One of the skills that I have been picking up over the past 3 months is doing ultrasounds. Most of time, it is for dating a pregnancy. Pregnancy tests are in limited supply here. If a woman wants confirmation of pregnancy, we exam her in the consultation room and send her down to the theater to do an ultrasound.
I have gotten fairly good at identifying the major aspects: is there a baby or not, singleton or multiple babies, fetal heart activity, dating by the size of the head or by the crown-to-rump length for very early pregnancy, location of the placenta, etc. I have also done quite a few ultrasounds of the upper abdomen, liver, spleen, and kidneys. If I have any question about my findings, I usually call in one of the doctors for confirmation.
So, the other day, one of my translators asked William how our second child was doing. He corrected her and said we only had one. She replied that I have gotten fat so I must be pregnant (I have put on a few pounds here, but I didn’t think it was that noticeable). We just laughed. I mentioned it to one of the missionaries. She said she thought that I might be pregnant as well, because I had been so tired. Well, despite the risk of exposing myself for being a minor hypochondriac, I went down to theater one day to do my own ultrasound. I just wanted to let everyone know – I’m not pregnant.