Our Little Sac

Today was our first ultrasound! We left school and headed to Columbia Medical Arts Building at 7:45am. We were nervous, excited, anxious...etc. wondering what we would see (and possibly hear). The tiny office suite was on the 7th floor. There was one women in charge of checking people in, validating parking tickets, and performing the actually ultrasound. We were the only people in the office. About 3 minutes after arriving, she asked us to meet her in the back room. She dimmed the lights and asked me to lay back on the hospital-type bed. We eagerly awaited any invitation to conversation-- but soon discovered that this women was in no mood to talk today.

The 'women' asked what pregnancy this was for us--- and we said, 'our first' --- again looking for some kind of invitation to conversation or information. Instead there was a "Pull down your pants Carie to expose your belly" command-- and it was straight to business. She lubed up the wand and starting scanning the surface of my belly. There was no commentation-- not even a word. Jason broke the silence with "what is that large black thing" -- and the 'women' barked "um--- that's your bladder" --- as if this was our first ultrasound or something--- then she asked again if we needed parking validation--

Anyway--- I'll spare you the details of the second instrument they used to take pictures of the developing 'sac' --- the 'women' was rude and had nothing to offer as far as information about our little 'sac'. She did say that I was not 8-9 weeks pregnant like my doctor was predicting. The 'women' thought it was more like 5-6 based on the development of whatever she saw. The only thing we saw was a little black empty 'sac'. She said we'd have to arrange a follow up ultrasound to show any development and that she would send the results over to our doctor. Then she finished (I guess-- again no commentary) and she asked us one more time--- this time with a smile if we needed parking validation.

So--- our first ultrasound experience was a little less than magical (to say the least). We left wondering what the hell just happened. There was no picture to bring back to show the third graders (which they were anxiously awaiting) --- there was no 'look at this tiny thing growing' --- there was just a crabby lady who took a couple of pictures of our little sac--

My doctor, however, is wonderful! She called as soon as she got pictures of the 'sac'-- we meet with her again in about a week-- and, needless to say, we'll see what other options are available for future ultrasounds--

For now--- we're eagerly anticipating the transformation of sac to fetus--- (and not without the occasional joke and hysterical laughter regarding the sac growing inside of me)