Small update

Well, after I hit "submit" on this I will be going in and editing my links so that I finally link to the Mama Chatrez blog (which is the blog for updates on Liam's best friend Willow, and also ocassionally includes Liam updates that I forget to post here). Willow's mama (Clare) has become one of my closest friends (locally, at least - don't go getting your feelings hurt, dear geographically distant readers). We both attended WSUUC for the same time on the same Sunday, both having just moved back to the Cleveland area from parts distant, and we have similar parenting (and pregnancy/birth) philosophies. She helps me in the sanity department (which anyone who knows me even slightly knows can go to the manic a bit at times - seriously, the only thing that saves the world from my taking over is the slew of health issues distracting me and slowing me down - watch out for Liam if he's inherited as much of my personality as it looks like he has).

Anyway, the real update is this morning I asked Liam if Zjeu-Zjai (that's about as close as I can get to phonetically spelling "pig child" aka piglet Cantonese, it sounds very cute when pronounced correctly by Garvin, tho it might be more Tjeu-Tjai, there's some consonant at the beginning that I can't quite place, ear infection again).... tangent.. OK, I asked Liam if the baby in Mama's tummy is a girl or a boy. He looked at me and said "girl Willow girl" and I asked him "do you mean the baby in Mama's tummy is a girl like Willow, not a boy like Liam?" and he pointed to himself, said "Meum (how he says Liam) boy, girl Willow girl, baby".

So the only prior tenant of my uterus says that the current occupant is a girl.... much more conclusive than an ultrasound, right? ;)

Fetal Pornography

Well, went for the mid-semester ultrasound today. Different tech but she agrees with the first trimester tech (who is on maternity leave) that I'm due more than a week earlier than I think (conveniently enough they gave me a due date that exactly matches up with ovulating 14 days after my LMP - exceedingly unlikely given I've never had an unmedicated regular menstral cycle, worse since Liam was born, and my "average" cycle was around 40 days, hence the Dollar Tree ovulation predictor tests we were using to concieve this kidlet). Luckily my doctor, who knows me well and knows that I do keep track of things such as this (I bring in the calendars, dude), set the due date in my chart to a mid-point between what going by the ovulation test says and what the US says, hence we have 7/7/07 as the due date for the ticker above. I just really don't want to get nagged about getting induced when I don't even think my due date has passed yet.

On to the fetal pornography promised in the title. The tech also claims that this is a male fetus. Personally, I think she got a shot of the umbilical cord (she was shooting directly down from the butt on a rather elderly looking 2D machine - I'd date it as minimum 5 years old, being generous - she said the machine was capable of 3D but really didn't do it well, 3D has been available since 1987 according to wikipedia so the darn thing could be well over a decade old). To support my hypothesis, I present the "money shots" from this fetus and from Liam - note that I am allegedly more than 20wks now (I say 19wks 2 days) and Liam's ultrasounds didn't give us a conclusive gender until 36 weeks (the scan was done exactly a month before he was born, when I was sent to confirm that he was, in fact, head down as I had told the midwife I was positive he had been since the last time they scanned me at 29 weeks, which had been to get a clear shot of his face, since he hadn't cooperated at the 18wk scan - kept his arm in the way and wouldn't roll over - and had been too small at the 6wk scan I'd had to figure out my due date THAT time since LMP would have had them pushing me for an induction by HIS actual due date).

Here is Piglet's money shot (the bright white labels are mine):

And here's Liam's:

(the penis is the little round thing directly to the left of the word "penis")

So why am I so certain that the first one is umbilical cord? Well.... let's just say that none of the males in my family that I've seen nude (including my two younger brothers) would qualify as having porn-star potential, and the proportions indicated in the Piglet's ultrasound are *ahem* greater than the proportions Liam gets when he has a full-on toddler boner.

I'm not saying that it's definately NOT a boy, just that I'm pretty sure that's not a penis even if there might be scrotum next to it... and the tech didn't really get a chance to conclusively rule out the other bits being labia - Piglet wasn't being cooperative (kept laying with hir back to my front and refusing to turn).

Anyway, here are the more general-interest images...

Profile (face is on the far right of the triangle area, for those completely unfamiliar with reading these blots):


Another profile, with fist in the shot (especially for "mean, angry" Uncle Eric):

And here's what I look like as of about 2 hours ago:




The most important thing verified in this ultrasound (apart from all the necessary-for-life-and-health bits being present) is that there is, in fact, only one fetus present. I'm showing as much now as I was at about 7 months gestation with Liam which had me rather worried!