Sarah van der Kley: Baby scan shows cheeky little monkey

Sarah van der Kley

Like many pregnant women, I have been on a countdown.

Not to the birth of the baby and end of the pregnancy, but to the end of the first trimester.

Whilst I certainly haven't had it as bad as many women, I have had to deal with my fair share of sickness and emotional outbursts.

Even Game of Thrones made me cry because I couldn't handle seeing horses killed in battle.

Beheadings I can cope with, but don't harm the animals!

I have been looking forward to the emotions settling down, the sickness easing, the worry of something going wrong in the first 12 weeks lessening.

I said to my Mum the other day, "It's awesome I'm out of the first trimester because now I'm allowed to eat extra calories."

Once she'd finally stopped laughing she spluttered, "What the heck do you call all the toast you've been consuming?"

To which I gleefully replied "Yes but now I'm ALLOWED the extra calories."

But above everything I've been so looking forward to the 12-week scan.

And it exceeded all my expectations.

The moment the picture on the screen changed from black to a baby, an actual baby, my heart erupted with joy.

I could see the baby's head (ridiculously large), its wee feet and hands, even a little button nose.

But the poor sonographer couldn't see what she needed to.

Before it's even left the womb we have identified I have a difficult child.

Baby was sitting up like a meerkat, comfy as you like, with its arms in the air and its legs crossed, which apparently makes it difficult to get the measurements needed.

Then it was wriggling around. After an hour of prodding my stomach, the sonographer declared we'd have to return the next day to try again.

Which we did and, wouldn't you know it, baby was still being a ratbag.

"Could you move on to your side again?" the sonographer asked for the tenth time.

"Try some star jumps. Stand on your head. How comfortable are you with hanging from the ceiling by your ankles while we give your uterus a good shake?"

She didn't really say that last one.

After a brisk walk around the block and another half hour of prodding, the sonographer declared that was as good as it was going to get and off we went with the picture of our wee monkey.

I know birth is not easy but hopefully it's a little less trouble than the scan!

• Don't miss Adam Green and Sarah van der Kley on The Hits Hawke's Bay from 6am to 9am, Monday to Friday.