Sonogram #5

November 16, 2007. (10 weeks) Today was the last of our weekly ultra-sound appointments. For that reason we were a little ambivalent about today’s trek in to see Dr. C, being conscious of the special privilege it has been to have had these weekly views into the womb.

For any of you who have not seen an ultrasound in real time, you should know that there is a great deal which these grainy black and white images loose, having been translated from a moving image in the examining room into the blotchy impression which you now see on your computer screen.

It is the movement which is most remarkable. Though only one inch long today, the baby moved his arms and legs and wiggled his fingers a number of times. When we first saw him this morning his arms were simply outstretched, but eventually he reached up and covered his large (pigment filled) eyes.

Ever the comic, when the image appeared on the screen Dr. C said “There’s the baby, hanging upside down. Just like a bat.”

If you look hard (maybe try squinting your eyes just a little), you can see his left leg extending past the umbilical cord.

Sonogram #4

November 9, 2007. (9 weeks) If you have been paying attention you will notice that today is 11 days after the last sonogram, owing to the fact that we switched our appointments from Mondays to Fridays. In the last 11 days, a lot of growing has been taking place. The baby is now 22 mm in length. We heard the heart again and were able to see his arms and legs. Unfortunately, the photo that Dr. C printed did not show them. We were also able to see the umbilical cord, which looked enormous in comparison to the baby. Amazingly, we saw movement within umbilical cord. The highlight, however, was seeing the baby's arm moving backward and forward - a little in utero wave.

Lung comparison

Here you see a comparison of the baby's lungs (on the right) at 8 weeks old to those of an adult.

8 weeks

Here is a photo showing the development of a baby at 8 weeks (that would be inbetween sonograms #3 and #4.

Sonogram #3

October 29, 2007. (7 weeks) The baby is almost 11 mm today. The most exciting part of this visit was that we were able to hear his little heartbeat, which was racing away at what seemed to us an amazing pace but which in reality was "as good as it gets" for a baby at this stage of development.

Sonogram #2.

October 22, 2007. (6 weeks) The large black space is the amniotic sack. The baby is the small white oval on the right. He (we'll use the universal "he" for now) measures about 3 mm today. As Dr. C promised, what we saw looked a lot like a grain of rice.

Sonogram #1

October 15, 2007. (5 weeks) This is our first look at the youngest Patterson. The black oval you see is the amniotic sack (the baby is still too small to see). The sack is only 12 x 8 mm.