Scan

Well, there's definitely only one of them, which is a relief. Though it would have made us an instant nuclear family, it would have been a complication we just didn't want.

The scan went very well. The baby was being a little bit shy and wouldn't show us its face but everything else was very clear. We could see it moving around, though most of the time it was sitting crossed-legged and zen-like on L's bladder. Of course, we came away with a couple of prints of the baby in the classic kidney bean-shaped profile. I've never been very impressed when I've seen other people with their ultrasound photos but somehow it's different when it's your own.

It's a fascinating process to watch. There were a load of measurements to be taken, such as the size of the head and the lengths of the thighs, all of which are used to give a better estimated due date. As each measurement was taken a small string of characters would appear at the bottom of the screen: 22W0D and the like, giving the current position on the pregnancy timeline based on that measurement. The lowest date I saw was 21 weeks and no days and a few of them were over 22 weeks.

Given that by the initial reckoning we are only just over 20 weeks (and we know that it can't be longer than that), I think this shows the baby is larger than normal, which is not at all surprising given that I was 9lbs 7oz when I was born and L was getting on for a pound heavier than that. (Cue wincing from my female readers). I may well joke with L about going for a record-breaking birth weight but that's just me taking it to extremes. I'm hoping for a big baby for more prosaic reasons - that large babies tend to be healthier than small ones.

L's got to go back in a couple of weeks for another scan so that they can check all of the bits they couldn't today because of the baby's shyness but I can't get time off work to go to that one. I'll have to wait until the new year before I get to see it again, more's the pity.