Yesterday we had an appointment with a perinatologist, which is a fetal specialist, to make sure everything was good with the baby. Because of my epilepsy and the medication I am required to continue to take during the pregnancy, I needed to go see a specialist and will continue to see her until we have the baby.
While it can be hard knowing that I can't just have a simple pregnancy with one doctor's appointment instead of three, I am so grateful that it is something that doesn't prevent me from having a healthy baby and that my seizures have become so manageable. A positive of having this appointment was we were able to have a full anatomy ultrasound, something that is normally done at 20 weeks. That means we found out the gender!
I laid on the examination table and had the heated jelly added to my tummy and right away, we saw the little face of our baby. It is such a special experience to see them change every time you see them. We asked the tech if we could find out the gender, and she said if the baby cooperated. Turns out the baby was just as excited as we were and was in the perfect position to see that it was a boy!
I don't remember if I have written about this earlier, but I have always felt like we are having a baby boy. I don't know why, especially because I was always more scared to have a boy first, but I just had a feeling that it was a boy. When the ultrasound tech confirmed we were having a boy, I was so excited! But not very surprised. :) Jake asked how sure she was, and she was very sure. Even to our untrained eyes it was very clear that we were having a baby boy.
Knowing the gender of the baby has made it much more real to me and I'm sure it has felt more real for Jake as well. This week was rough for me. I had a full anxiety attack followed by a few days of depression that took a lot of energy for me to work through. Having this appointment definitely helped me be able to realize that I can do this and that I am in fact having a baby and it's not just that I had a big lunch.
