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The tweleve week scan was much more detailed and clear than I expected. Anne came with me and was just as excited as me. I was suddenly in a good mood this morning, which I took to be a good omen. The sonographer started with a whole spiel about what was going to happen but soon worked out that I had insider knowledge and started showing off her skills instead. So...he's cute. He wriggles a lot and seems to be keen onlying on his side in a corner where we couldn't see more than his bottom. So I had to cough a lot to make him roll over.
He has a brain and a nice round skill, eye sockets and a nose that looks rather like his father's. There is a nose bone, which means he's much less likely to have downs. His nuchal fold was 1.8mm, which is within the normal range. He has a beautiful spine and ribs and long legs, five finger on the one hand we could see and he is exactly the right length for his age. He has four chambers in his heart, which was beating at 170bpm. He has two kidneys and a bladder that works. His diaphragm is in the right place. All in all, he seems to be just about perfect.
It's very odd to think that there's somebody the size of a hamster inside me, wriggling about, and I can't feel a thing. I do feel some little prickles, low down, but I'm not sure that's him. No gender yet, but I think he looks like a boy. The sonographer wouldn't be drawn on the subject. We had lunch at the Richmond Hill larder to celebrate and Anne is making me go ringing tonight because she says it's good for my mental health. She's a clinical psychologist, so I reckon she's probably onto something. We just need to rig up some sort of play pen at St Pius and the small person will have ten grandparents to coo over him, when we're not making a racket with the bells.