My older daughter and her husband of 6 years are having a baby! That makes me a soon-to-be grandma (I have already started practicing) who is learning a LOT about the changes in the OB world since I last had a baby. There is more information out there, thanks to the Internet, cable TV and books than I ever could have imagined and my trip to the ultrasound room is an example of how much things have changed.
When expecting my daughters over 26 years ago you went in, bared your belly and about all that could be told was if parts were in the general area you hoped they'd be and now and then, the gender – always given with a caveat. Now, if they can find it with the ultrasound magic wand, they can answer pretty much any question you have about the pregnancy and the baby.
A few days ago I was privileged to go with my daughter to her mid-term ultrasound appointment. My daughter didn't want to know the baby's gender and her husband had been supportive of that decision, even though he very much wanted to know if he was going to be a daddy to a little girl or boy. So, as the ice cold gel (some things never change) was applied to my daughter's belly, she let the doctor know she did not want to know the gender; please warn us so we could look away when he got to "those parts".
We needn't have worried. As the doctor moved the ultrasound wand over my daughter's abdomen, he now and then commented on the "parts" he was viewing. We laughed and laughed as we mistook the kidneys for the baby's eyes. We told the doctor it was a good thing we were not the ones performing the ultrasound. He smiled, hopefully, only because he had heard our comments from many others. Surely, we weren't the only ones that had no clue what we were viewing! Through the wonders of technology we could see the cord, and the warmth of it. It was kind of like watching Doppler radar. We watched the heart beating and thanked God for knitting this precious baby into a unique being. Partway through the scan, we asked if the doctor knew the gender. "Yes, I already know," he replied. We wondered how he could know when he had not been anywhere near "those parts" yet.
After the scan was complete, as my daughter checked out, she and the office team started talking about all her plans. My daughter had been considering finding out the gender to make her husband more a part of the pregnancy. After talking to the staff (they assured us this doctor had NEVER been wrong) and calling her husband at work, she decided to ask about Avi's sex (another story, a few weeks ago the baby was about the size of an avocado). With her husband on the phone and some office staff accompanying us, we trooped back into the ultrasound room. I think the doctor was expecting us. My son-in-law, though he had to be at work that day got to hear the news with his wife.
It's a boy! I think I'm gonna like this grandparent stuff!
