Ultrasound photos are nothing like as clear as I thought.

Actually, I believe they do have the fancy 3-d ultrasounds now, that let you get a much clearer picture, but we didn’t get one of those.

Instead, the printouts were Xerox-looking black and white images that ranged from blurry to mildly creepy (see right). That said, the image on the screen, complete with real-time motion, was much clearer than any of the prints, and totally amazing. Aside from whatever disorders the ultrasound is supposed to screen for (everything looks normal), it is rather comforting to actually see that HOLY CRAP there’s an actual BABY inside me.

In fact, there’s a baby BOY inside me. The tech was 95% that we’re having a boy, and the doctor seemed even more sure.

One of the coolest looking things from the ultrasound (of which they unfortunately didn’t get a picture) was the baby’s spine. Initially it was one of the only things I could identify from the shifting grey blob. It looked a bit like goose-neck – you know, the bendy bit on a lamp? The hands and legs were also pretty incredible, and it was wonderful to see the baby moving around since, as of last Thursday (ultrasound day) I hadn’t really felt anything that I was sure was baby movement. I’m feeling much more now, though it’s still hard to distinguish between a restless baby and my body making normal body noises. At my midwife appointment on Monday, it took a while to get a heart beat (150) because the baby kept kicking the sonogram. I’m sure soon enough the baby movement will be more than obvious. Right now I mostly feel him moving when I’m lying down and not distracted by anything.

We do not have any names picked out yet. I’m pouring through baby name books nearly every day. We are NOT looking for suggestions. 🙂 Currently the plan (once we pick a name) is to keep it secret until the baby is born. I’m told that when a baby is a fetus, friends, family and even strangers feel free to tell you exactly why the name you’ve picked is terrible, but that once the baby is born, people are a bit more likely to hear it as the baby’s name rather than a topic for discussion.

We got a total of 9 ultrasound images, but these were the only ones that were clear enough to share. Like most babies, he’s obviously not interested in posing for the camera. Next photos should be sometime in June.