Two Little Girls
January 4th, 2012
The worst part about not updating for a long time is feeling like something UTTERLY PROFOUND needs to be put on the page to justify that much pondering and absence. Not that anyone else cares, for it’s purely a personal pressure made more complicated by the fact that the last deep thought I had was how seamlessly we’ve integrated my nightly puking into the family. I simply call out, “Adam! I’m going to barf!” and he slides into the role of chief distracting officer, busying Sam to the point that she usually doesn’t notice that I’ve gone missing until the episode is over, when she appears with her pirate sword to announce, “Mommy, are you okay? Daddy and I are PIRATES!”
It’s a big step from a few weeks ago, when she would literally rend her garments in horror, screaming and wailing as though I was being stabbed by the devil himself. The lowest point was when I had to HOLD HER IN MY ARMS while simultaneously losing my lunch in the toilet bowl.
Baby steps! Baby steps!
I feel better, though obviously not 100 percent, but you know, better in the sense that I’m not sobbing myself to sleep every night because I just! feel! so! SICK! I eat sometimes! I had toast for dinner! THIS IS WINNING!
Also . . . we’re having another girl. I could write a treatise on how horrible my ultrasound experience was, but ultimately, I’m getting a healthy baby girl out of it so far, and Sam is going to have a flipping SISTER. SISTERS! I have a sister, and I love her so, so I am VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS. (I also have brothers and I love THEM so, so I would be VERY EXCITED about THAT, too.)
But the ultrasound. Oh. Oh my. It was over an hour long, as I flipped from this side to that side, while the (inept) ultrasound tech sighed and prodded, desperately searching for body parts that were either missing or two small, according to her mutterings. “Ugh, heart too tiny!” Jab jab jab. “Leg! The leg is very bad.” She squirted on more gel.
“WHAT?” I was understandably alarmed. “But . . . is something wrong?”
Her only reply was to herself as she made a note on her checklist. “Pulmonary artery missing.”
At this point, my unborn child—the one I conceived after MULTIPLE PREGNANCY LOSSES–had a too-small heart, a bum leg and was missing a major artery. And the tech still hadn’t said a word. I sat up, pulling at the towel at my waist, “STOP. Are you saying these things are BAD?”
She snapped to earth. “Oh! No. I just can’t get a good picture because the heart at this age is so tiny, the leg is blocking the kidneys, and the pulmonary artery is blocked by an arm.”
OKAY THEN. MAYBE REALIZE YOU ARE TALKING IN YOUR OUTSIDE VOICE, THEN.
She then took a moment to peek at the sex—at my request, not her initiative—spent three seconds (I WAS WATCHING), declared it impossible, and when I protested, replied, “I’m not required to do that. It’s not a requirement. I’m happy to have the radiologist explain that to you.”
OH YES, PLEASE. And then, as I sobbed, she simply left the room.
(The end here is that the radiologist came in, found the sex, treated me like a mental patient as I cried, and OH YES I HAVE TO GO BACK NEXT WEEK TO HAVE A RE-DO ANYWAY AHH AHH)
(Yes, this is the same as my Twitter rant, but I HAD TO GET IT OUT THERE.)
Anyway, I’m happy to see you all again. Alas, I am nauseated again! TIME FOR BED.
*Ani DiFranco
Entry Filed under: Pregnancy,Teh Second Baby
28 Comments
1. Kimberly | January 4th, 2012 at 11:00 pm
Congratulations! TWO GIRLS!!!! P.S. I was seething for you ALL morning on the Twitters. So glad she’s a healthy girl!
2. Molly | January 4th, 2012 at 11:03 pm
Hooray for sisters! We just found out yesterday our newest edition will be a girl too!
So sorry to hear about a horrible ultrasound, the tech sounds seriously unprofessional.
3. Jesabes | January 4th, 2012 at 11:32 pm
Sisters!!! I have two and I really hope my daughter has one someday.
I just can’t belive that ultrasound tech still has a job. Does no one complain about her ineptitude?
4. Veronica | January 5th, 2012 at 12:04 am
A girl! That is awesome!
I’m having evening sickness too. It makes preparing dinner fanfuckingtastic.
5. Elizabeth | January 5th, 2012 at 7:41 am
A girl – yay! Congratulations!
6. heidi | January 5th, 2012 at 7:59 am
Yay! Two girls! Sounds like fun. I have 4 boys and all the same sex is a joy. Well, for me. I’m sure if I had a mix I’d enjoy that too. Congratulations!
7. Ang | January 5th, 2012 at 8:49 am
Awesome!!!! I have 2 girls, it’s so fun! And that ultrasound tech needs some new people skills!
8. cindy w | January 5th, 2012 at 9:07 am
Yay for joining the Two Girls Club!
And I am still horrified by your ultrasound experience. As I said on Twitter, she needs a job where she does not have to interact with other humans, EVER.
9. Olivia | January 5th, 2012 at 9:48 am
Congratulations on another girl! I hope you write or call somebody about the awful tech. “It’s not a requirement.” WTF?
10. Ris | January 5th, 2012 at 10:02 am
I was following all this on Twitter and wanted to drive over there myself and give these horrible people a serious talking to. I mean really! Yeah it’s your job but have some compassion, asshats. Anyway YAY SISTERS I have a sister and she’s the best ever.
