Week 12: April 27 - May 3 (Plum)

It's hard to believe that the first trimester is coming to a quick end. I am looking forward to that energy, focus, desire to eat and do things again that go along with the second trimester. One of the main things about this week was our first trimester screening. Basically it does the NT Scan which checks the fluid on the back of the neck and they do a bloodtest on me to test for potential chromosonal disorders. It's interesting because so many people opt out of this test. I also learned from a friend of mine who delivered 1.5 years ago that this was still an experimental test which was being piloted at their hospital. The perk of this test is that it's non-invasive and if (God forbid) dire results come back, you have the option to then do a CV or Amnio (which used to be the only options available). Thank God Yoel and I both have healthy genes and we really hadn't thought about what we would do with the results. After thinking about it, we figured we'll use the information from the test to be prepared the best we can for a potentially special situation. We got to visit a Perinatal doctor in Northside Hospital for the test and I always get so amazed by this hospital. You step in and it's like being at the Ritz Carlton of hospitals. I told Yoel, I'm excited about labor and delivery (and in my head I believe it will be like a vacation because of how luxurious the hospital is - wierd, yes!). Anyways, we got to watch the Ultrasound where the tech went in detail measuring our little one. I teared up for the first time, because I really got to enjoy it. I saw Poppy jump up and down, the first time the tech placed the U/S device on my abdomen. Poppy then raised it's little arm to waive at us, as if he/she knew we were watching. We got to see the little fingers and toes (yes, I counted). The biggest surprise was we asked our tech for a guess of the gender and she said she's 75% sure it's a GIRL. Well as you can imagine, the shock set into Yoel (but i'm sure in his head, he's like, nah it could still be a boy). The doctor came in and explained everything we saw in the U/S to us and then we asked him to guess (w/o telling him what the tech said) and he cited new research and pointed out the organs telling us he's 95% sure it's a GIRL. Now Yoel started sweating bullets. It took him about an hour, and he came around. He knows girl's rule and boy's drool ;) Anyways, mommy-to-be has visions of pink, sugarplum fairies, dance classes, and princess parties. We shared the news with our immediate family and although some still warn us it could still be a boy, I prefer to just rely on modern science and go with it. We'll find out for sure in week 20!