Baby Is Beautiful!!!

We had our second trimester ultrasound yesterday! We know the baby's gender, but we're keeping it secret for now. :)

The ultrasound machine is amazing. They could not only look inside my belly, but they could take measurements (including baby's weight-- 9 ounces), color code blood flow in the heart, and do lots of other complicated things I didn't understand.

The baby is perfectly healthy. Heart, brain, spine, kidneys, everything looked good according to the doctor and the technician. Yay! (Side note: The night before last, I was standing outside of the car, waiting for Husband to get Foster Son out of his car seat. I looked up between the trees in our yard at a little patch of sky, and despite the light pollution, I could see two stars. I thought to myself, "I haven't seen a shooting star in about 10 years. Last time I saw one was when I took an astronomy class and we had to drive out to the country where you can actually see the sky at night and draw our own star charts." And just then a really bright shooting star went flying by that little patch of sky and faded out! So I made a wish that the baby is healthy. I don't really believe in wishing on stars or that there was any real significance to that experience... but it felt cool and special that I happened to be looking at just the right spot in the sky and that I could indulge myself and make a wish for my baby.)

They did see one problem during the ultrasound, though. The doctor told me that my placenta is very low right now and that I'm at risk for placenta previa. That means that I might have to have a c-section when the big day comes. They are going to monitor me and see if my placenta rises as my uterus grows. I have to go back for another ultrasound in 6 weeks. As bad as this might sound, I was secretly happy that I'll get to see the baby again before it's born.

I managed to keep it together during the procedure, but as soon as we walked out of the office I started crying. I cried in the elevator, through the parking garage, and during most of the car ride. Tears of absolute joy. The baby is healthy, beautiful, and so incredibly REAL-- it was overwhelming.