Inspirations from cheese in a can. joey, kelly, danny, and charlie

Danny’s little sister.  That’s her name now.  It will take me some time to get used to it, bear with me.  Should I let the errant “Danny’s little brother” slip, please pardon me.  I know we had the big reveal post last week, but I still wasn’t sure, because Danny’s little sister is the most bashful baby in the history of….well…..my babies.  However, with the help of an amazingly compassionate and skillful ultrasound technician yesterday, I now can tell you with complete confidence that Danny’s little brother is, in fact, a girl.  Well, as much as you can possibly be confident with these things.

The reason we had another ultrasound yesterday was because last week, the ultrasound tech at my ob saw and did not see some areas of possible concern.  One was her face; she had it turned away and they couldn’t see her profile.  This didn’t trouble me at all, but it left a pesky unchecked box on her ultrasound report card, which troubled the midwife.  Another was her kidneys, which apparently were a little swollen (hydronephrosis if you’re into terminology and stuff).  Not necessarily a big deal, but something they weren’t thrilled to see.  Maybe something, maybe nothing.  And the last area of concern was her bowel.  There was an area of her bowel that was reflecting more sound than is normal, possibly indicating some type of obstruction.  Once again, maybe something (echogenic bowel for the terminology people), maybe nothing.  Anybody else getting nervous?  Yeah, take that and multiply it by pregnant-lady-psychotic, and that’s how I felt last week.  Though I was assured that I shouldn’t worry by the midwife, because it could all turn out to be nothing, of course I worried.  It became my very important job for the day.  And the next.  And then I calmed down a little bit and put it in a low simmer until yesterday.

Yesterday was the ultrasound with the fetal diagnostic specialist.  We planned for Joey to go with me, even though it meant his absence at work on the launch date of a project he’s been working on for weeks.  Danny has “school” on Thursdays, so he was all taken care of.  Until he woke up coughing and slightly feverish from the cold that I gave him, making it clear that he wouldn’t be going to school.  So he went with us.  And since the waiting room was about 6 inches square and filled with 5 pregnant women and their support groups, he was promptly invited to wait on a bench down the hall with his father.

So Joey was there and not there, and I was alone and not alone.  Actually, if we count the fantastic (and also pregnant) ultrasound technician, I definitely was not alone.  I assumed that she would refuse to tell me anything relevant, as ultrasound technicians sometimes do.  Not this one.  She asked why I had been sent there, and as she worked, she showed me the baby’s profile (which is fine), and her kidneys (which are fine), and her bowel (which is fine….ish…..well, stay tuned on that one).  And, bonus, she kept gently nudging the supremely modest Miss Rutledge until she could get a view of her “area.”  This child keeps her ankles crossed, sitting on her feet, with her hand between her knees.  And her face turned away.  How Victorian.  Anyway, as all of these boxes of concern were unchecked, I started to cry a little.  She asked if I was okay and handed me a tissue.  Oh, I kind of love LaShon the angelic sonographer.  As I left the room, I told her I would hug her but I didn’t want to give her my cold.  She stood up and hugged me anyway.

So I trotted down the hall to tell Joey that our baby is fine, fine, and fine, and definitely a girl.  And that I have to go back and wait for the doctor to tell me all this.  When I did talk to the doctor, he agreed almost entirely with LaShon, with one tiny reservation about the echogenic bowel.  He said 90% of him felt that her bowel was normal and nothing to worry about.  To which I replied, “But 10% of you wants me to come back in a month.”  Bingo.  And there you have it.  That is everything I know about the littlest Rutledge.  And thanks to you all for all your name suggestions.  At the moment, the frontrunner is Kanundrum Archepelago (thanks, Frank and Becky).  What do you think?