The Scan - an alien force creates a reign of terror!

Hmm, okay, so this is more like monthly but things are really hotting up now. We've had the first scan and it looks like everything is going according to the extraordinary program we coded in a few months ago. Hopefully the data wasn't corrupt and the hardware seems to be in good condition. In fact, it looks like this:

We had done our homework and been to a session with the hospital geneticist (although we weren't given the option of hard-wiring skill at football or music, traditionally excellent occupations if the parents want to be looked after and have houses bought for them, so that was a bit of a disappointment). After hearing all the options we opted for the integrated test - combining the nucal scan with a blood test for better accuracy - which meant that although we would have to wait longer for the result, when it comes it is much more accurate i.e more true negatives and fewer false positives detected.

We had an early morning appointment at the hospital round the corner from work - great news, not just because it has an excellent reputation but Rach will be able to work right up to the day of the delivery and pop the baby out in a lunch-hour, hardly affecting her earning potential at all! Truly, we are blessed.

Because we had chosen the integrated test Rach only had the blood test and her measurements taken. I was curious to find out my own weight but Rach was a svelte but healthy weight and I didn't want to confront her with the extra 50% of mass required to make up me. Not so early in the morning.

We had to come back for an evening appointment to get a look at the ultrasound.

This was the most amazing part of the process so far. The pictures are grainy and hard to understand but when seen in action - and it looks like Buddy is going to be just as restless and fidgety as his / her mother - the eyes and brain fill in a lot of information using the movements and 'edges' of the baby. They allow you to interpret a very vivid picture full of detail, and unexpectedly developed. Please note, I'm not claiming that our child is already "very advanced for its age" but it was a week older than we thought so we saw the little fingers moving about, saw the heart beating and the twin lobes of its brain were easy to spot too, looking like a cross-section through a tiny cauliflower. I had a great view, unlike Rach who was pushed back by the doctor every time she leaned up, which I hardly realised as I was staring too hard at the screen. It's pretty easy to get carried away at this stage because on a big screen the baby looks so much larger than it really is but this was the first bit of magic. Hopefully Rach will get a better view when we go back for the second scan at 20 weeks.

I had a prolonged showing too, which felt like a real privilege, because the baby was sitting upright (probably reading or something) and wouldn't get into a good position for the doc to measure the back of its neck (part of the screening for Downs Syndrome). I'd say stubborn like its mother (and me to be entirely fair) but having seen its brain being about the size of a thumbnail, elegant, symmetrical and vegetable-y, I wouldn't impute to much higher function characteristics to it just yet.

The doctor asked us if we wanted to know the sex - absolutely, I've never really understood why you wouldn't. Rach thinks it's so the mother still has a nice surprise to look forward to at the end of the labour, a plausible explanation but since she wanted to know too we had agreed we would ask. At first the doctor seemed pretty sure saying "she kept seeing something flying around in front of her eyes" but then she backed off and wouldn't commit. So obviously we think it might be a boy - what else could she have seen? A rolling pin?

But it might be a girl. So no names yet...

And meanwhile, there's a lot of paperwork to do, appointments to arrange, birthing centre tours to take, and obviously I want to be there as much as possible but really lots of the appointments don't require me in any way at all, even for moral support, and we also need to put in some serious thought about what we need to do to Nick and Rach Mansions before May. Oh yes - we're expecting Buddy on the 2nd of May!

PS Although marvellous, at this stage Buddy bears more than a passing resemblance to 80's Eagle character Doomlord. For comparison, and pray it isn't true…..

Buddy

Doomlord piloting his craft