Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes (Knees and Toes)

On Friday 4/8 we had our long ultrasound appointment that involved counting fingers and toes, checking organs, etc. It went great, and we got some great photos. Unfortunately, no video this time around.

She’s looking great!

One of my favorite shots was this one:

I suppose it could be either hilarious or terrifying depending on how you look at it. An open mouth silently screaming from a maw of blackness, or rehearsal for a prenatal opera?

I don’t even know what’s going on here. Nose/lips? To me it looks like a pop rock suspended between two gummi bears.

No gang signs yet. We can stave off the east coast/west coast rivalry for probably a few more weeks.

An obligatory shot of the foot since I showed the hand. It looks good.

We did get a few more 3D shots. She certainly was dancing around like crazy. Check out this series of 3D images taken one after each other.

Anne uses an iPhone app called baby bump, and she emails me the updates. Looks like this week at week 20 babies are around 6.5 inches and are the size of small cantaloupe. The app also informs us, “Your baby is also starting to produce meconium, the result of digestion, which will accumulate in his bowels and eventually pass during delivery or in his first diaper.” Yay! The Spicy Peanut is generating poo! Yay! Wait, does she feel like she has to go number 2 for the next 4 months? Man that sucks.

And yay for scatological humor! It’s always funny! Diarrhea! Didn’t just reading that word  make you laugh so hard that you diarrhea’d in your pants just a little?! I did writing it! Woohoo! Using a scatological noun as a verb! Yeah! It’s funny!

Sorry, I suppose we have to start getting comfortable with dealing with – and talking about – poo. When you’re trying to conceive, you tell everyone about your sex life. I anticipate that when we have a new baby, we’ll give everyone baby fecal updates on a regular basis. And we’ll inevitably have to use every euphemism possible, e.g. doody, poopie, number 2, present, load, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. We may have to get creative.

But yes, we’ll have to be serious about it. After all, you can’t spell scatological without logical.

To be clear, we did also get the sex of the Spicy Peanut confirmed. It is for certain a girl, as evidenced by the double exclamation mark notation in this shot:

Not sure how I feel about the “bad touch” notation that it’s a girl. But this is the Spicy Peanut from the underside with her legs apart. Sometimes the babies cross their legs and it’s damn near impossible to be sure. Luckily she was cooperative. So it is for sure a girl! Phew! (Those ballet lessons aren’t refundable.)

Last time, when we were first told with 80-90% certainty that it was a girl, I asked if it was easier to tell if it was a boy. The technician actually finished by question aloud, saying that was an extremely common question, and said that it was equally difficult to determine gender. This time around, she assured us that it was a girl by asking, “You see that area right there where it looks like a hamburger between two columns?” Did she just do some subconscious advertising work for White Castle? 

Anyway, the bottom line is that the baby is great. Anne is definitely showing. (Sorry I haven’t posted a picture of her recently – it’s hard enough to carve out time to write the blog!) She feels great and we’re trying to eat healthy. Life is good. We’re moving in two weeks. 

That is all.

Diarrhea.

Classwomb

Apparently there’s no link between playing music, reading literature, etc. to the baby in utero and the child’s success or appreciation of those things. 

But my lesson plan! I had a strict curriculum set up, starting with the philosophy of ontological empiricism, viola lessons, and AP French. And I was going to transmit these lessons through a bullhorn directed at Anne’s belly, a couple hours a night. All that effort for nothing. 

No matter. We still have time to sink all of our desperate hopes and failed dreams into the child and make her feel guilty as an adolescent that she didn’t live up to our unspoken expectations. A well-put together regimen of controlled neglect, helicopter parenting, and emotional vacuousness will generate that piano-playing astronaut we’ve always wanted! I mean, that’s why we became parents – we need to explore the solar system, people.

Upcoming OB and ultrasound appointments on Friday April 8. We’ll be counting fingers and toes. Hopefully there will be the best number of them. We’re looking forward to another great photo shoot of the Spicy Peanut. Stay tuned.

How Could You Think This Was a Stool?!

Apropos of nothing, if you like funny things, please enjoy the video clip from Mr. Show below.
Note: a few weeks ago, Anne was almost this clumsy.
http://youtu.be/TyrM7GxyzGg
Also apropos of nothing, a mini anecdote. (A minecdote.) Many of you know that Anne is the Director of West Coast Operations for a business called Future MD. She recently received an email from an interested student that included this line: “I understand that you have a child in your stomach, so I would like to schedule a one-on-one strategy session with you at your earliest convenience.” Yes, you must schedule quickly before she finishes digesting the baby.