11. Courtney | January 5th, 2012 at 11:11 am
Sisters are wonderful. Mine is possibly the best person I know. She’s 7 years younger than me, but a better person than I ever will be. There are dramatic moments, for sure– for a while my dad referred to our family as “Mike and his three whining bitches” (which we actually found humorous), but I wouldn’t trade her for anything.
Congratulations!
12. Kerry | January 5th, 2012 at 11:53 am
I threw up between three and 15 times per day, every single day, for each pregnancy.
I had a barf bucket (an old Tupperware mixing bowl from my mother-in-law’s early 1980s kitchen), because the layout of my house is such that it’s pretty much impossible to get to a bathroom fast enough to barf. When I was pregnant with my son, my then-two-year-old daughter got so used to it that she would grab my barf bucket, make a barfing sound, and then say, “I have a baby in my tummy!” It was awesome.
I really hope you are going to write a raging letter to the head of that hospital about that ultrasound tech.
13. KT | January 5th, 2012 at 11:54 am
Congratulations! Sorry that the tech was such a douchecanoe.
14. Josefina | January 5th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
What is WITH these people? Nevertheless, I am so happy for you! A sister! I always wanted one. Still do.
15. Josefina | January 5th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
Oh, and I mean healthcare workers who choose not to concern themselves with HEALTH or CARING, not other commenters. Sorry to anyone to whom that wasn’t clear.
16. Life of a Doctor's Wife | January 5th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
A girl!!! SISTERS! What happy, happy news! I am so very excited for you!
More exclamation marks!!!!
That ultrasound tech sounds like she needs a new job. That is just… unacceptable. I’m so glad that you got reassurance from the radiologist – although s/he shouldn’t have treated you like anything other than a JUSTIFIABLY upset parent. ARGH.
17. HereWeGoAJen | January 5th, 2012 at 2:23 pm
I would like to find that ultrasound tech and lay some smack down. I can only imagine what that was like.
I am so excited that it is a girl! I mean, I’d be excited if it were a boy too, but I am so excited that it is a girl!
18. Jen | January 5th, 2012 at 2:28 pm
I just cannot get over that whole ultrasound experience. It’s… insanity. But! A GIRL! A HEALTHY GIRL!
Beyond excited for you!
19. jive turkey | January 5th, 2012 at 4:35 pm
Oh, how I adore it when people who clearly hate other people choose a profession that involves helping people.
But the important part is YAY! Healthy baby girl!
20. Laura Diniwilk | January 5th, 2012 at 4:59 pm
HUGE CONGRATS on your healthy baby girl!!! I also used to see myself only having boys, but I love, love, love having two girls now that they are here.
I barfed all 9 months with both girls, and am SO SORRY you are still sick. Pregnancy is so awesome and so awful at the same time.
21. Reading (and chickens) | January 5th, 2012 at 5:43 pm
I’m so glad things are getting a tiny bit better in the barf department. (And gah, that ultrasound tech needs to go back to school! Customer service school, too, perhaps.)
22. MaggyD | January 5th, 2012 at 7:43 pm
Yea, you! And sisters! My sister is the best person in the whole wide world (as are my five half-sisters). Sorry about the barfing, though.
23. Page | January 6th, 2012 at 12:59 am
I’m still ticked at that chick for making you so upset. If I lived there, I would go pound on her in a hormonal fury in a second! I’m so sorry that had to happen to you, especially after all that you have been through.
Congrats again on girl #2!!!!!!!!!!!!
oh, and @KT: DOUCHECANOE. Awesome.
24. Swistle | January 6th, 2012 at 7:22 am
“MAYBE REALIZE YOU ARE TALKING IN YOUR OUTSIDE VOICE, THEN.” YES.
TWO GIRLS. What wonderful, wonderful news. One of the most painful things about deciding not to have anymore children was realizing there would be no sisters. It’s made me extra-thrilled when other families have them!
25. EmilysHollow | January 6th, 2012 at 9:41 am
Sisters! That’s going to be a riot! In a good way, obviously.
That ultrasound story makes me so incredibly pissed off. That was my favorite day of my pregnancy with X, my tech was so rad and pointed out everything and UGH. People and their inability to understand that there are other humans on the earth (AND IN THE ROOM) with them. Hate.
26. Elsha | January 6th, 2012 at 11:57 am
Yay for sisters! I love having sisters. (And I’m still hoping Kalena will get one at some point.)
I still can’t believe the awful ultrasound tech. Does she not realize how TERRIBLE she is being??
27. Kristabella | January 6th, 2012 at 12:22 pm
Yay! Congrats!
I’ve only had an ultrasound once (not for a baby) and the tech was also an asshole. Like I get that you’re not allowed to say anything, but also “NO ARTERY” is SAYING SOMETHING!
Glad BabyGirl is all healthy in there!
28. Mauigirl | January 6th, 2012 at 7:09 pm
Jonna, congrats on the new baby sister for Sam! I’ve been MIA for ages (if you even remember me, lol) but am getting back into the blog world and of course had to check in on one of my first blogs I started following. So happy for you. And what a SHIT that tech was! I had one like that once for a mammogram. So unprofessional. Glad all is well!