Heaven on earth

From head to toe, Heaven is doing well.

Aires and I are amazed at the images we are seeing. The sonologist probes and probes, finding the best view to check if our baby is doing well. The procedure is called congenital anomaly scanning, done through trans-abdominal ultrasound. Such a scary term for such an amazing test!

The doctor walks us through the scan for almost an hour. He shows Heaven’s head and face. Heaven’s eyes are complete. So are his nose, lips, and ears. And he yawns! What a sight!

The doctor searches for Heaven’s hands. They are a bit hidden. The right hand is touching his right ear. We count his fingers with anxiety and excitement. He has five fingers in both hands!

A few adjustments here and there and we see his pulsating heart. No heart hole, check! We see his diaphragm. His lungs are forming. We see a gastric bubble, what is to become his stomach. We also see his kidneys.

The doctor measures his leg bones, the femur. The length of this bone, plus the size of his head and torso will estimate his gestational weight. He is now almost half a kilo.

The doctor moves the probe and searches for Heaven’s weenie. We see it and the doctor freezes the image and keys in the letters B-O-Y. There’s no mistaking now. Heaven Czar is indeed a boy.

We see his feet and count again. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 toes. Complete, check!

The Doppler test follows next. This test measures blood flow to the brain, heart and kidney. Everything is okay. Heaven is getting all the nutrients he needs. His development is within the range expected for his gestational age of 24 weeks or six months.

After the uncertainty in the first three months of the pregnancy, seeing Heaven through this ultrasound keeps our hopes up high. Our Heaven indeed is here on earth.