12-weeks ultrasound and gender reveal!
As our previous blog mentioned, we have passed the 12-week mark and that means an exciting medical ultrasound! By now, the results are in. I also mentioned in this blog that we had PGS tested our embryos. That’s a chromosome test and we found out that the gender of the baby is already stated in a file somewhere!
The 12-week ultrasound
Last Tuesday we had the 12 weeks ultrasound. As with everything else, with corona in the world it is all a little different. This ultrasound could not yet take place at Create’s clinic, but had to be performed at a local clinic in London. No problem, after all, the previous times Melissa also managed to make videos and photos to let us enjoy the moment. Unfortunately, it was really a medical echo that was performed by a “rule follower” as Melissa always says 😛 . That means no videos and no results without the doctor having reviewed the ultrasound. But Melissa was allowed to take the pictures on her USB stick. So luckily we still have the pictures 🙂 (as we say in Dutch)
With the 12-week ultrasound, there is measured a lot. This is also when the neck fold measurement is done. A thickened neck fold may indicate an increased risk of Down syndrome or another chromosome abnormality. Because we’ve already did the PGS tests, I wasn’t very nervous about this ultrasound, but it’s always exciting if he is all good and he is growing properly. Fortunately, Riba’s neck fold was beautifully thin, 1.8mm (3.0mm is thickened). From now on Melissa is officially “graduated” from the clinic to her own OB!
See below another beautiful photo of Riba, where he measures almost 62mm! (remains incredible, so complete but so bizarrely small)
A boy or a girl
In late April, during a Whats app conversation with Melissa, the gender came up. What would it be? A boy or a girl? And with which ultrasound could we find it out? Or can we do a blood test to determine the gender? But Melissa suddenly figured out that we did the PGS testing and that for each tested embryo the gender is recorded in a file. Let’s get it from the clinic! Melissa immediately emailed the clinic to request the gender, it’s waiting for a response from the lab.
May 5th, Barno’s birthday. Why don’t we do a short birthday Skype? After catching up, Melissa said she had a little present, too. Then we knew enough…. See below the gift we received via Whats App: It’s a boy!
Wow what a special feeling! It is becoming more and more real….. Even though it’s a bit distant sometimes and we’re very sorry we haven’t been able to meet Melissa yet, these are the moments that are extra special and make you realize that we are really going to be dads!
Because it was Barno’s birthday, some family came over to eat birthday cake. How nice it would be if we could do the gender reveal in an original way. Balloons? A hint in, or on top of the cake? But how much fun would it be if we could give Melissa a role? Fortunately, Melissa was more than willing to help.It is going to be a Skype call, in which Melissa reveals the gender!
I prepared the technics a bit and it all worked, even on the TV-screen (nice and large). Unfortunately, at the moment supreme, the technics failed. Then just on the screen of the laptop. But this didn’t make it any less special. A live connection to Canada, our families who first went to see Melissa (in another way than on a photo), everyone was super nervous. And I could Imagine Melissa was the most nervous, can you imagine an entire family staring at a screen and you get to tell them what the gender of the new family member is? (As with so many things, I really couldn’t do it better than she did).
A new phase is dawning, we can now buy things targeted (without the feeling jinxing it). We now can think about names. And we can start with the nursery!
