Ultrasound photos

I thought I'd post some ultrasound photos in case you're interested in seeing what we've seen of our daughter.

The 3 on the left are from our first ultrasound on Tuesday, February 22nd. The 3 on the right are from the level 2 ultrasound on Wednesday, February 23rd.

Click the image to enlarge and then zoom in to see it full size.


Here's a summary of each slide:

Top left: Internal organs.

Middle left: Head profile. (You're looking at her right side and she's facing up.)

Bottom left: Doctor's notes from our first visit summarizing his findings.

Top right: Lower legs below her knees.

Middle right: Left arm.

Bottom right: Head profile. (Same angle as the middle left photo, though zoomed in more.)


These photos are tough for me. In a way they're precious. They're the only visible image I have of my daughter.

And yet they show so clearly what's going on inside of her. The middle right photo shows a puffy arm that's visibly swollen with fluid. The middle left photo shows the sac of fluid behind her head, known as a cerebral hygroma. The top left photo shows the fluid buildup around her organs. (For those not familiar with ultrasounds, anything dark is fluid. While the dark space surrounding her is normal amniotic fluid, anything dark inside of her is fluid buildup. For example, in the middle left photo, the large dark space behind her head - or underneath it as you're looking at the photo - is the cerebral hygroma, a mass of fluid that is larger than her head.)

Starting this afternoon we'll have weekly ultrasounds. We're excited to see our little girl again. Our expectation is that we will find no changes. However, I think we both have a tiny spark in the back of our minds that's hoping this has all been a mistake, that the ugliness of the last 9 days will be wiped away and we'll go home with a clean bill of health for Kaylee Hope.

Until then though, we'll treasure the moments we have watching her move around on that ultrasound screen.