Folks… We Have a Cheeseburger

I cannot think of any time that it would be acceptable to stick a camera between a child’s legs and take a picture… but, apparently, it’s all the rage with the ultrasound technicians. Everybody wants to know if it looks like a cheeseburger or a turtle.

One of the fun things that you get to do when you plan a hospital birth rather than a home birth (trying to look at all the positives here) is an ultrasound. In fact, it's so much fun, that you should invite everyone.

By everyone, I mean, like your husband and a few of the kids...

and a couple more

well, I would say just bring them all. They won't mind sitting in the waiting room with  you for an hour, well they won't mind much, and it will be worth it when they get to see their new sibling up on that screen.

Of course, the kids will be the ones demanding to know the gender, especially if they're already outnumbered 4 to 2. This is one of the last pictures that the technician will take, and if you don’t want to know, then they promise to keep it a secret. 

Mom just wants to know that baby is healthy and growing and that all the parts are there. 

Watch the heart beating.

See the tiny feet.

Look at that sweet face. 

It looks just like the other six.

Oh, darling, sweet baby, now that I’ve seen you, I long to hold you. I didn’t need to have an ultrasound. In fact, with my last two pregnancies, we didn’t have one at all. But, things are different when you have hospital policy to work with.

“You can refuse” people tell me, but I just don’t know how to say no. I do what the doctor tells me to. So, I spent 24 hours without carbs, drank 32 oz of water so someone could push a camera against my full bladder, ate 2 bags of nastily sweet jelly beans so a tech could stick a needle in my arm and test my blood for every STD known to man even though I’ve been tested 4 times in 17 years and I’m still married to the same man, and I filled a cup with urine for some other test that I’m not quite sure of.

But, when it was all over, my children had the joy of seeing their new sibling, hearing the baby’s heartbeat and experiencing it together. We had pictures to take home and share and now, our oldest daughter knows just what color clothes to shop for. 

"If it looks like a turtle it’s a boy, and if it looks like a cheeseburger that means it’s a girl," the technician told us, and when she pointed the camera between our baby’s legs, we definitely saw a cheeseburger. 

She even took an up close shot, printed it out and drew an arrow to it with the word "FEMALE" on it. 

That was probably because our 9yo son kept saying, "But, it could still be a boy, right?"