Getting an Ultrasound

20 Weeks Pregnant!

Will and I had the privilege of getting and ultrasound in Arua this past week. Here are some interesting things about getting an ultrasound here.

1. It's not going to be predictable! You don't need an appointment to get an ultrasound here. However, there will ALWAYS be complications. We have an amazing Irish midwife friend here. Her name is Heather and she has agreed to do our prenatal care while we are in Arua. We arranged with her to get an ultrasound on Wednesday. I called on Monday to confirm this and she told me that the "good hospital" in town is not currently doing ultrasounds because they have limited power right now. They will not have consistent power again until the rains come consistently (in a couple months). Heather was able to find another doctor who has a small clinic in town- we were still on for Wednesday!

Then... Wednesday came and Heather came over and told us that the Ugandan president declared that day a holiday (as of the night before)!! Therefore, everything would probably be closed. However, she finally got ahold of the doctor and he said he would be in the clinic if we came in two hours. So, it ended up working after all- despite all of Africa's efforts to through of our "plan" ;).

2. The machine might not be current, but it will be cheap! The ultrasound machine was definitely out of date, however, it showed us our sweet baby and that's all we cared about. It costed us 15,000 UGX, which is about $4.40. The sad thing is that most women here cannot afford to get an ultrasound, so most go through their whole pregnancy without having one. We were told that even when the women here have ultrasounds, they rarely like to look at the screens. They are afraid there will be a problem, so they look away and wait for the doctor to tell them if everything is okay or not.

It's a girl! No printed pictures,
but we were allowed to take
a picture of the screen :). 

3. Finding out the gender of your baby is an amazing feeling!! It's one thing to know in your head that you are pregnant, but to find out you're having A BABY GIRL is so incredible to hear! It has been so fun to refer to the baby as "she" instead of "baby" or "it". It was also amazing to hear the doctor say that everything looked normal and "on track".

We're so grateful that we have access to getting an ultrasound here. The doctor was great and very competent. He did a thorough job and encouraged us that everything seemed healthy and normal. Praise the Lord for the hope of new life!