Last Friday was the big 13 week scan for Chantelle and myself, the so-called NT scan whose primary objective is to establish whether or not your foetus may be suffering from some major defect, like Down Syndrome for example, and thus give you the choice as to whether or not to continue the pregnancy.
The test was conducted by Dr. Sonja Mulder, situated nice and close to us in Strand and despite all the nerves and worry leading up to the big day (Chantelle even developed a horrible stress-related pain in her abdomen which she carried around for a few days before the test!) as well as the added stress caused by Dr. Sonja’s failing equipment which seemed to develop a nasty habit of suddenly shutting down and then rebooting itself the whole time (stretching the consultation well past the hour mark to almost two hours long!), the visual ultrasound test was successfully conducted and by all accounts our little baby is developing absolutely normal and is showing no signs of there being anything wrong.
Truly a blessing then.
As it is, things are still running pretty smoothly in terms of the pregnancy and Chantelle is definitely showing already (of course for me the best part is, and for her the worst part is, her huge boobs! :P), though she has now had to go on blood pressure pills to try and bring down her blood pressure which went up fairly drastically with the pregnancy. But other than that everything is looking good and she still isn’t suffering from any real form of nausea or some other uncomfortable side effect.
As for me, I get more and more excited with each scan because it manages to drive home each and every time just how big a miracle this really is. The confirmation that something is actually literally growing and living inside my wife is just too awesome to comprehend! The way the foetus responds to being touched (well viciously prodded in the doctor’s case), the way it hiccups (that was amazing to see) and the way its heart sounds as it beats its furious pace is just absolutely awe-inspiring.
So all in all, so far, so good ;)
Our baby at 13 weeks! :)
P.S. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the doctor decided to stick out her neck and suggest that we’re going to be having a baby girl – which absolutely thrilled Chantelle because she can’t help but feel that it is a girl as well.
As for me, well I’m still content to just wait and see – After all, I’m not going to start decorating the baby’s room just yet! :P
