It's a...

So, today was the big day. The day we were to find out whether we were having a boy or a girl. An exciting day. And it was exciting. Unfortunately, it was also something else. I don't really know how to describe or quantify what that "something else" is. It suffices to say that, had I been able to write a script for how this morning would go, things would have been a bit different.

Here's the deal. Or rather, here's as much of the deal as I can make sense of right now. The tech spent considerable time trying different angles, moving Allison around, and attempting to move the baby around (by banging on Allison's belly with the ultrasound thing, which struck me as more than just a bit odd), in an effort to see all four chambers of the baby's heart, to no avail. Obviously, this is not a desirable result. This precipitated an unscheduled meeting with the doctor, which was only to occur "if there was a problem." Again, not a desirable result. What I took away from this meeting is: (1) they aren't seeing what they wanted to see (the four chambers of the heart); (2) this could be because there is a problem with the baby's heart; (3) this could be because of a failure in technology or of the baby's position at the time; (4) if there is a "problem," it could be merely because the heart hasn't finished developing, which it can still do; and (5) if there is a problem, there is no way to know right now exactly what that problem is. Regardless, the situation is such that it merits further investigation. To that end, we have an appointment with the fetal heart specialists, who apparently have uber-ultrasound equipment, on Friday at 1:30. They will see what they can (or cannot) see and we will go from there.

I don't know what to think about all of this. It could be something. It could be nothing. If it's something, it could be any number of different somethings, so there's no way to know what long term issues might be in play. Essentially, everything about the situation is unknown, which I can't quite wrap my head around. On the positive side - if there can be one here - the doctor practically gushed about the fetal heart specialists that we are going to, he said that around 25% of his patients need a followup because of this type of potential issue, and, should we need to once the baby is born, the best place to go in this medical area is right here in Nashville: Vanderbilt. There is some comfort to be found in all of those things. Additionally, whatever the problem is, if there is one, has not hindered the baby's development. Everything else - measurements, heart rates, etc. - was right in the middle of the normal ranges.

To sum up, there is some concern that there may be a problem with the heart. It will be looked into further on Friday, but I get the sense that there really isn't anything more we will know at that point. I think the idea is to start getting the support mechanisms in place and moving, should we need them. My hope and prayer is that we won't.

Putting all of that aside, the ultrasound process itself is absolutely fascinating. That goes for seeing how the baby moves in the womb and for the technology that makes seeing it possible. We clearly saw arms, legs, feet, hands, ribs, the spine, internal organs, facial features, a facial profile, and - most interesting to me - fingers and toes. Completely fascinating. I had no appreciation for how much, and how constantly, a baby will move around. Ours was all over the place. The arms and legs were moving practically nonstop.

Well, I guess that covers everything. We will provide updates here, as we learn more. So, until then, I'll end with this:









I'm going to have a son.

(and no, you can't know what the name is yet, so don't ask).