Sixteen week scan

Is it a boy?
Is it a girl?

Yesterday's scan was able to reveal all. And the answer is....

IT'S A SURPRISE!

Yes, folks, we are opting NOT to find out the gender at this time. And unless we weaken at the 20 week scan, it'll remain a surprise until the whole thing is over. I feel like it'll be a nice surprise to look forward to at the end of a hard day's work for me. Plus, there's always a chance that the scan results will be incorrect, and we'll be expecting a Paul but get a Pauline, or vice versa. (Note - there are no plans to name the child either Paul or Pauline.)

So the technician knows, and the perinatologist knows, but we don't know. The perinatologist keeps trying to convince us to take the gender label home in a sealed envelope, which we keep declining. At least this time he didn't tell me that I could give it to my mother. I opted to keep silent about that suggestion rather than explain why my mother doesn't need the envelope. Sigh.

But I know why you're really here. Pictures! We got seven yesterday, and I must say that I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't get all of them like I asked the tech to do. She took about 40, it seemed - hands and feet and ribs and all kinds of things. Maybe I got spoiled with the last tech who gave me about 19 pics as well as a handful of video clips. But anyway, here are a couple of the best shots from yesterday.


This is the closest pic we got to the very cool and Halloween-looking shot of the front of the baby's skull. This version looks kind of like an alien! Again, they've attached labels to the image. I'm tempted to photoshop them out.


Obligatory profile shot. That's NOT a male endowment up there - I believe it's part of the umbilical cord, or perhaps a crossed leg. Baby has much less space now than it did at 12 weeks, so there was no bouncing around when I coughed. That's actually a good thing in my mind; I was feeling guilty at bouncing it all the time!

The technician says that I have an anterior placenta, along the front wall of my uterus. That means that baby's early kicks and punches will be muffled and I probably won't feel much, if anything, for at least the next few weeks. This placental placement is fairly common but doesn't happen in the majority of pregnancies.

And then the tech did some 3D shots, which I was pleased to receive as that makes three sessions in a row. I got three this time:

Shy:


Taking a peek...


And ultimately bored by what it sees?


Edited to add: I shared this last pic with my online expecting group and one person commented that it looks like there's a cat in there with the baby, licking its face! I love that concept. Not having a puppy at all...it was a kitty the whole time!