I was so excited to see our little guy this weekend via an elective ultrasound! Aimee was great enough to fly down so we could see how much he’s grown since the last time we saw him in person at the 9-week ultrasound. Aimee and I usually FaceTime during appointments, but the ultrasound quality at her appointments is a much lower quality, and we were hoping to get some good photos that we could share with the grandparents and great-grandparents. Most people do an elective ultrasound around this time so they can find out the gender, but since we already knew the gender from the blood test, we were able to just enjoy seeing him.
We arrived at the ultrasound clinic and were ushered into a room filled with plush couches and a big-screen TV that broadcast the ultrasound images.
For Watching Ultrasounds, or Sunday Football
The tech was able to find him immediately, and I teared up when I saw how big he was! He was so active, kicking his legs and moving his arms like he was waving. They did checks on all of his bones to make sure he was growing well, counted his fingers and toes, and checked to make sure that he was still a boy (he certainly is!). I was able to FaceTime with both of my parents who were so excited to see their grandson moving around.
Since I’m not the one who is pregnant, these appointments make everything feel so much more real to me, and are a huge comfort that things are going well. I love hearing that for once, everything is normal and our baby is healthy.
Baby Sea Otter’s 17 Week Ultrasound Photo
After the ultrasound, Aimee and I grabbed breakfast and then spent the rest of the day getting pedicures and just hanging out. We are so fortunate to have found a surrogate that we get along with so well and truly feels like another family member. I probably say this a lot, but I can’t even express how grateful I am.
Our next big appointment is in January, where we’ll travel up to Portland for the 20-week appointment. A few people asked whether or not we’d be doing a 3D or 4D ultrasound. We did a basic 2D ultrasound because at 17 weeks, the baby still looks really skinny and a bit alien-esque. We wanted to wait to do a 3D ultrasound until around 30-34 weeks, when you can actually see the baby’s facial features. I think having the 3D ultrasound to use as a comparison when your baby isolder is pretty cool. And I’m a huge fan of technology. Just another thing to look forward to!
Did any of you do elective ultrasounds? If so, when did you have yours done?
blogger / pomegranate / 3491 posts
Yay for baby sightings! Glad all is progressing well
blogger / persimmon / 1220 posts
So awesome that you guys have that kind of relationship.
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
Yay for an awesome, close relationship!!
Only elective ultrasound we did was the 12 week one which is the NT scan.
guest
We actually skipped ultra sounds except for one. However, if I was in your shoes, I would have elective u/s too. What a wonderful way to connect to your baby! ,
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
yayyy
we did an elective 3/4d ultrasound at 33 weeks? DS was being gunshy, but it was still reallyl cool and in hindsight, it looks so much like him when he was born!
blogger / pomegranate / 3201 posts
Yippee!!!
We had a lot of extra u/s because I was a huge baby (9lbs, 12oz) and the insurance approved the appointments with the perinatologist that my doctor requested to monitor his size, so we took whatever we could get. It was so fun seeing him so often! And I have a whole little album full of his u/s pictures.
coffee bean / 32 posts
We did not do any elective ultrasounds because there is not a whole lot of evidence saying they are safe. I’m not trying to be a troll or a killjoy, but I thought I would comment in case you want to look into it more. I know how exciting it is to see the baby but if it wasn’t actually necessary I preferred to avoid it.
bananas / 9118 posts
Our elective ultrasounds were the best money we spent during the entire pregnancy!
We did a 15 week gender scan for both pregnancies, and a 30-ish week 3D/4D ultrasound for our first and are planning it for this pregnancy too. Our 30 week scan looked exactly like him when he was born and it really helped us bond and come up with his name!
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
I loved getting ultrasounds and seeing how my baby was doing during that time. We had a 3D/4D with our first and the shape of her face in the womb was so similar to how she is in real life, amazing!
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
I had a 3d ultrasound when Charlie was 30 weeks or so when my mom and aunt were visiting. They had never seen an ultrasound before so it was awesome! Charlie yawned, opened and closed his eyes… you’re going to love it!
blogger / persimmon / 1231 posts
So exciting!! With not getting to experience the pregnancy first-hand I’m sure these ultrasound appointments are so special. So glad you guys got to see your sweet baby boy!
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
Yay! We dont have elective places in my area so Im lucky my Dr does a lot of ultrasounds on her own. I had some bleeding issues with Drake so I have way more of him than Juliet.
blogger / clementine / 998 posts
what a huge tv! we decided against the 3d ultrasound because they looked kind of scary!