It's a boy!

Yesterday we had our 18 week doctor's appointment in Los Angeles. Our doctor had previously mentioned that she would do another ultrasound at 20 weeks to check to major organs and determine the baby's gender. When I came in to my appointment yesterday, I was hoping that she would do an early ultrasound so that we could see what sex the baby was. We even brought the video camera that I had given Alfonso for Christmas. After the nurse weighed me (141 lbs now) the doctor said that we could do a gender check ultrasound (!) and draw blood for Downs Syndrome (they do this screening between 15-20 weeks).

While waiting in the examination room, Alfonso had the video camera and recorded me saying that I felt that it would be a boy (just through some dreams that I had and by a feeling that I had gotten during the last couple of months). We were just killing time before the doctor came in.

Once she came in, she went over my labs with us (everything looked normal). My blood type is O positive, so I do not have to worry about the Rh factor with the baby. Also, I do not carry the Cystic Fibrosis gene trait, so that was good news as well. Just seeing that my labs were normal made me feel good and gave me reassurance that everything was progressing well.

Then we started the abdominal ultrasound. Immediately we could see the baby moving around (I don't feel movement yet, so it's really amazing to see the baby moving) and we could easily make out the fingers, hands, arms, toes, feet, and legs. Also we could see the heart beating. At one point, the baby had it's mouth open halfway- he looked really cute. :) Then the doctor started to look around for the sex- it didn't take long. We could see that he was a boy right away. Our OB doctor has a lot of personality- the comments that she makes are really funny and make us laugh. She was like "woah, look at that! You can't miss this, can you tell what it is?" Alfonso said that he thought that it was a boy- and indeed we are having a little boy. :)

In two weeks I will be seeing a perinatologist for the full ultrasound. They will look at all of the major organs and make sure that the baby is progressing well. I will also find out the results of the Downs Syndrome screening, so it's one thing at a time. My next appointment is Wednesday, February 14th on Valentine's Day. :)