Our Sonogram

by Sarah

We had our third sonogram last Friday and it went "well."  We had a new Perinatologist (new to us) looking at Luke, and he too was unable to locate any kidneys or bladder in our little guy.  We were not surprised by this and felt somewhat comforted that we have now had three pairs of some of the best eyes in the business looking at Luke and all are landing on the same conclusion.  Although it is still difficult to hear, at least we were prepared and not shocked by what we heard.

This particular doctor was our favorite of the three we have seen so far because he took his time in looking at Luke and patiently explained to us what he was seeing and what we were looking at on the screen.  Due to the very low levels of fluid, visibility is difficult even for the professional eyes, so its especially hard for us to discern what our little boy looks like.  However, this doctor very clearly talked with us about what we were looking at and patiently mapped out the top, right, left, bottom etc of Luke's little head and belly.  We could "see" his brain and his heart and his femur bones very clearly which was fun.  Luke is presently very comfy laying on his back straight across my belly with his legs folded up near his head.  It's pretty much the same position he was in last time we got to peek in at him.  He's moving around quite a bit these days, so we're guessing he just likes to be in that place and position which is fun to think about and be able to picture him in there.  He weighs approximately 1.5 pounds now!

The doctor also spent time talking to us about some things we can expect when Luke is born such as his muscle tone.  Since there is not a lot of fluid in there with him, he does not have a lot of natural resistance against his limbs as they move, so his muscles will more than likely be tensed up and somewhat clinched when he is born because he has not been able to work them much like other babies would who have fluid resistance.  We appreciated this information as anything that can help us prepare for what might be ahead is helpful.  While we did not leave there with the joy of a miracle in healing, we did leave there with the absolute joy of getting to see our little guy on the screen.  What a gift!

by Joe
We also got to see his little hand reaching out, waving hi, and wanting to give his first handshake.  See the 5 white dots in the photo below?  Those are his fingertips.  His little touch melted my heart.