As we anticipate making the switch and referring to Elvis's age in terms of positive integers sometime this week, here are a few in-utero photos of our little guy. (Given his current age, it seems much more reasonable to be introducing him to negative numbers first.)
We had two ultrasounds of Elvis within the first six weeks of the pregnancy. In his very first photoshoot Elvis Ferdinand appeared to be no more than a "yoke sac". The second photoshoot, taken at 6.28 weeks (right), shows Elvis at age -33.72 weeks. The technician's label isn't strictly necessary, as it's pretty clear the three white stripes (three, so it's not Jack and Meg) are our baby. Isn't he cute? Definitely has his father's ... tentacles? Clearly, he had a lot of growing up to do.
By the time we went in for the 20-week ultrasound in June, we had gotten rather attached to our little guy, though until the 23rd we were't sure if it was to be Elvis Ferdinand Ulysses or Cleopatra Delores Saffron. Honestly, we think he lucked out getting that Y chromosome. Saffron? Really? That 20-week peek at our little guy was pretty special. It was great to finally be able to call him him and to seriously start thinking about names. Spoiler alert: His name won't really be Elvis Ferdinand Ulysses, though we may call him that when he's in trouble. It was awesome to see, instead of a yoke sac or three white stripes, a developing fetus, looking more and more like a baby (below). He's either practicing sucking on his thumb or trying out that rock star pose. Time will tell.
By the time we went in for the 20-week ultrasound in June, we had gotten rather attached to our little guy, though until the 23rd we were't sure if it was to be Elvis Ferdinand Ulysses or Cleopatra Delores Saffron. Honestly, we think he lucked out getting that Y chromosome. Saffron? Really? That 20-week peek at our little guy was pretty special. It was great to finally be able to call him him and to seriously start thinking about names. Spoiler alert: His name won't really be Elvis Ferdinand Ulysses, though we may call him that when he's in trouble. It was awesome to see, instead of a yoke sac or three white stripes, a developing fetus, looking more and more like a baby (below). He's either practicing sucking on his thumb or trying out that rock star pose. Time will tell.
Sadly, the technician didn't print out photos for us of Elvis's bladder, stomach, or spleen. But she did take two terrific photos of his cute little feet and of him playing peek-a-boo, and another scary-looking photo of his face that looks like something out of an X-Files episode.
Back in June we thought these would be the last images we'd have of our little guy until his November arrival. But at -5 weeks old he seemed to be a bit bigger than expected, so the OB scheduled a final ultrasound to confirm that his "little" belly was, indeed not so little. Although every measurement was essentially "average", his little stomach was in the 97th percentile in terms of size. Awww, our little Buddha. This image, now just over four weeks old, gave us our first (non-alien skeleton) glimpse of his face - it looks like he's got his mother's nose!
For the past 9 months, since Elvis Ferdinand Ulysses was -40 weeks old, we've been looking forward to this week. We've enjoyed his kicking and squirming and general moving about (although his mother did not always appreciate his poking of her ribs and kicking of her bladder). We can't wait to finally welcome him to the ex-utero world and to wish him a happy 0th birthday!
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