Presenting......

Why won't this let me post a title? [editor's note: this seems to be a weird Firefox only problem, as I was able to post a title later with Safari] Oh Blogger, not even you can ruin my good day. And you know why? Because, ladies and gents of the internet, may I formally introduce you to the Little Funky Monkey!

These were my 4 favorites of the 9(!) our super awesome ultrasound tech printed out for us. The whole process was rather quick - minus the customary wait in the waiting room due to lack of anything that might remotely resemble organization. We went in, she squirted about 2 gallons of the very cold ultrasound fluid on my belly and then proceeded to put huge amounts of pressure on my abdomen right by my hip bone, which was not really a very pleasant feeling. She then took a bunch of pictures of the neck, explaining to us (if one can really use the term "explaining" here) that the first trimester screen measured the baby's neck. Ummm, ok. No explanation as to why or what they were looking for. But the neck was duly measured and then she turned on the sound and we got to hear the heartbeat! It sounded like a huge herd of galloping horses and instantly brought to mind the famous Chincoteague Pony Penning, which I always wanted to go to, but never did (though we did go to the Eastern Shore several years in a row for vacations)....I guess that's what I imagine it would sound like. Like a fetus' heartbeat.

Ok, don't make fun of the pregnant lady, even if her connections ain't that tight.

Though WB had seats front and center and even backstage passes, I myself was unable to see a thing for the whole exciting process up until this point. Finally, I suppose my barely contained (read not at all) enthusiasm won her over and she turned the monitor towards me and I got to see the baby again, in far better detail than we had before. She fired off pictures to be printed in rapid succession while I, of course, cried like a blubbering sentimental fool. The coolest part was definitely when she did a sort of closeup on the head and face with one hand sort of waving (see the very bottom picture), and internets, I swear to you that baby has one enormous schnoz. And that enormous schnoz must definitely come from its father (though genetically speaking I must admit that both of my parents have pretty large noses and both of my grandfathers could fit a grand piano in each nostril so who knows). I like the idea that we can start attributing features to one parent or the other while the child is in utero, even if later we end up finding out that that is a butt and not a head.

And folks, this baby is right on schedule developmentally...lord knows where it got its punctuality from, certainly not either of us! I'm just happy to know that its healthy and that there are a million very strong sounding horses stampeding in my uterus as I write this.

(Actually, it does look a little monkey-ish in these pictures, doesn't it? I swear this child is human, I swear!)