That had to be one of the coolest things I've ever done.

I just wish Mark could have been there! There really is a real, live, actual baby in my belly!!

The tech, Cheryl, was fabulous and the atmosphere was so relaxing. I have to say I was a bit nervous at first - I kept thinking "What if something is wrong?" (because that's just the person I am). Anyway, I made sure to eat a banana before I left for the appointment so that Squirt would be sure to move around. I think maybe I shouldn't have done so. For the first half of the scan, Cheryl was playing "catch me" with Squirt. He/she started head down, then went head up, then sideways, then head up, then hid behind my belly button... all over. Cheryl kept saying, "Wow, this is an active baby!" As well, Squirt loves to have his/her hand up by his/her face - almost covering the eyes completely so all we could see was a button nose hiding under the arm. It looked like Squirt was rubbing his/her eyes as if sleepy. At one point when Squirt finally calmed down a bit, he/she seemed to doze and used the placenta as a pillow. Cheryl made the comment that the baby is a real snuggler.

We got some pretty good shots of the baby's face and even saw it open it's little fist and counted fingers. Seems the baby is right handed, too - as it was always the right hand up by its face and rubbing its eyes. What I couldn't get over was how much Squirt already looks like a newborn. I was expecting something skinnier, I guess. But Squirt has big fat cheeks! Even Cheryl couldn't get over how big this baby's cheeks are already. She said, "You sure you're only 27 weeks, cuz this kid is far from starving!"

Mom and Dad were so pleased. They had no idea what to expect and were so impressed by how well they could see the baby. Mom swears it looks like Mark. I see me and The Boy, so I don't know.

Patti and Mark Sheppard came for their BabyView ultrasound in October and were participants in our BabyView of the Month contest.