18 Week Anatomy Scan & Gender Confirmation

The following blog is something that I wrote in February of 2017 when I was expecting my first child, Graci! We hope you enjoy this post that we pulled out of the archive, and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments below.

Please note that I am not a medical professional. The below post is about my experience during my anatomy scan. If you have questions or concerns about your pregnancy, please speak to a medical professional.

What The Anatomy Scan Is

During your pregnancy, there are a handful of huge milestones – the ones that get you through the bouts of morning sickness and the uncomfortable ligament pains. One of the milestones that I had looked forward to since getting pregnant was finding out what I would be having.

Would it be Graci?

Or Finn?

Though it is 100% cliche to say that it didn’t matter what I was having, it really didn’t matter. I just wanted to know!

Midway through your pregnancy, at between 18 and 22 weeks, you’ll be scheduled for your anatomy scan. (This is the infamous appointment where you drink a bunch of water to enlarge your bladder and get an ultrasound done.)

At this appointment, they are looking at the baby’s organs and development to make sure that so far, everything is growing and progressing as it should.

It is also the appointment where you find out the gender of the baby or babies that you are carrying.

Our Gender Reveal

Yesterday was our anatomy scan and though we had been told by our doctor that he thought I was carrying a girl, we weren’t 100 percent sure.

Shortly into our appointment, our technician asked if we wanted to know the gender, and of course, we did!

That’s when we found out for sure… It was a girl!

Although we weren’t completely going into yesterday’s appointment blind about what we were having, it was still just as exciting when we found out for sure that we’d be meeting Graci in July (or maybe the end of June)!

What Mommas Should Know Before Their Scan

Gender aside, the anatomy scan was a bit nerve-wrecking.

It is natural to be worried about the development of your little one as a pregnant momma.  In fact, I was really nervous before and during the scan.

Here are a few things to note about your anatomy scan that I think all mommas should know before their appointment:

1. Your technician may not talk much. These professionals have a lot of photos of the baby that they are trying to grab, so try not to let this worry you.
2. If they aren’t able to grab all of the photos that they need during this ultrasound, they may reschedule you. (This happens often, and doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong.)
3. Neither the technician nor the radiologist who they consult with during your appointment are permitted to talk about the results. Your doctor will be the one to go over the details with you.
4. Depending on how your baby measures during this ultrasound, your due date may be updated.

As noted above, the technician and radiologist aren’t permitted to go over the results with you.

Our Anatomy Scan

After holding my breath for most of our appointment, our technician said that after consulting with the radiologist that we likely wouldn’t have any more ultrasounds in relation to our appointment unless our doctor wanted to check something further on.

We took this as a good sign.

Overall, the anatomy scan was a positive and exciting experience for Brad and I. It was SO much fun to share the news with our family and friends. We really enjoyed being able to finally say that we are expecting Graci Jean.

Also, it was relief that our doctor was right about our little one being a girl. I may or may not have already started this blog with name “Growing Graci.”

Phew.