6 March 2011, by Tan Yi Lin
Scan You See Me?
This post was suppose to be about the 15th week routine check-up and scan, which we went for last Thursday. I got highly excitable and distracted over the days leading up to the appointment as anticipation mounted to almost giddy levels (which I suspect were also due to occasional drops in blood pressure with the onset of the 2nd tri.) But honestly, there isn’t much to write about at the end of the day.
I mean, it’s pretty awesome to see how much the baby has grown since the last visit and to see it moving around on the monitor during the scan. It’s an IMMENSE relief to see that yes, there is STILL a baby in there and that it’s MOVING (told you I was paranoid). But the whole process is really quite chop-chop-curry-pok and lasts a glorious… 3 minutes? Out of which 1 minute was spent ranting tearfully at the nurse for calling my queue number BEFORE my scheduled appointment time when I wasn’t around and proceeding to skip my number for an entire 1.5 hours thereafter while we unwittingly and patiently waited for our turn because the little queue slip stated to “Please note that queue numbers may not be called in sequence”. Another 30 seconds was spent climbing up and down that bed-table thing to be examined; another 30 seconds ooohing and aahing at the ultrasound monitor; and the last 1 minute getting the all-clear and a prescription for heartburn medication (finally) from the doctor. So ah, seriously, nothing to blog about here.
In any case, as my “Girlfriends Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood” (a $10 bargain from the Borders Expo Sale!) reminded me in no uncertain terms: NO ONE ELSE ON THIS PLANET IS AS INTERESTED IN YOUR BABY AS YOU ARE. Not even the baby’s own grandparents – whose eyes I’ve noticed glazing over even before they’re halfway through the 30-second video clip of the ultrasound scan.
So this entry is going to be about some pretty amazing things I’ve found out about a baby’s development during pregnancy. I say “a baby”, not “my baby”. But since this is my blog, I get to use pictures of my baby’s ultrasound scans for (useless and completely unnecessary) illustration purposes. Okay, fine, it’s just an excuse to show off a little. (Aren’t you glad that the HD video clips we took on Dan’s iPhone were a whopping 50MB each and the maximum file size for this blog is set at 5MB!)
For seen-it-all parents and smarty-pants bookworms who have read up on every aspect of pregnancy, this might be a yawn. So feel free to skip on to the next blogger’s entry (but not before you at least scroll quickly through these wonderfully grainy black and white mosaics of the baby?)
So here goes…
Thank goodness for pregnancy websites and iPhone apps. Seriously, I would be a pretty dumb mother-to-be if not for them. Pregnancy books are of course a wonderful source of information too. But when you’re gearing up towards your first scan at 6 weeks, entire books devoted to the subject of pregnancy and childbirth can be a tad overwhelming. At this stage, all you really really really really (x 100) want to know is that THERE IS A BABY IN THERE. If there isn’t, then reading so far ahead is really rather pointless. I know it sounds crazy but I still suffer from a nagging feeling that preparing too much too far in advance is going to jinx things somehow. Anyway, websites and apps deliver important information in little snippets in line with whichever stage your pregnancy is in. It’s kinda like taking things slowly, one day at a time, which I find rather comforting.
These are some of the amazing things I discovered starting from 6 weeks:
(1) The baby’s heart starts pumping blood at about 80 times per minute. You can already see the tiny heart beating during the first scan. I honestly didn’t know this. It’s pretty hard to picture that tiny 7mm squiggle having a heart, given that the last time I saw it was when it was just one of two defrosted curd-like bunches of brown-grey cells prior to the embryo transfer.
Annotations have been added to the illustrations to aid the uninitiated, which includes us cos we still have no idea what we’re looking at during each scan until the doctor points out specific body parts. I couldn’t even tell where my own uterus was in the first scan.
(2) At 7mm, the embryo is the size of a blueberry. I really appreciate how comparisons to coins and fruits are used to give clueless parents a rough mental picture of how big their baby is without having to reach for a ruler each time. As of today at 15 weeks, the baby is as big as an apple (although no mention of whether it’s a Granny Smith, Royal Gala or Fuji – quite a difference in size amongst apples, you know.)
(3) At 7 weeks, some features such as the nostrils and kidneys are already forming and in place.
(4) At 10 weeks, the baby is about 3.6cm long from head to rump, about the size of a prune. Tiny teeth buds are already forming inside it’s gums!
