The Most Amazing Thing I’ve Ever Seen

This is one of those images that truly speaks for itself. I’d thought I’d have all kinds of witty and pithy things to say — after all, that’s my child you’re looking at — but the more I stare at it, the more inadequate I feel to describe what I see.

When Renae and I went into the midwife’s last week, we went in hoping to hear a heartbeat even as we knew that it still might be a bit too early for that. So when she couldn’t find the baby’s heartbeat, we were disappointed, but not too much so.

Still, we jumped at the chance for an ultrasound, and the result was more than we could’ve imagined. We were both surprised at the sheer amount of activity that we saw from the little bean. As we stared at the monitor, we saw the little guy/girl moving about, twisting and turning, and flailing his/her little arm and leg buds with wild abandon. We saw the heartbeat pumping away at 180bpm(!), we saw the beginnings of some facial features, and we even saw the spine.

Right now, he/she is a little bigger than a lime, with the head taking up half of the overall body mass (I hope that means we’ve got another geek on our hands). All of the organs have formed, the fingers and toes have separated, the hair and nails are growing, and as a result, this entire event has suddenly become a lot less abstract — though it’s still very surreal to look at Renae and remember that there’s another human being inside her.

I promise that I won’t turn Opus into one of those dreaded baby blogs, but I hope you’ll forgive the occasional outburst of amazement and awe during the course of the next few months. After all, there’s a miracle taking place before my eyes.

(And if you’re the praying kind, Renae and I would appreciate the occasional good word. All of the baby books say we’re almost past the most critical stage, but a little extra peace never hurts. Plus, I’ve realized that I suddenly need to develop some mad home improvement skills if Baby Opus is going to get that Totoro-themed nursery.)