"Unremarkable"?

From Baby B

It's a funny word the reviewing doctor used throughout the report recapping the results of my ultrasound Friday: unremarkable.
"The facial profile is unremarkable."
"The fetal kidneys, stomach, and bladder are unremarkable."
"The maternal bladder and adnexa are unremarkable."
"Unremarkable fetal anatomic survey."

I'll be honest, while lying with goo on my belly, fixated on the grainy black-and-white picture, I thought what I was seeing was one of the most remarkable things I've ever beheld. This person on the screen- with a nose and lips and ten fingers and ten toes and boy parts- is squirming around inside of me, and all the doctor can come up with is "unremarkable"?!? I'd like to think a better word is "miraculous": "The facial profile is miraculous." "The fetal kidneys, stomach, and bladder are miraculous." Much better.

I do need to rave about our ultrasound technician at the Center for Diagnostic Imaging in Carmel. She was wonderful. I had heard stories of tight-lipped, serious techs that wouldn't say anything as they took measurements, not even letting parents see the screen until the end of the exam. This sent parents into a flurry of worry that something was wrong, and also sent them away disappointed that they didn't get to marvel at their child as much as possible. This lady, though, was very warm, open, and chatty. She explained what she was seeing and what she was doing the entire time as we got to watch alongside. I think I just laid there with a silly grin on my face, taking it all in. Our little guy was very squirmy and active, which didn't make her job easy, but she had patience and took her time, and the appointment as a whole was about 45 minutes. (OK, I'll 'fess up, I might have eaten some candy right before the appointment in hopes of seeing the baby move around a bit. I don't think he needed the help though)

At the end of the appointment, the tech went on and on about how good everything looks and what "nice shots" we got to see. The baby wasn't shy about letting us know he's a boy (Check out the poll on the sidebar, then be reminded not to believe anything you read on the Internet.). I have an anterior placenta, which means I might not be feeling kicks as much as I would be otherwise. Also? This guy's measuring a week & a half ahead of my January 4th due date, though the midwives won't officially change my due date unless he's measuring more than 2 weeks on either side of it. But, in the back of my mind, I'll know a 2010 baby is even more likely.

She printed out 8 pictures for us- many of them weren't nearly the best shots we saw, but that was fine. Even with these pictures, we're reminded that this baby boy is anything but "unremarkable"!