It�s also safe to say that she�s her father�s daughter. She couldn�t sit still for her pictures to be taken. She wiggled and wiggled and wiggled and wiggled for 45 minutes. Not to mention that she kept her face buried in my cervix, so we had a hard time getting a nice look at her tiny little facial features. The ultrasonographer sighed heavily on more than one occasion as she tried in vain to manipulate the baby into a better position (by poking me sharply and repeatedly in the abdomen, which I felt as sharp pokes but the baby simply shrugged off as whatever, Mom).

But there�s no doubt as to the gender!

The level II ultrasound went very well. She�s measuring right on track. 95% of all possible cardiac problems have been ruled out. No spinal problems. No cleft lip/palate problems.

Just the attitude problem with the whole �won�t sit still� thing.

We�re delighted. And although we have terrible photos (almost 20 weeks now and not ONE good ultrasound photo of that little dickens) we do have ONE printout of a cute shot of her feet. That�s right � she�s got my feet. They�re gorgeous.

The ultrasonographer seemed really surprised that I�ve been able to feel the baby since week 15. �Your placenta is anterior � that plus your first-time mom status means that it�s really unusual for you to have been feeling movement so early.�

I explained the IVF background, the previous ectopic, and how I was able to feel the implantation cramping about 50 hours after transfer � to which she replied, �Well, wow. You�re really in tune with what�s going on in there.� Well, yeah. I am.

Fisher Queen asked why I�m not allowed to travel after 24 weeks. The answer my OB gave is very interesting:

Because any problems I have after 24 weeks, up to and including a premature baby, means that wherever I am when those problems start is where I�ll stay until mid-Decemberish, when the baby is either born, or out of the NICU and ready to come home.

She�s treating me as high risk. She has �better luck� with IVF patients when she treats them as high risk, meaning more supervision. So I go with her track record of luck, which means no travel after the end of August. I�m cool with that.

(And when I mentioned that one of the places I�d like to travel on business with my husband in a few months was Las Vegas, she nearly had a heart attack. She said the malpractice insurance is so high out there that no one wants to practice in Vegas. She couldn�t even find a name to refer me to if she wanted to, which she doesn�t, so there will be no Vegas trip for business purposes. And this is not up for debate, at all.)

Hey, what do I know, I�m just a passenger on this ride.