Pregnancy Guide – Week 16
What will it be? A He or a She?
In the next four weeks, your OB/GYN will be scheduling a mid-pregnancy ultrasound. This will be to measure the development of the fetus. They will be measuring all the vital organs (heart, lungs, liver, stomach, brain, etc.) as well as looking at the skeletal development, check for anything out of the ordinary, and re-evaluate the due date. You may be able to get at 3D or 4D ultrasound in which you can actually see the developing face and features of your baby. You will also be presented with the possibility of checking out what gender your little peanut is. Although you cannot know 100% (prior to delivery) without amniocentesis, you are likely to get a pretty reliable determination, with the advances of technology. However, you will want to decide if you do, in fact, want to know the gender of our child prior to the delivery date. Personally, I had to know! The suspense was too much and I am such a planner that I could not have waited till the baby arrived to get all the appropriate items in line. However some people feel that it spoils the surprise of childbirth. Either way, you will definitely want to be very clear with the technician as well as the OB/GYN and their staff, whether or not you want to know, so there are no slip ups. In some families, one parent might want to know while the other does not. This is something that really needs to be discussed and ground rules need to be laid if you are going to go this route. Some advantages of knowing the gender is to help narrow down a name, considering where you will get hand-me-down clothing, what color to paint the baby’s room, etc.
One word of caution regarding 3D ultrasounds. There has been a new trend in quick-stop 3D ultrasounds in malls and other shopping areas. Many states have outlawed this practice, but some still allow it. Be very cautious if you choose to visit one of these places. They rarely employ actual medical technician, as it doesn’t take much skill to be able to get an image from an ultrasound. It is more about the interpretation of said image that is the cause of concern. Some of these places have passed off their opinions as based in medical knowledge, with no formal education.
Word of the Week
post-partum “occurring after birth,” from L. post partum “after birth,” from post “after” + acc. of partus “a bearing, a bringing forth,” from partus, pp. of parere “to bring forth” (www.dictionary.com)
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