Friday, January 29, 2010

Ultrasound ... ...

... has been in existence for over 50 years, supposedly. Just tried to looked up the exact date of its arrival in medicine, but was unable to find it. However, I didn't try very hard ... just gave Wiki a quick gander. The date is really not important for purposes of this post.

I was doing something this morning I hadn't done in quite a while, it seems to me ... reading others' posts, chuckling here and commenting there, when I came across this one that Bug published Wednesday.

She enjoys doing these Random Dozen Memes, and usually I find at least one that provokes further thought from me. This week was no exception.

Check out #7 ... "Did you wait to discover the gender of your unborn child until its birth?" Well, as Bug has no children, it was a "N/A" for her, but she did go on to venture her opinion (always interesting), which got me to thinking about when I was pregnant going on fifty years ago.

Ultrasound was brand new then, and my husband and I discussed it. We both were of the opinion, we said, that we simply wanted a healthy child. We didn't really care what sex it was, just as long as it had ten fingers and toes .. you know, all the 'normal' stuff.

[Back then, what sex your child would be was guesswork, for the most part. If you carried the baby high, it would be a boy, or was it the other way around? I forget. If your families had a history of boy babies, chances were .. .. etc., etc. You know how that goes. One thing I remember for sure is that I had a wonderful built-in little table top to hold a saucer with a cup of coffee on it!]

Deep down, I'm pretty sure I was hoping for a boy. I wanted a little boy who would look exactly like my husband, only a much smaller version, of course. Rrvit! We were going to name him "Mark Paul" in honor of two of my favorite students. My husband didn't want a baby to be named after him. That would have made the child a "III" and he didn't want to be any part of that.

My doctor knew what I wanted. My husband knew what I wanted. I thought I knew what I wanted, but when our little girl was delivered and the doctor told me what it was, I exclaimed, "Oh, I'm so glad!"

Isn't it funny how - in a split second - our minds can change? So completely unexpected.

I had a lot of fun, particularly in the early years, making matching outfits for us and playing dressup. I was so glad we'd had a girl! And it's been even more fun, as the years have progressed, watching her develop into a mature and caring person. I wouldn't change a thing.

Btw, Bug's other Random Dozen Memes are equally interesting. Check out this one. I hope to meet her in person if I travel north later this year.

5 comments:

The Bug said...

Oh you're too kind - really!

That is interesting about the boy/girl switcheroo. I think that there's just this instant connection most women have with their babies - & whatever the child is he or she is the BEST EVER. Which is nice.

Tammy said...

I loved reading this Goldenrod, and it also reminded me of a memory of my own.

When I was pregnant with Eric, I was determined the baby would be a girl. Right before my c-section, the nurse listened to the heartbeat and told me she was nearly positive the baby would be a boy. INSTANTLY, I was so excited for a little boy. 10 minutes later when he was born, I was in tears of joy with having a son.

Funny how that all goes. :) I guess it's like Bug says..."whatever the child is he or she is the BEST EVER."

Goldenrod said...

Couldn't agree more with the two of you. :)

The Bug said...

OK, oh great wise leader, I can't figure out how to link to a post. I see that you linked this post to one of mine. Tell me, step by step (as to a child) how you did it! When I click on create a link to this post it gives me your information, not mine. I'm obviously missing an important step!

Goldenrod said...

All right, Bug, let's see if I can give you a quick tutorial.

First question ... ... what is it that you want to link? One of my posts? One of your previous ones? Someone else's?

Let's say, for example, that you're wanting to link (refer your readers to) one of your previous posts. Go to that post. Do a right click on the title and click on "Copy shortcut" on the scroll bar that appears. Go back to your post and do a hyperlink ... ... the best I can describe that little beast is the ugly troll that lives under the bridge. He's green. First, tho, before you do that hyperlink, highlight the parts of your post that you want linked.

For example, I'm doing a post. I want to link one of yours. I go ahead and write my post, but when I come to the spot where I want to link yours, I go to yours, do the "Copy shortcut" and then - after highlighting the part of my post where I want your link to appear - I hit that ugly troll and "copy".

Try it, Bug, and get back to me with your questions. This, actually, is one of the easier ones, and I'm pretty sure I have made it much too complicated for you.