Images from the womb

On Thanksgiving I wrote that Erika was very pleasantly and very unexpectedly pregnant. Since 4½ months have passed since then, our baby now looks a lot different than he did in the ultrasound photo I published at the time…so here are some from today’s 4-D ultrasound, beginning with one in which he opened his eyes, which is something you rarely see on ultrasound. At first you might not discern that the eye is open, but if you pay attention to its inside corner, you will notice the iris and see that he is glancing up.

Before I go on, allow me to call him by name: Parker Wasson Stanton. It just doesn’t feel right to keep using semi-generic terms like “baby” and “him” to describe a person, born or unborn, when you know the person’s name. (And in case you are wondering, Wasson is Erika’s maiden name.)

Anyway, Parker moved quite a bit during the ultrasound but kept his hands in front of his face most of the time. This meant that we got very few unobstructed pictures of his face; and many of the pictures we got were distorted by him being in motion when they were captured -- for example, they were blurry or had blank spots where you would expect to see body parts.

Below is a picture that manages to show good detail and also show a good example of the distortion I am talking about. You get a good view of Parker’s nose, mouth, and cheek structure…yet it looks like half his scalp is missing, and there is some kind of blob appearing in front of his forehead. As you can see, he is grasping his head; and I think it’s interesting that his arm looks to be so much more bone than skin.

If you look at this next picture, you will see what look like bumpy ridges on his forehead. I would have assumed they are veins, or that they are developing material that will eventually become solid skull, but according to the sonographer those bumpy ridges are actually hair. On the other hand, that flowing substance on the side of his head, which does look like long hair to me, is not hair but is instead placenta.

And finally, I leave you with the picture that proves Parker is a boy. The funny story that comes with it involves Sarah. Erika showed her the pictures today after school, and when they came to this one, Sarah said, in her little six-year-old’s voice: “Oh, it’s his parts!”

The due date is June 30^th but the C-section is tentatively scheduled for June 23^rd. We can’t wait for the moment to arrive!