It's a baby...

April 15 was Garrett's birthday, so I scheduled the ultrasound for the same day. I thought it would be a nice birthday gift to learn whether he was having a son or daughter. And it would have been.
Except it took almost three hours and a lot of stress. Here I am on the first ultrasound table after Camille, our sonographer, spent an hour and a half measuring different parts of the baby's anatomy. Everything looked good, except she was unable to find a good angle on the heart or the umbilical cord because the baby was curling up. Although he was moving his fists and feet, he refused to uncurl. We thought it simply meant we'd need to return for a better angle. Still, she kept looking.

Dr. Russo was called in to check. She spent at least another half hour searching. The longer she stayed, the more concerned we grew. We've experienced enough to know that the longer a doctor examines you, the worse the inevitable news. Finally, she scheduled an immediate appointment with a pediatric cardioloist because she saw several things that bothered her: excess fluid around the baby's heart, lack of clarity on chambers, and extra thick walls.

After taking a wrong turn and having our tension mount, we finally found the right office. Dr. Rhee, the cardiologist, spent another twenty minutes or so IN SILENCE as she conducted another ultrasound. I lay there thinking all sorts of horrible outcomes and couldn't help think of how I'd ruined Garrett's birthday forever. The lack of information and my overactive imagination prompted me to sob. She then realized how terrified we were and quickly explained that everything was fine with the baby. He'd finally rolled over so that she could see everything clearly and she said it was "beautiful" and "gorgeous."

Whew!

We do need to return in four weeks for her to check up on a little something she saw. She said that the baby has always turned out fine. So, fiddle dee dee, we're not going to worry about that.

Everything turned out well. We have a healthy baby boy on the way--and he's already showing how stubborn and ornery he is!

The name we're calling him is Maximus Luke. (Of course, we reserve the right to change it if we meet him and think it doesn't fit. Max.) Luke is in honor of my grandpa. Garrett will probably be the only person to ever call him Maximus. Probably Maximus Decimus. I love the name Max, though. I'd prefer Maxim or Maximillian, but Garrett's love for The Gladiator is strong. Many years from now, I'm sure they'll watch it together.

Here's a picture of Garrett with his new birthday gift--Guitar Hero. Oh yeah.