We Have a Penis!

Yes, on Thursday we got to see ultrasound "footage" of our active little baby BOY!

My fiance was in the room with me when we got the news. He'll tell you himself that he's never been to so happy to see someone else's penis.


When the ultrasound tech first sat down with us, she asked if we wanted to know the sex. We both eagerly said yes, so she went right for it and had a look in that area first. Initially, she said it was sort of hard to tell from the position the baby was in, so she would go and have a look at a few other things and then try back. I was bummed because I thought we weren't going to be able to see and we'd have to wait even longer.

The ultrasound tech looked at the baby's heart, which I could see pumping away furiously. Very cool and very strange. You could see the differnt chambers and everything. Pretty incredible.

We could also see the spine very clearly - it looked like it was lit up like a string of Christmas lights. Again, awesome but weird.

As she studied the different parts, there were a few times when I could swear I saw a little something between the legs. Every time she'd go back to the area, I'd catch a glimpse, but half the time I had no idea what I was looking at so I couldn't be sure what it was I was actually seeing.

When she went back down to focus on the genital area again, I could see that at first the legs were crossed and he was moving around a lot. Again, it looked like he wasn't gonna give up the goods. But then his little legs parted like the Red Sea and it was clear - definitely something in between. She froze the shot for a second and zoomed in.

"Well, you want my guess?" she said.

Duh.

"I'd say it's a boy."

I could almost hear my fiance getting excited, but he wasn't ready to break out the cigars quite yet. He asked how sure she was, so she went back for another look. The second shot was pretty unmistakable.

"I'd say we definitely have a penis."

My fiance was out the door before I could even see the look on his face. By the time the ultrasound tech finished with me, he had texted pretty much everyone we know. I could hear my cell phone buzzing in my purse a few feet away with all the messages I was receiving about the good news.

After he left, the little guy gave us one more wide open money shot. The word she used to describe it this time was "prominent". Oh, the fiance was going to have a good time with that one.

As she finished up, the tech showed me that there is a small cyst in the baby's chorioplexus (part of the brain), which she said is very common and usually resolves itself before the baby is even born. Still, she would let my doctor know in case she wanted to have it looked into further. Also, because the baby was facing mostly towards my back during the ultrasound, she hadn't been able to get a good look at his mouth and nose - just a brief profile. Again, not something to be concerned about, she said.

She turned on the lights, wiped the goo off my belly and left me to wait for the doctor.

The doctor came in and repeated mostly what the ultrasound tech had said about the cyst, that it was not cause for concern. However, she did say that because there was more than one thing that had come up on the ultrasound (the cyst and the inability to see the face) that they usually like to follow that up with a level 2 ultrasound at the hospital, just in case. She stressed that she was not at all worried, everything else looked great and it was simply in the interest of being thorough. I couldn't help but feel a little uneasy, though. We scheduled with the hospital for April 6 and I left to enjoy the rest of my day off.

Of course, the first thing I did when I got home was look up chorioplexus cysts. Just as I had been told, they're pretty common and usually disppear on their own, though they can be a marker for Downs Syndrome and/or Trisomy 18. However, every story I read from other parents who encountered this on an ultrasound had also been told that it was probably not an issue, and in the end, met with positive results - the cyst went away as expected and the children were born perfectly healthy. A few people reported that their doctors did express some concern, but in those cases the concern was due to either a) the age of the mother, or b) the size and/or number of cysts. The older the mother is, the more cysts there are and the larger they are, the more their presence is worrisome. I'm only 26 and thankfully we only have one small cyst, so even though it's in the back of my mind I'm feeling okay about it. My fiance is not the littlest but concerned about it, but that's typical for him. We'll see what the ultrasound turns up next week.

Within three hours of hearing the news, my mother had already bought him an outfit, people were already asking about names and my fiance was still sporting a big goofy grin.

This little boy doesn't know what he's about to get into.

~*~