20 Week Perinatal Ultrasound

Brad and I went to the perinatologist for our 20-week anatomical scan appointment this afternoon. It was AWESOME! First, the ultrasound tech did a 30 minute scan. She took photos of EVERYTHING. Emma is measuring right where she's supposed to be - even a little ahead! Their projected due date is now July 2. According to my many pregnancy email updates from different websites, she's supposed be about 10 ounces right now - Emma's weighing in at 1lb! We have a little chunker on our hands.

She was SO cute. She was more scrunched up than we've seen her in ultrasounds so far. I suppose that makes sense because she's getting so much bigger. She kept playing with her toes. The tech was able to get a cute picture of her little feet, but it was hard to get because her hands were always in the way! They checked all of her little 2000 parts - particularly her feet (Brad was born with clubbed feet) and everything checked out perfectly normal, which was a huge relief to me. They even measured different structures in her brain. I keep up with a ton of blogs from women who thought everything was going well with their pregnancy until their 20 week scan. That's when the doctor is able to see structures of the brain, heart, and organs and check for anything out of the ordinary. The perinatologist is trained to catch anything and everything even slightly abnormal about the baby. If anyone could find anything wrong, it would be him.

Dr. Allen came in and did another 15 minutes or so of ultrasound. He took several pictures of the heart and all 4 chambers, playing each video of them pumping in slow motion, checking for any abnormalities. I must admit, Brad and I were a little freaked out that they spent so much time on the heart, but when I asked him about it, he said that it's the most complex and difficult to get good photos of. Whew!

I'll post the ultrasound pictures as soon as I get time to scan them. It will be a busy week full of IEP meetings and getting 2 new students. No rest for the weary!