Week 12

The first scan! Our chance to see the little being that was causing upheaval in our lives already. Until this point Jas had spent two days in hospital, and I’d spent a whole week at home playing nurse (looking after Jas, that is, not – you know – dressing up).

After the scanning lady greased up Jas’ belly and positioned the ultrasound device, the little person suddenly came into view. It was awesome to see. I was amazed how much he/she moved! I thought it would be just floating about, immobile and unaware of the chaos outside of its bubble. But no - he didn’t stop wriggling about. I’d read that the foetus can sense the ultrasound waves; as the ultrasound device was moved around the belly, he/she did seem to be continually twisting to face away from the device, so we only saw his back no matter how much the device was repositioned. After a few minutes, he faced us (finally having enough of the noise?), and raised his hand in what seemed to be his first two-fingered salute. Just lovely: he didn’t have fully formed fingers yet, but he was already showing attitude.

Next in the check-up was a blood test. Jas nor I are fond of needles: in the blood-taking room Jas sat down and faced away from the nurse, not wanting to see the needle being used. Being her tower of strength, I stood next to her and held her hand tightly...and then sat down and faced away as well. The nurse was brilliant – Jas hardly felt the blood being taken, and neither of us fainted. Jas thanked the nurse profusely, and explained why she had to close her eyes while it was being done. The nurse laughed and said, “No problem, I had my eyes closed as well!”