Here are the three pictures I got:
The sonographer had a really hard time getting the pictures for us because OH MY GOODNESS I have honestly never carried such a wiggly baby! I love that it's definitely a character trait of this baby, because at only 12 weeks pregnant, this is the THIRD time I've seen (or been told of) excessive wiggling at a scan - even at 6 weeks and 5 days when I didn't even know the embryo (still an EMBRYO!!) had the ability to wiggle, hehe! Sausage has been hard to measure at all three scans (6w5d, 8w1d, and 12w5d - not to mention that kidney scan I had when I saw him/her spread out like a lil starfish, lol!), mainly because of wiggling! ;) I have had me some real wigglers (read: Matthew) in my time, but this baby is more so, I think. So far, anyway!
Sausage was twisting (torso and head), rolling, squirming, and mainly just doing a lot of kicking and generally flinging his/her limbs about all over the place. In these pictures, he/she was relatively still compared with the rest of the scan, but was still kicking and punching about vigorously, and grabbing wildly at his/her feet! You can see two feet in a couple of the pictures, both in odd positions higher up and facing the "camera". In some ways I wish Sausage had been a little less energetic just so that I could get a good clear look at those miraculous little fingers and toes, and so on - I never did get to see those very clearly because they NEVER stopped moving! ;)
It was also hard to see the genital tubercle (nub), although I did see it fairly clearly several times. It kept flashing in and out of view with the wiggling, and it wasn't "straight on" wiggling either, Sausage kept doing some sort of pelvic thrust which effectively flung his/her legs up at the same time, and so the angle of the nub changed dramatically during all of that. It was hard to keep track of it, lol! NONE of the pictures have the nub in them! That's a first for our babies - except with Nathan I think? Or was it Arthur? I can't remember. Anyway, certainly the last two babies I had a very clear view of an obviously angled nub (boy), and it was just as clearly seen on the ultrasound pictures. This time, not so much.
I think the baby is a boy, because once when I saw the nub, it seemed angled quite strongly UP which is a definite boy angle, but then he/she was trying to touch his/her nose with his/her toes for some reason (!!) so the angle would have been compromised a lot by that kind of maneuvre (manouvre? I can't be bothered to spell check, pfthth!). Another time I spotted it, it was pointing much lower but probably still angled somewhat, though it was less than a second and flashing in and out of sight all the time during lots of movement, so I can't be as sure as I was the last two times. We got a good view of the "toilet shot" as they call it, which is not reliable at all at this stage (although we were sure as sure from Arthur's one at 13 weeks that he was DEF a boy). This time I saw three lines and no obvious sticky-outy part, but a) there MUST have been a sticky outy part that I just didn't get the right angle to see because that's what the nub is in both boys and girls at this stage, and b) 3 lines is a girl thing, but not till later.
So I would say it's fairly inconclusive at the moment with a definite leaning towards BOY! :) If so... SIX boys?!?!! :D I did not feel the least bit disappointed, which I am EVER SO glad about, phew! :)
Oh, other things to report - Benjamin stayed at home with Sarah (our friend from church) and the big boys! He was FINE, and I feel so proud of him! :) They build train tracks around the room, had a snack, and started watching Mary Poppins just before we got home - we were only gone just over an hour. So we only had Samuel with us, and he was a perfect angel - I do not boast or kid! ;) He sat in silence without even shifting his position, on Neil's lap leaning against Neil's chest, either with his thumb in his mouth or just watching open-mouthed, bless his sweet tiny heart! :) At the very end, he got so much high-pitched adoring attention from the sonographer that he suddenly leaned towards me with his arms clutching at my arm as I was lying on the bed next to him and Neil, but that was it! He was SOOOOOO good, and I am so proud of my tiny manny! Neil was able to watch and enjoy the whole scan, and listen to the lady. Also it was ever so lovely to be out with my biggest boy, er, MAN (hehe!) and my tiniest. Lovely to walk along not needing a pushchair, just chatting to my hubby while he carried my teeny Samuel in his arms (swoon, by the way - hot man carrying angelic baby, lol!). I'm sure everyone in the waiting area thought this was our complete family unit. The sonographer, when she'd finished the scan, leaned in to talk to him and said, "Are you going to have a little playmate, hey?!" and I said, "Oh he's got a few already - he's our fifth!" hehe! She was more than a little taken-aback ;) And more so at the "all boys" thing - I love that though! :) We got the football team comment again. That is a very familiar one now!
