Avery, Addyson and Alysse: 4d Ultrasound

Since my dr doesn't do 4d ultrasounds, I have to go to an elective place to have it done. We wanted to take the girls so they could be part of it. They have never seen an ultrasound before! And this one is a great one to see b/c they can actually tell it's a baby.

Since Alysse is pretty calm until nighttime, I was pretty sure she would sleep during the entire ultrasound. I drank a huge cup of coffee to try and wake her up. It didn't work. She slept the ENTIRE time! She barely moved, but thankfully moved her hands long enough to show us her sweet little face. I feel her kicking me over and over, but seeing her little face made everything so much more real.

First the tech confirmed that she is in fact a girl. YAY! Then she did measurements to make sure she was on track. And boy not only is she on track but she's WAY ahead of schedule. She compared it to my due date of Nov 27, which by my calculation is 4 days late. Compared to my due date, her head was measuring 2 weeks ahead and her leg bone was measuring a week or so ahead. The machine takes everything and averages her approximate due date. Overall, she is measuring 9 days ahead of schedule, with a due date of Nov 18th. Since I think my due date should be Nov 23, that puts her 5 days ahead of where I think she should be. I'm happy with her coming Nov 18th - it was the window I thought she would come anyway. She weighs 3 1/2 lbs which is right on track for 31 weeks.

When the ultrasound first started the 4d part, both hands were crossed in front of her face, but she moved them up and down. We got to see her face very clearly, as well as both hands. She has ten little fingers and ten little toes, just like we saw in the 12 week ultrasound. The tech showed us all her hair - yes she already has a full head of hair! Which surprises me since my reflux hasn't been as bad this time. I have noticed lately that it comes and goes and some nights are worse than others. Since she already has a full head of hair, I am lead to believe she'll be born with black hair just like the girls were. So much for my blonde headed baby, haha! Blondes are just not born with a lot of hair... or mabe you just can't see it as well.

Her face is round like Addy's (and mine) and it looks like she has my chin. Her nose is pretty big but the tech said they always look bigger in the ultrasound b/c they don't have cartlidge yet. It turns down like mine does and doesn't seem as pug as Marks. Pooor baby if she ends up with mine. Maybe it will be smaller than mine.

It looks like she has Avery's lips. Her top lip is heart shaped, just like Mark, Avery's and Addy's. It's hard to tell if she has big lips like Avery's. Avery's are so plump! She had the Coates "duh" stare as I call it. Mark, Avery and Addy all stare into space with their mouth open like they are catching flies. Alysse is no different! So sweet...

Her fingers were the LONGEST fingers I have ever seen on a baby. She has really long feet too! Addy was the same way. The day Addy was born we said she was going to be a piano player b/c her fingers were so long. Looks like Alysse might be the same way.

Her head and forehead look like mine did when I was a baby. There is one picture that looked JUST like me when I was a baby. When means when she comes out she'll probably look like Mark! From what we can tell so far, she appears to look like me and Mark, not just him like the other two did in their 4d ultrasounds. She looks like the girls too. I can't wait to see her in person and compare the pictures. The 4d pictures came out so clear!!

The girls were really interested and enjoyed it for the first ten minutes. Since Alysse wasn't moving or doing much, they got bored. They still loved seeing their baby sister for the first time and were even more excited that she had some of their traits.