A picture of our baby and hearing the heartbeat each month would have been a joy to us, but we postponed this joy for the benefit of our child.
Although the risk factors to baby were slight, our research just couldn't justify the benefit versus risk ratio that early on in the pregnancy. So we skipped all ultrasounds. And our OB was supportive.
I feel we made the right decision in the best interest of our child at that time. But, as the weeks went on and our baby grew stronger, the Holy Spirit brought new thoughts into our minds. God spoke to each of us separately, and when Michael approached me one night about getting an ultrasound, I smiled because I was soon about to bring up the topic with him. :)
Now that our baby was bigger and heartier, the benefit versus risk ratio would change. Now in the final trimester, we wanted to confirm that our baby had a long enough umbilical cord for a vaginal delivery. We wanted to make sure that the placenta was in a good place, and we were eager to know if the amniotic fluid was at an appropriate level.
All three of these interests we could not determine without an ultrasound, and we know first-hand people in our lives who were put on bed rest or had a C-section due to these issues that would have otherwise not been known without the ultrasound.
So, we went and did it. And we walked away with this fantastic first picture of our precious child!
Now I must apologize for the difficulty of viewing this photo. I snapped a photo of this ultrasound picture using my iPhone, and the bright light in our living room is the cause for the big white blob in the upper left hand corner. It makes viewing things a bit difficult.
So, in the photo below, I have identified for you the eye, nose, and open mouth. Baby is laying on his or her back, looking up, and we are viewing him or her from from his or her right side. So precious!
I giggle when I see the open mouth. It is so characteristic of me to have an open mouth smile, and I'm pretty sure our baby does, too!
God, thank you for the gift of our precious child! We welcome our child into the world in just about 8 weeks or so!
