My Princess Lily...

Before I begin I would like to take this opportunity to introduce my princess (yep she is a SHE), Lily...

The decision to go and get the ultrasound is one that I definitely won’t be regretting anytime soon. First up it gave me the opportunity to meet Lily just one more time before she arrives . I can’t explain how wonderful it was to see the images of her. I was blown away by how lifelike they were. The intricate details of her little chin, mouth and nose. Not to mention her hands, with her long little fingers. My mother, who accompanied me to the ultrasound, thought she looked just like Byron (to be honest I can't remember).

I also got some reassurance regarding the sex – as you might have previously noted I was worried she might come out a boy! At first, when the sonographer was examining that area all I managed to hear out of his mouth was something about a "blue nursery" – WTF!!!. At that point my heart rate jumped tenfold. It turns out he said "you won’t need a blue nursery!" . From that point, I wanted proof, so he pointed out her ‘girly’ bits to me. I am now officially able to take the tags off all the 'pink' clothes and wash them .

During the ultrasound, the Doctor became a little concerned about some fluid present on her kidneys. Following the examination he indicated that Lily has "Fetal Renal Pelvis Dilatation" (a mild case apparently). He said it wasn’t something to be too concerned about and was detected in approximately 1 in 50 pregnancies.

If I am, or my doctor is concerned, he recommends another ultrasound at 36 weeks. The baby will definitely require an ultrasound within a few days of birth to ascertain whether the condition has resolved. If it hasn’t he said it was a condition that could be treated with antibiotics once the baby is born. As any mother would do, I automatically thought the worse, like renal failure etc. He reassured me though, it is nothing too serious.

Another issue raised was that the baby appears quite big; although, he elected to maintain my dates, established through previous scans (his reasoning being that earlier scans are better detectors of dates). Here is a rundown of her vital statistics...

• Biparietal Diameter (Google told me this is the diameter of the fetal head as measured from one parietal eminence to the other): 81.5mm (very top percentile)
• Occipitofrontal Diameter (Again Google told me this is the diameter of the fetal head from the external occipital protuberance to the most prominent point of the frontal bone in the midline): 111mm (very top percentile)
• Head Circumference: 31cm (past the top percentile)
• Abdominal Circumference: 26.9cm (above average)
• Femur Length: 57.8mm (just below average)
• Fetal Weight: 1732grams (above average)

On a positive note the biophysical profile, dopplers, amniotic fluid volume and fetal breathing exercises were reassuring of current well being . Also, the heart and brain were well seen and appear normal, which is great .

As a friend said to me today, this 4D scan was a blessing in disguise. To think I wasn’t sure I wanted to get it done. Not only did I get some reassurance of sex, but discovered some things that really I think I needed to know about (and wouldn’t have known about had I not had the scan).

One more positive, was that I could introduce Lily to Byron; make it more personal. He could relate to the pictures of her and was pointing out her nose, eyes and mouth. When I called her my Princess Lily Pili Pie..he said "No, her name is Lily!". As you can see he is protective already.
I am now even more excited to meet her!