Loo and The Sex

27th July 2005

I generally hate ultrasounds. To be honest, I am horrified of them. Do you know what they’re like? Absolute nightmares where one has to drink four or more tall glasses of water and can’t use the loo for hours.

I had a bad experience two years ago when I had to do an ultrasound due to a stomach pain that simply wouldn’t go away. The technician at the time was a mean devil. She asked me to drink thirty two ounces of water and made me wait half an hour before the procedure. She refused to do it before then “I need a full bladder to find out if you have a problem”, she reasoned. "Shhh" I was embarassed. She threatened to make me drink more water if I used the loo! So I drank and waited, pacing the corridors and avoiding the knowing looks, the sympathetic looks and hidden smiles of other patients.

No wonder I simply dreaded the upcoming ultrasound today. Dreaded meeting the same technician who didn’t have a heart, who only wanted a full bladder, for god’s sake!!


“Today is an exception"I kept telling myself.

“You are pregnant, you might get lucky and this time the technician would be more sympathetic” said M.

I doubt it, my luck is always poor and the chances are it will be the same technician.

My appointment was around three in the afternoon. I decided to leave work at noon to reach home early and start drinking. M took me to the hospital; on the way there, I forced him to stop at a gas station so that I could use the restroom there. I just couldn’t hold up. The fact that I was pregnant didn’t help.

Got back into the car, relieved and started drinking again. Got to the hospital and waited for the tech to come and get me. Fifteen minutes turned into twenty and I started pacing. I had to use the loo again. M got an earful for asking me to hold up. “I am pregnant, I can’t just hold up”! And of course, I ended up using the rest room! Yet again! Surprise, surprise there’s the tech calling out my name as soon as I am out! M had the “I told you” look on his face. He kept shut to avoid another earful.

To my relief, it was not the same ultrasound technician from two years ago. She seemed friendly for about five minutes. She started the procedure and then she goes
“Uh-uh, you haven’t drunk enough water; your bladder is nearly empty! It should be full for the fetal examination”

“Yeah right, I could almost use the loo again” I said!

“Oh no, I will give you some water, you must finish it three fourth, only three fourth and then we can meet up again for the procedure half an hour after that”! She says.

“What? Oh please! I am pregnant, I can’t go that long” I said.

“But you must, don’t you want to find out if your baby is healthy, besides you are only twenty one weeks pregnant, so you can hold up I am sure!” Saying which she walks away after handing me a “huge” jug filled with water. No wonder I need drink only three fourth, it must contain at least fifty ounces of water!

“You better be good, baby dear, see what mama has to go through to carry you. And please please cooperate so that we will know your sex” I told my little one. I got a kick in answer. I hoped that was an affirmative.

After going through all that discomfort and pain, she finally started the procedure. Seeing my baby for the first time, even though it was a blurry black and white sonogram was worth everything. An active baby, the tech informed us. Doing somersaults, as we watched, inside of me. “What did you have for lunch, lots of sugar?” asked the technician. Very active indeed. M was grinning all the while. It was an amazing feeling. I fell in love all over again. “Can you tell us the sex please?” I asked her. She said it was difficult esp. since the baby was moving so much, but she promised to try. She took lots of measurements, I just watched the movements. It lasted twenty minutes perhaps. Then she pointed us the head, the face, the arms. So perfect. She printed a few stills that we could take home with us. My favorite is the one of the baby sucking its thumb! Finally she was all done.

“Is it a boy or a girl?” I asked again.

“I think it’s a girl, but I am not positive as the baby moved so much, don’t go buying clothes yet…but looks like it might be a girl, we have been wrong many times, so don’t trust my word on it.” So said the tech.


I trusted her word; Later that evening, I went out to the shops and bought her a jump suit and creeper straight away. Her first clothes. :)

On to finding names......

Bet the subject threw you off....what were you thinking? :)

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In response to the prompt from Sunday Scribblings
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