From Jenny's perspective:
Today Sam and I were scheduled for Baby D's 32 week ultrasound. We were so excited to be able to sneak a peak at the progress Baby D has made since we had our last ultrasound at 20 weeks! The first words out of the technician's mouth (before the ultrasound had even started) was "So your doctor thinks your baby is bigger than average, right?". I assure you, this was news to both of us. I had never heard that out of Dr. Gabel's mouth before, and man, were we in for a treat!
We were both in awe of Baby D on the screen! Head was down, heart rate looked good, 2 arms, 2 hands, 2 legs, 2 feet, spine was great, stomach looked good...everything seemed to check out. But wait, what is that? Oh yes, fat rolls. As the technician scanned Baby D's stomach, she started chuckling and then pointed out what must have been about 6 rolls. She confirmed that these were little fat rolls! Sam and I looked at each other and just burst out laughing! When the technician was done, she had one of her students continue the ultrasound for training while she got all of the stats together for us. She said that Baby D was measuring in the 80th percentile and at a whopping 5 pounds 3 ounces. My first reaction was that my little nephew was born weighing less than that! How could this be? (at 32 weeks, babies are supposed to average about 4 pounds or so). She then told me that I am at 31 weeks and 6 days today, but if we judge the age of the baby, I would be at 34 weeks and 3 days. That is quite a big difference!
So with 8 weeks remaining, I'm now totally panicking about how I am supposed to birth such a large baby! Anyway, we thought we would share some cute pictures of Baby D's photo shoot!
Baby D's face (with a squished nose from the ultrasound wand)
Profile view
Leg and little foot
From Sam's Perspective:
It was early in the morning when we made it to the hospital. I sat in the waiting room, listening to CNN in the background, waiting for our name to be called. Then, through those double doors, the name came, "Jennifer Dagley?" the voice shyly let out. We wandered through the double doors and into the room. The room was dimly lit, with a single bed and only an old, fluorescent light to illuminate the room.
I looked around and all I could see were the doctors, my beautiful bride, a static bed, and millions of pictures of babies smiling at me.
They sat me down in the chair and then proceeded to lube up my wife's stomach with something that eerily resembled Crest's Ultra Gel. I can only assume that Jenny's stomach is now cavity free.
The doctor came over and proceeded to attempt to scan my wife's stomach as though it had a bar code on it. She went everywhere. Left. Right. Up. Down. Left Again. Right Again. I stared into the monitor, waiting for someone to turn the channel to ESPN. Instead, I saw blips and bleeps, fingers and toes, a head, some black stuff, three feet, a smudge, and something that looked remarkably like a baby!
I was getting into looking at our future daughter/son/puma and I enjoyed the whole next few minutes immensely, excited about the future of my loins. Then, the doctor told us, the baby is amazingly healthy, except for one thing: Our child is comparable to a Christmas Turkey. She uttered the words in flow motion: FFFFFIIIIIIIVVVVVEEEEE PPPPOOOOIIINNNTTTTTT TTTTTHHHRREEEE PPPOOUUUNNNDS. 5.3 Pounds!!!! Surely this had been a mistake. We are normal sized people! How are we having a honeybaked ham for a child!
But, alas, the Doctor assured us that this was completely normal, that my bride would be just fine, and that our child was merely a bit larger than other kids. My immediate guess is that the additional pounds are from ego and brain.
In summation, fortunately for everyone the doctor was able to take a photo of me at the moment our child's weight was revealed, which I have posted below. I am excited to be a father!
"It Weighs What???" said Sam...
