Toads-in-the-Hole

Ten days ago we went for our 19-and-a-half week ultrasound to see how EthelRed was coming along. The contrast from our first ultrasound was, of course, breathtaking. Our fetus leapt upon the shadowy screen with obvious anatomy, vigorous movement, and, at times, a convincing portrayal of someone reacting to outside stimulus. Aimee and I both did a lot of cooing, “Oh look, vertebrae! And a bladder, right in the middle! Oooo, look at that heart, look at those symmetrical chambers!” Eric, our ultrasound tech, did another outstanding job of pointing things out to us, telling us what signs of normal development he was looking for, and providing immediate feedback when he found said signs. To sum up: EthelRed is developing fabulously! Which is to say, completely average. To un-sum up: EthelRed has normally formed ventricles in the brain, a regular spinal column with perfectly typical vertebrae. All of EthelRed’s organs are ordinarily perfect, and measurements of the limbs all revealed a commonplace flawlessness.

Aimee delighted in EthelRed’s activity level. It seemed like our fetus was in constant motion, hammering at the walls of Aimee’s uterus with little hands, kicking, and rolling around. This is pleasing, as it lets us know how, even though Aimee has been feeling tiny murmury taps on her abdomen for a couple of months now (the strongest of which I can just feel with my hand), EthelRed is still very active even when nothing can be felt.

Towards the end of the exam, Eric turned to us and said, “And would you like to find out the gender of your child?” We both nodded enthusiastically, and he went looking. It was tricky to discern, as EthelRed was a little tucked up, but we eventually concluded that….

Ahem: Spoiler Alert. If you, dear reader, would rather not know EthelRed’s gender, we fully support your inclination. Many people prefer to keep these things as a surprise, and we would hate to impose our philosophy (or, actually, a lack of philosophy) about this issue upon you. So, why don’t we all enjoy an ultrasound image of EthelRed while you think about things. Also, if you conclude that you’d really rather remain in the dark, we urge you to read future entries with caution. There may be many entries that won’t be about EthelRed at all, which you can enjoy without worry. But we will start using a gender-specific pronoun after this entry, so surf carefully.

So, EthelRed is….

A girl! We’re pleased and excited and wriggly with delight!