Kleintje's first class

Today Kleintje had his first class. Well, technically it was a pregnancy course to prepare the parents-to-be for delivery. It was in the hospital of Morges where we will also go for the delivery. We were with seven other couples that are going to have a baby in a few months as well. It was an interesting session that provided some basic information. Nothing groundbreaking of course but it was very good to have the various procedures discussed. This helps people to know what to expect and therefore be better prepared. And although he didn't pay attention all the time, our Kleintje did very well during his first lecture!

Kleintje's heart beat

On this video, you can hear the heart beat of our little Kleintje. It lies around 145 beats per minute. The average of a fetal heart beat is between 120 and 160 per minute.

3D/4D ultrasound video

This video is a part of the 3D ultrasound. As you can see on the videos, it doesn't really look nice. In fact, it doesn't look nice at all and the two 2D ultrasound is much nicer in our case. The video was made around 20 weeks pregnant, which was a bit too early--especially because the baby was lying quite close to the placenta, making it even more difficult to get a good 3D picture. Again, it doesn't look really nice, so don't be scared if you think our baby is trying to get into Scary Movie...

The first movie shows the face mostly as a kind of mask or skeleton. The second movie shows the outlines of the face (and the rest of the body, e.g. arms) but it is not perfect (although I already find it quite impressive what they can show at this stage). This ultrasound was made on January 2nd when Hanneke was about 20 weeks pregnant.

check-up (25-26 weeks pregnant)

Today we had a check up again. The gynecologist made an ultrasound again and, although Kleintje didn't make it easy for him this time either, he finally saw the 'missing' arm. The gynecologist looked at the rest of Kleintje as well and our little one is still doing ok! Even though nowadays they can see already a lot on an ultrasound, only about 30% of malformations/malfunctions can be detected. But of course we already think that is quite a lot and we are very happy to be able to see that much of our little one. In a few weeks, we will have the next appointment. In the meanwhile, we will try to keep you updated how things are going and put some more ultrasound videos online.

Umbilical cord and blood vessels

On this video (from the ultrasound on January 2nd), you can see the different blood vessels that enter Kleintje's body from his umbilical cord.

The explanations in Dutch are more or less the following: It is first shown that the umbilical cord enters the belly. That is where the nutrients and the oxygen enter the body. In the bottom of the belly, there is a full bladder. There are two vessels around the bladder. It takes a while because the baby is quite active. (At that time, Hanneke didn't feel anything yet.) There are three vessels in the umbilical cord (see different colors on the video).

24-25 weeks pregnant (check-up with ultrasound)

Today, we (finally) had our next check-up with the gynecologist. (Finally, because the last one was a while ago and this one was postponed by one week.) This time we had an extensive ultrasound during which the gynecologist checked almost every detail of our little Kleintje. He checked the spine, the brain, the heart, the stomach, the bladder, the kidneys, and all those kinds of things. He also took pictures of all of them for his records. He confirmed us that everything was just fine with the baby, which is of course always good to hear. He did some measures of the baby and it looked like he is around 25 weeks old but it remains a rough estimate. A funny thing though was that our Kleintje did not show one of his arms on the ultrasound, even after the gynecologist tried really hard to get him moving (you can ask Hanneke about this, hehe)! The arm was probably hidden behind his head and therefore invisible on the ultrasound. Because the gynecologist really wants to see every part of the baby, Hanneke has to come back in one week. Of course, we don't mind seeing our little one again!

On the ultrasound pictures, you can see the baby's face. If you can spot the "missing" arm, let us know! :)