Third Trimester Sonograms Help to Strengthen the Deal

It's been awhile since my last sonogram. The early ones mean a lot to an older mother because you really want proof!  Now that baby does a ferocious kick dance festival every night around 10PM, I'm quite certain there's a growing human baby inside me.  Still, though, it's nice to get even more certainty in the form of sound waves that put your baby right up on a t.v. screen while you lie back and enjoy the  view of what's going on in your uterus. This time I brought daughter and baby daddy to share in the fun times. My daughter was looking forward to this day and told her class she was going to see a baby on a screen.  She asked me a lot of questions on the subway ride over. Technical ones. "Is the doctor going to cut the baby out so we can see it?" I told her they wouldn't do that because the baby needs to stay inside mommy's tummy for awhile longer. "But how do I see the baby?" I didn't have a comprehensible explanation for sound wave technology. I just told her the lady is going to put a mouse on my tummy and that the baby comes up on the screen.  That explanation didn't really convince her because she envisioned a real mouse on my stomach. That led to a conversation about how the plural of "mouse" becomes "mice."  One mouse. Two mice. Once in the sonography room, I was saved from further explanations as my daughter watched in delight as warm gel was glopped on the top of the burgeoning belly and the "mouse" began to travel all over and around the belly to reveal images of baby. The face shot was the best detailed, but my daughter kept saying she couldn't see anything.  I wonder what she was looking at because the face was so clear to the rest of us. Finally she made out the nose, mouth and closed eyes. The technician printed out some images, which my daughter eagerly stowed in her Hannah Montana purse. Oh no, was she going to pull them out on the subway and show them to strangers? Suddenly I felt a twang of superstition. We still can't get too excited because...well, the big sigh of relief day is 17 days away.  Just as we declined today to find out baby's gender (I still can't get too attached yet), there won't be full excitement or planning until that 34th week hits. The doctor glides in to tell us everything looks great and is right on track.  That's fantastic. Well, my daughter is no longer impressed and announces that it is time to go home. We grab some graham crackers from the waiting room. By the time we're on the train, she is on to other, more interesting topics besides just having seen her baby sister or baby brother on screen. I look at the pictures when we get home.  A face to match a kick. Baby is getting there! I've got to savor every day and count my lucky stars. We're in the home stretch now. I hope I have as great as a finish as Secretariat did in the Belmont Stakes.