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22 weeks down... 18 to go!

The afternoon we returned from Montana, I had both my regular check-up and our halfway-mark ultrasound. The doctor's appointment was uneventful, but as always, it's nice to hear the baby's heartbeat. Usually right around 140 bpm, our little guy. Not so nice to hear the weight gain results, but that wasn't particularly surprising, given my holiday eating! :)

The ultrasound, on the other hand, was fun! Scott joined me, so he got to see his second son "live" for the first time. We learned the baby weighs right around 1 lb (+/- 2 oz), and that based on the various measurements they take of bones (his femur is 3 cm long!! that's so tiny!), his due date would be more like May 2 instead of May 9th. Doesn't necessarily mean anything, but interesting information to have. A guy was a little stubborn, he kept his hands, and amazingly, his feet too, up near his face the entire time, no matter how much the technician tried to push him around. :) We got to see various organs: the easy-to-spot four chambers of the heart, the tiny little black spots that apparently were his kidneys, stomach, and liver, and the various lobes of his brain. Amazing what those technicians can identify!

I mentioned to the ultrasound tech that if she spotted a choroid plexus cyst that she could tell us, we wouldn't freak us out (this time) since Zach had one. Click the link if you want details, but a CPC is a completely harmless cyst in a non-functioning part of the brain; however the presence of one can be an indicator for a chromosonal disorder. Even though our previous experience turned out fine, it was still a big relief when she said she didn't see one in Zach's baby brother! Our doctor will review the ultrasound results in the next couple weeks, so we don't have any official news, but it all went well.

Other than being thrilled that everything appears to be in the right place and growing well, I think our other big takeaway from the ultrasound was that this boy does not appear to look just like his brother! We both noticed it right away when we saw his profile; the slope of his nose is much straighter (Zach's kind of turned up at the end), and he doesn't appear to have my indented chin either. We've been trying to prepare ourselves for the idea that just because we're having another boy, it doesn't mean he is going to be a miniature Zach; this is definitely some physical evidence of that. We can't wait to see what he looks like in person!

Guide to ulrasound photos:

- The first image is of the baby's legs (looking quite bow-legged) and feet, as if you were looking from underneath him.

- The second image is in profile, primarily of his face, with some chest and a hand on the right. You can see the shadow of his brain on the far left; his nose pointing upwards in the whiter portion of the image in the center.