Chris ran into the room excitedly yesterday… “Look what I found!!!”
“What?”
“The heartbeat monitor we used with Ali!! We need to try it with Noah!”
“You DO remember that thing never worked with Ali, right? We never heard anything but gurgles.”
“I know…but maybe it will be different with him!!”
(Reminder: Chris is nesting. I am not.)
So, being the nice wife that I was, humored him.
“Sure. We’ll try it.”
He turned it on, nothing.
He opened it up, and it had a 9 volt battery… “It’s dead – I’ll find another one.”
“Did you stick it on your tongue??”
“Of course not!”
(You see, we have this long running thing that I grew up in a family that stuck the two live ends of 9-volt batteries on their tongues to see if they were still good. Chris had never heard of such, and is horrified (and obviously scared) by the thought. So, of course, I like to bring up my bravery in such matters any chance I get.)
“Well it might be good then! You need to stick it on your tongue and see.”
“It’s dead! See? You do it!”
“I’m pregnant!! I probably shouldn’t be licking four-year-old batteries!!”
”But it’s dead!”
I couldn’t back down from my Reputation of Bravery, so I licked the battery.
“Whoa!! That is NOT dead!!!”
(He puts it back in and turns it on..and it works.)
“Well how about that…I must have hit the wrong button.”
I grumble something under my breath about him putting our son at jeopardy with battery licking…
He sticks the monitor on my stomach…he moves it around…he moves it again…and again.
“Nothing. Here – you do it – maybe you’ll have better luck.”
“I’m telling you…it doesn’t work.”
Five minutes later, I add “Amazing Heartbeat Finding Skills” to my already Brave Reputation.
“I found the heartbeat!!!”
He ran in to listen, and it thrilled him to his nesting soul.
~~~~
But, despite his excitement about HEARING Noah, we’re both decisivity challenged about SEEING him again.
We can’t decide whether we want to get a 3-D sonogram or not, and we have to decide soon if we want to get on the schedule in time.
And so, since neither of us can make a decision and Chris left it up to me and I’m really not feeling like making any more decisions right now (maybe the battery fried that part of my brain), I’m taking input.
Here’s our Pro/Con list:
Pros:
- It’s a fun experience, and Ali would probably really enjoy seeing her baby brother so up close and personal.
- If we end up having a third kid one day and therefore Noah becomes a middle child, I know by experience that he will be QUITE offended if Ali got a 3D sonogram and HE didn’t.
(Then again, he’s a boy. Maybe boy-middle-children are different.)
- It gives us something to look forward to in the long stretch of Eternally Boring Doctor Visits from here until 36 weeks.
- The pictures you get from them are quite adorable, and you really can see an amazing amount of facial features. Here’s a comparison of Ali’s:
Cons:
- It costs money. And we’ve already spent well over Noah’s allotted monthly allowance through the year 2015 on his room (and all the toilet paper).
- I’ve already had 5 sonograms with him, and some people claim that repeated sonograms aren’t necessarily healthy for babies, although I’m not necessarily convinced on that point.
(And besides, they can’t be too much worse than licking a battery.)
- The thought of taking Ali to another long wait, sonogram, long wait, long appointment, long wait gives me a major case of the heeby-jeebies.
- It might be fun to not have any hints as to what he’ll look like till he comes out…but probably not.
So there you go, blog-world.
To see or not to see?
And yes, either way, I promise not to lick any more batteries.
We were gonna get the 3-D sonograms, but them we decided not to. It was decided that we could spend the money on far more entertaining things, like more baby stuff. Plus we figure we are gonna see the kid in about 4 months anyway…I think that will be way more exciting than seeing him on the screen when I can't even touch him…
That's a hard one. 3D sonograms were not around when I had my first three. They were with James, but I never even thought about getting one. We didn't find out his sex (by choice) so I didn't want to ruin the surprise by having a sonogram so late.
I knew with my first three and there was something so special about not knowing with James. It really added to the "wonder" of it all that he was growing "in secret".
Take a few more days to think on it. I bet you won't regret it either way.
I do think you should have it, if Ali cannot stand the wait I am sure someone would entertain her while you and Chris go to the appointment. And remember I am the yougest of two and feel bad that I never had a baby book. All is fair in having babies. Noah should have his own pictures. Yes, I have started writing that book you suggested.
