been an ultrasound technician for thirty years; imagine the changes in technology she's seen in her line of work. While I was in the restroom peeing to give the baby more room to roll into the desired position, Pat told Ben that when she first started, they basically had to use their imaginations. Which I imagine didn't result in the most satisfying ultrasound images.