How to have a Baby in Hong Kong: Part 4

Today was the VERY BEST experience I have had thus far in the HK public medical system. And not just because I found out the gender of the baby!

I arrived at the hospital shortly after 10 for my 10:30 appointment. The ultrasound department is in a different part of the hospital, there were not many people there, and it was quiet. Already a drastic difference from the other crowded waiting room!

I was only sitting for about a minute before they called me back... compared to the hour plus sitting I had done at previous appointments. The ultrasound tech was very nice and I had a nice big screen at the foot of my bed, so I didn't have to share a screen with her. The area was super quiet and she dimmed the lights... very relaxing. And the ultrasound was 30 minutes!! 30 minutes of relaxing while watching my sweet baby.

The anatomy check ultrasound I had with Josiah at 20 weeks included a lot of measuring, but it was certainly not nearly as long or as thorough as this one. This ultrasound tech checked and measuring lots of things...

"This is one of the major arteries leading away from the heart."

"Those are the baby's 4 ventricles."

"Here are the baby's kidneys."

"Here are the baby's kidneys from the other side."

She must have pointed out the baby's kidneys at least 3 times to me. She made sure to inform me that there was skin covering the baby's spine and showed me all the various measurements she was doing. Very thorough. Everything measured within a few days of 22 weeks except baby's cerebellum. That measured over 24 weeks. So based on what wikipedia tells me, I expect this baby to have excellent motor control, attention, and language! :)

She worked her way down the baby's body until we got to the gender revealing part. "Can you guess?" she asked me. Well, yes. That is very clearly a little BOY!

(I have to admit... I really expected the baby to be a girl. I had dreamed the baby was a girl, another friend dreamed the baby was a girl, this pregnancy has been so very different, Josiah has always said he wanted a sister, other friends were very exited about the prospect of me having a girl... so it took me a minute to adjust. But clearly I am excited for a boy too! And really, any girl with even slight girly-girly tendencies would be frustrated by me as a mom. :) Plus, I can't french braid. You have to be able to french braid if you have daughters.)

I was out of the hospital a mere 15 minutes after my appointment was supposed to start. It was great! The only negative to this appointment was that I didn't get an ultrasound picture. After I was done I saw a sign that said you had to request one prior to starting your appointment, for a small fee. Oh well. But if I could show you a profile picture of this little one, compared to that of his big brother, I think we would all agree that his head should come out a little easier. Hopefully! :)

P.S. One of the ladies in the SALT office seemed to think that I got quite a lot of special treatment having such a long and thorough ultrasound. So maybe it was a slow day in the ultrasound department? I can't imagine the public system would give foreigners special treatment. But in case any of you ever have a baby in Hong Kong, I thought you should know!