We considered getting one with Hailie and decided the money could be better spent else where. Two years later and I still wish we'd done it. I can't say that I regret not getting them but it would have been neat to have them.
When I was a kid, my uncle made me lick batteries. It is a sure-fire method of battery testing.
I wish I had a cool 3-D sonogram of my babies, but I guess I was pregnant back in prehistoric times. :-)
I'm sure you'll make the right decision for your family.
-FringeGirl
Hmmm, I think that's a hard choice to give advice on. Personally, I always found my kid's sonograms rather horrifying, and left me wondering if I was going to give birth to some odd-shapped prune thing (which wasn't too far off, come to think of it.)
Then again, I'm also the sort of mom who thinks newborns are odd looking/ugly. (Sheepishly admitting this).
Good luck, and next time zap your husband with the battery!
To see! I am wishing I would have done one. I decided not to do a 3D ultrasound because of the cost and the fact that it's IN THE MALL (I told you everyone in Utah is pregnant. My dr. said that the ultrasound pictures weren't very good so we have NO IDEA what this kids gonna look like and the suspense is killing me. p.s. I'm the youngest of 5 and my "baby book" has like 3 baby pictures in it and about half of the photos have later been identified as my older sister and I could not care less.
Save the money, you'll see the real deal in a few months!
I ended up having an ultrasound I think at every appointment, because I always measured small and the doc wanted to "be sure everything was all right." I certainly didn't complain! When it was time for us to make that decision about the 3-D pics, the sonogram tech basically told us that little peanut was positioned funny and we wouldn't get great pics out of it. I appreciated her honesty, because it certainly saved us a ton of $$ and I don't feel bad about it at all. Later down the road, she was able to convert some of the 2-D images into 3-D, right there on the spot (I think the expensive ones are actually 4-D). Pretty sure she wasn't supposed to do that, but it was sweet of her. Maybe you could get her to sneak you a few of those at your next appointment!
I have to just be honest…all those 3D pics look the same. I think they're probably just pumping out the same pic to all moms. I would just make a pact with Ali to never speak of it.
I vote to go for it. It's worth every penny for a sneak peek at the little fellow!!
I had 10 ultrasounds, all total, with Grayson, and I would guess at the last 6, she switched it over to 3-D at some point just to take some pictures. It kind of lost its thrill after the first 2. If we have a third child, we will most likely not voluntarily (and certainly not pay for) a 3D ultrasound, which would make Grayson, the middle child, the only one WITH the 3D honor.
We didn't do the 3D sonograms with Luke or Aubrey because we didn't want to pay for them.
However, it is really cool to pretty much see exactly what your baby looks like before he is born!
If Ali doesn't want to wait forever at the doctor's office, she's welcome to come stay with us!
There were no 3D sonograms when I was pregnant. I feel SO OLD.
I don't know what you should do (besides not licking any more batteries which I am too scared to do). If it were me I don't think I would be able to resist.
get it done. :) Love you.
I guess we got lucky. The sonogram when we found out the sex of our kids were both 3d….that's just what they have at my dr's office to use, i dodn't know there WAS a choice. I didn't get any face photos though…too shy i guess. The little leg and bum photos came out pretty adorable though. :)
Good question. We did with Ella and they didn't come out that great–in my opinion. Now, others say that the pictures look just like her. I would say that we are leaning towards no. But when it comes that time and if we haven't see the peanut in a while, then we will probably go for it.
I say no. They're cool, but not worth the money in my opinion.
Did you seriously just mention a 3rd child? Umm…
Are you a baby book fan or not? Do you hang sonograms on your wall?
If it were me, I'd be asking myself what I'd want to do with the end result or whether just the experience itself is worth paying for.
Hmm… y'all are as indecisive as me! Of 21 comments, there are 12 opinions – 7 yeses and 5 nos. Maybe I can FORCE Chris to make the decision…hmmm…
Once I found out that they were 165 dollars, I decided not to. If you did one with Ali then you should probably do another one just to follow protocol. I don't think there was such a thing with Joe so I obviously didn't have one. I'm just going to stick with that and keep up the pattern. Good news though, I'll find out what mine looks like in 6 DAYS or less!
We grew up licking batteries also to determine if they were "live" or not…..how else are you going to determine if they need to be replaced??
As to the sonogram…no opinion…..sorry:(…..