Upside down

This afternoon we went to the hospital find out whether the midwife's assertion on Tuesday that she was "80% sure the baby is breach" was borne out by an ultrasound scan.

Funnily, when the sonographer first put the scanner on Hayley's tummy today my mind was still pondering whether we might notice the baby's gender after keeping it a surprise for all this time. But as soon as she placed the scanner at the base of the bump I saw a large object which she quickly confirmed was the baby's head. What a fantastic sight it was. Our Bump isn't breach after all!

She went on to check out one or two other dimensions and we clearly saw an arm and a hand. The baby's head was pointing down with one foot up under Hayley's ribs and another slightly to the side. Finally she managed to capture an image with part of the baby's face and printed it for us free of charge.

So we didn't need our follow-up appointment at the Ante-natal clinic and we went home very happy. Well, perhaps those of us who won't have to go through labour went home slightly more ecstatic than those who will.

Before we left we went to see one of Hayley's fellow mothers-to-be from our ante-natal classes upstairs in one of the maternity wards. She is 35 weeks pregnant and her baby has lost some weight recently. She also has little amniotic fluid left so she is being monitored until the doctors believe they need to perform a c-section. They are trying to leave it as late as possible.

We chatted away and Hayley was tickled to find she has the same nocturnal experiences of frequent trips to the loo for a tiny dribble and of taking an age to get in and out of bed. She also told us that one night she couldn't find her "bump pillow" after a trip to the loo and after searching fruitlessly in the dark found it under her partner's "curry belly"!

Tonight I have put the scan picture on Flickr but everyone who has seen it so far seems to be having trouble making out the face. Well, at least a blurry image still keeps us in blissful ignorance about the gender.