The Verran Family Blog

It is now 15:01 and I’m here at work thinking that perhaps it is time to have something to eat – like a late snack to calm down the tummy rumbles. I missed out on lunch and it was not because of the rolling blackouts that have caused so much frustration amongst my fellow South Africans, but the fact that we had an appointment at the Fetal Assessment Clinic at Kingsbury Hospital in Claremont.

This scan is optional and I personally don’t konw why some people don’t go for it. I think for many it is the fear that there could be a chance of an abnormality like Downs syndrome, a missing leg, or that the head is not where it is supposed to be or just perhaps an alien looking Marshion lurking inside the pregnant monther’s belly. But then, the fetas looks like a alien in any case. But we opted for the scan and I’ve gotta say that I am so glad we did it.

Bridigtte picked me up early just in case I take a wrong turn and I land up in the middle of Khayalitcha, but then, if that did happen, I’m sure I would of been nominated for an Idiot award of some sort since the township is far away from Claremont. But we got there 30-40 min before the time and waited for us to be called in. Nerves? Ummm, ja, I’d say. This is quite a huge milestone in the development of a baby and I would be a fool not to admit that we both were a little nervous since we hadn’t seen our little baby in 3 weeks.

Finally, we got called in .. about 12:10. They were running late since a power failure earlier that morning had buggered up their entire morning .. having to reschedule patients, etc. Thank goodness we were not one of them.

Christine, yep, another Christine called us in. We sat there in front of her at her glass top desk as she described what she was looking for and what to expect, etc. Of course, when question time came, I was pretty much a mouth full of teech – thank goodness Bridgitte made us both look good by popping out the questions.

Off to the ultrasound room we went. I was very chuffed with the setup there. Not only do they record the whole scan on DVD, but they record the audio too – as in the conversations between the 3 of us too. Sweet! So my recording gear stayed nicely in the purple gadget bag and I’m sure it felt a little neglected by this turnaround of events.

In one corner of the room was a 54cm TV and on the screen we saw the image displayed that was on the ultrasound machine. Ahhh, now I don’t have to bend over backwards and lean over Bridgitte, blocking everybodys view during the scan. So, I took my place in front of the TV, waiting for the action to begin. The only thing that was missing was some popcorn and a coke.

There goes the jelly, the probe. We saw the baby … Phew, it is still there! Then all the measuring was done, 7.7cm in length. But all in all, everything went very well and everything ran accordingly. No Downs syndrome, has all its legs and arms, the head is where it is supposed to be and it does look like an alien. The heartbeat is regular and is sounding like music to my ears.

And then it was revealed … the gender. And yes, from the depths of Bridgitte’s belly, we saw it, or should I rather say, Christine saw it first and it took a while for us to see it. Yep, therer it was … the little “totterman”. The evidence that it is a boy!

Bridgitte was hoping for a boy, actually she knew it was a boy since she felt like he was eating her out of house and home. I was undecided on what gender I wanted, but it was mentioned that due to my personality, I’d suit a girl more. Now I’m thinking, a new podcaster in training, a possible music nut like his dad, perhaps he’ll play in a band while dad is the producer. Ahhh … cricket, rugby, soccer. You never know, he might even become a good cricketer like his grandfather. Or just imagine how he would help his dad upgrade the computer. hehehehehe. I’m very happy that it is a boy. At least somebody to carry on the Verran surname.

Here are the scan photographs. I’ll see if I can make them bigger, but for now, you should be able to see everything.

7.7cm, 13 weeks

I’ll be posting the video of the scan next week, so keep your eye on the blog for that.

Throughout the whole scan, there were huge smiles on our faces as she talked us through everything. We left fully rejuvinated. Now we are ready for the weekend. We’re off to Hermanus for the weekend with Stephen, Liezel, Sanet and Mia.

So, let me post this and get something to eat dammit!