On the way home we were stuck in a bit of traffic for a few minutes, and I said to Neil, "What shall we call him, if he's really a boy?!" because I had no idea really. I had a few names in mind, and my FAVOURITE one, which I absolutely KNEW I would want to use if we ever had a sixth boy, when Samuel was new, was one that Neil had strongly vetoed in previous pregnancies and I could never see him considering it. I still held it in my heart, but have put it to the back burner and considered a few others (Toby, Noah, Josiah, etc) in more recent months. In the car Neil told me a name had come to mind recently but he couldn't remember it. And then suddenly he did - and said, "Elijah" Well, thank goodness I had my seatbelt on because that's the very name he's vetoed and which I longed to name a 6th boy!! :D I couldn't believe it. I kept saying, "Really?! REALLY?!" hehe! He said he just thought of it one day and liked it. I love it because it goes - Arthur, Matthew, Nathan, Benjamin, Samuel and Elijah. And it's a different letter - I think I like the idea of none of the boys sharing a first initial, makes the post easier when they get to be older and get their own letters and packages! I guess I'm the opposite of the Duggars in that respect! ;) I also love love LOVE the meaning: "The LORD is my God" How much more awesome could the meaning of a name possibly get?! :)
The last male person in our families that we have left to honour by using their name for a middle name for one of our boys, is my grandfather. He gave his name to his only son as a middle name, and then apparently seemed a bit upset that my parents didn't pass it on to my brother (who got Robert Edward - my other grandfather who had died, and Edward because my parents just liked it!). There's never been a vibe or anything said about our boys' middle names as far as his name is concerned, but now he has SIX great grandsons (my five and my nephew) with no sign of his name yet! His name is Douglas, which I had thought of potentially using one day but decided against, mainly because it means black river (or dark water at some sources) and I feel strongly about the meanings of names, spiritually. But when paired with Elijah (we talked about this in the car), I like it. "The LORD is my God" trumps "black/dark river/water" any day! ;) The Lord is God over the realms of darkness, and maybe the whole name will stand for that, which I like. I REALLY like the flow, and the way the names go well together - Elijah Douglas, and it sounds fine with our surname tagged on the end. And more than anything else, I LOVE being able to bless my grandfather by using his name (at last!) - I know he will be so moved and touched by it.
So by the time we got home, we were 100% certain on a boy's name for our baby - Elijah Douglas! :) So happy! And I think he IS a boy, so that's his name! I won't refer to it until the next scan when the gender is confirmed, and I'll keep on with Sausage for now - and obviously there's a chance the baby might be a girl still, so I will wait! But I feel so excited to KNOW if it's a boy, he'll be Elijah - can't describe how excited and happy I am to meet him already, knowing his name! :)
I did then tell Neil about the name Rachel for the first time, and he immediately did not want to use that name if we have a girl. He has already chosen a girl's name that he likes (which is actually the same name we had chosen for Matthew if he had been a girl!) - Emma Jane. Jane is my mummy, Emma is a name we have both liked for years, AND my great-grandmother's name - she was my grandfather, Douglas's mother, and died when I was 16. So either way we'd honour Grandoug with names, and we are both happy about that. I am not 100% convinced about Emma Jane for our baby even though I still really like it, but then I have really had Rachel on my heart, so perhaps that's all it is... Either that or it's because the baby is a BOY and I know it in my knower somewhere, lol! ;)
[Edited to add the obvious: NAME A TOTAL SECRET UNTIL BIRTH!!! Thank you! :) ]
My next scan is now booked for January 10th at 2.40pm, so I will find out then! Yay!
I absolutely need to go and eat something now as I'm feeling really sick, bleurgh! WORTH IT though! :) I put the pictures on Sausage's ultrasound gallery which I made yesterday - it seems to have come up as the most recent post even though I made a big long waffly updatey one right afterwards... Anyway, must go! Back soon :)
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