Peace on Earth..., originally uploaded by pkoczera
After our first (incredibly expensive) ultrasound, we had to go back for a second look at my wife's placenta. Actually, we went to a different hospital this time, because she switched to a midwife. That's a post for another day.
The primary purpose for this trip was to make sure everything looked all right from a medical standpoint, and she passed with flying colors. We also verified that it's a girl. So that was nice, and we were happy, but we had another goal in mind. For us, it was another (possibly final) opportunity to see our baby in motion before the birth.
I was amazed at the difference a few weeks can make. Photos from the first appointment (20 weeks along) show our baby as an x-ray fish; a thin layer of translucent skin stretched over a structure of organs and bones. At 28 weeks she was plumper, with developed eyelids, a nose, chin, and those cute little baby cheeks. Our daughter is developing a personality! But the real "whoa dude" moment this time around was getting a clear view of all four chambers of her fetal heart as they rapidly pumped the blood to her tiny body. I could have watched just that for hours. It always comes back to the heartbeat.