Spooky demon baby

Yesterday we had what was probably our last ultrasound to see how it was growing and to coo over its obvious cuteness.

Jacob: “Whoa! Spooky demon baby...”
Ayako: ...
Sonographer: “No, cute baby!”
Jacob & Ayako: ...

Cuter scans are to be found here.

Nesting

We’re not doing a lot of nesting, but Ayako just finished sewing a new cover for this bassinet that we borrowed from our friends Adam & Karen. So far, Sebastian Ghastly, the cat in the print, does not seem to be scaring our cat away, and he is determined to make the bassinet his. Maybe we’ll have to wrap Sakana-chan (fish-child, formerly “the creature”) in pungent herbs to keep it from being smothered.

We’re at 31 weeks now. Ayako thinks it’s taking forever, but for me it’s going by terrifyingly quickly. She’s at the stage where she jumps occasionally due to a sharp kick or a sudden leg cramp.

Manhattan

We finally posted some photos from our trip to Manhattan in May, only days after learning that Ayako was pregnant. The Highline was in full bloom, and was full of tourists, locals, and park security. More photos.

Fingers, toes... check

Today we went to St Mike’s for the 20 week anatomical scan. He, or perhaps she, is doing just fine. Weighing in at 308g, everything is on schedule, present, and well-formed. The Integrated Prenatal Screening (IPS) results were in, and showed no cause for alarm. The creature was quite calm today, and seemed content to just wave to us, rather than dance around. The little hand opened and closed a few times, in a surprisingly baby-like way. See other images.

Birds and bees

Ayako: “I have a baby in my tummy.”
Sophie: “You ate a baby?”
Ayako: “No, I didn’t eat a baby.”
Sophie: “How did it get there?”
Ayako: “Well, there’s a seed in my tummy, and it’s growing.”

Sophie moves on to other things, presumably as confused by that explanation as I am. Babies come from seeds? How did the seed get there? Later,

Sophie: “Where is the baby?”
Ayako: “In my tummy.”

Sophie moves on to other things. We’ll never know what she really thought.

Spine... still there

Our local clinic wanted to practice nuchal translucency scans, so we had another one this week. Always fun to check in on the creature and see what it’s getting up to. Boy does it like to dance around! More early pictures.

Spine... check

The creature sucks it’s thumb already?! This was the first nuchal translucency scan. The result was normal. It was moving around a lot, and Ayako was asked to cough to reposition it. It bounced around like a pin-ball. Ayako has started apologizing to her belly when she coughs or sneezes. More early pictures.

Small is beautiful

If you find squirmy little things found under rocks beautiful, that is. But there it is. Today’s scan was to find out how many there were, and where they were implanted. Answers: just one, and right where it should be. But how could something so small cause so much nausea and exhaustion? More early pictures.

Think positive

Really?! We thought this cycle was a dud. Interesting birthday present for me. The pencil sketch shows Ayako’s memory of her left ovary ultrasound from before ovulation. The left fallopian tube was assumed blocked after investigation, so either it wasn’t blocked, or this was a very determined egg and it took the long route.

I’m actually cheating, and filling in a bit of backstory. It’s already September 2.