During the 10th-week scan, the baby woke up from its slumber and started doing little butt lifts! I swear it raised its tiny hand and waved at us, although Dan claims that that particular appendage wasn’t “his hand that he was waving around”…. whatever. I forgot to mark it out on the picture, but it’s that small white spot positioned slightly to the right of the arrow marking the head.
(5) At 11 weeks, the baby is about 5cm long and its genitals start taking the shape of boy or girl bits. Its webbed hands and feet have developed into individual fingers and toes, each with a tiny nail. Dan acknowledged this amazing development in his child by issuing it a warning to keep its itchy fingers away from his beloved KFC in future.
(6) At 13 weeks and about 7.5cm long, the baby starts forming urine in his kidneys and excreting it into the amniotic sac. And… get this, it DRINKS IT ALL BACK IN as part of the amniotic fluid. My kid is drinking it’s own pee?!?! It’s also developing vocal cords… woah. Getting all ready to scream the house down so soon?
(7) At 14 weeks and about 8.7cm long (about the size of a clenched fist), the sex becomes apparent! Somehow, I find the thought of a possibility of a penis growing inside my belly slightly disturbing… The baby is also growing eyebrow hair!! It’s strange how such minor little features get thrown in at such an early stage of development. I mean, aren’t there more important things to grow first? Head and body hair are also getting a move on. I was astounded to learn from friends that if a woman suffered from heartburn during pregnancy, it meant that her baby was growing hair. Seriously, if that were true, I might be giving birth to an ape.
(8) At 15 weeks, the baby’s skeleton becomes apparent during an ultrasound. True enough, we saw our little alien of a baby with its skull-like head (eye sockets and all), knee, leg and arm bones showing up as solid white shapes on the scan.
(9) This is also the time whereby you *might* get a glimpse of the baby’s sex, especially if it’s a boy. We have been dying to find out for weeks now. Dan and I even have a bet going on between us – I think it’s a girl; he thinks we’re having a boy (as evidenced by his reference to his “son”s marvellous appendage during an earlier scan. My colleagues have even started a betting pool in the office (the father of the baby has demanded a 10-20% cut of the earnings.) As luck would have it, the baby was curled up (I guess they don’t call it a foetal position for nothing) and crossing its legs, so all we could make out were its knees and tummy. We are a little disappointed to have to wait another 5 weeks to find out – especially after I expressly coached it to spread its legs the night before. What? Was that too weird a request to make?
(10) As evidenced during the scan, the baby is now moving around actively, flexing and kicking its arms and legs. It can even suck on its thumb! I’ve been trying to feel for its movements, but I guess it’s still too soon, given that they are usually felt around 16 to 22 weeks and for first-time mums, it’s usually later than sooner as our abdomen and uterine muscles are still strong (as opposed to lax and thus easier to feel the kicks and punches.) I guess that’s something to seek comfort in – the presence of abs!
I look forward to being humbly educated in the weeks to come. And to those lovely readers who made it through this babbling post, thank you for being interested – or at least pretending to be! Love ya!
7 Comments
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Evon
March 12th, 2011 at 6:19 am
Hi Yi Lin, I will be starting my frozen cycle this month. My scan is next Sat. Would you leave me an email add so that I can email you privately? My email is stingraygemini@yahoo.com.sg – Cheers, Evon
Yi Lin
March 10th, 2011 at 2:19 am
Heh, thanks you all for the well wishes – and for reading to the end. Haha.
Trace: 11cm not very big lah. My iPhone app compared it to the size of an avocado… Some days my skin feels like its being stretched over a melon. Other days – I hardly look pregnant. Such inconsistency!
Celine: Oh yeah *blush* I ended up blabbing ALOT about MY baby in the end huh. Paiseh. I’m starting to get brainwashed by the husband into thinking that it’s a boy. Judging from the old wives’ tale about tummy shape too.. I think it could just be??? We’ll know on 8 April!
Madeline
March 7th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Have been following you since the beginning, am very excited for you that you’ve come this far. Can’t wait to see your baby =)
Tracy Su
March 7th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
Waaaaaaah, so big already! And it hardly seems to show in your previous post. I’m impressed =)
Celine
March 7th, 2011 at 6:46 am
Wow, you seriously gave a blow by blow account of the development of YOUR baby 🙂 Enjoyed every bit of the babbling! I hope it’s a girl 🙂
Rebecca
March 7th, 2011 at 12:46 am
elo..thank YOU for such interesting write up, as usual, I am always looking forward to your next blog..thanks once again.