Sarah van der Kley: Much monkeying about at scan time

Sarah van der Kley

When our 12-week scan didn't go as smoothly as we'd expected, I took heart in the fact the next one about eight weeks later should be much better.

It's not that anything was wrong with the baby at the 12-week check-up, just that it took multiple scans for the sonographer to see what she needed to.

Alas, no, the same problem arose at the 20-week anatomy scan.

We went in full of excitement to find out the baby's gender but the baby had other ideas and was in a position that made it impossible to tell whether it was a boy or girl.

It took 11 scans and many drinks, toilet breaks, walks around the block and funny positions for the professionals to see everything they needed to.

Thankfully it was during the second scan the sonographer was able to identify the gender, although it was my Mum who first exclaimed "I can see something between the legs!"

This was a first for her as I am one of three girls and both my sisters have also produced girls.

One of Mum's first comments was "I don't know what to do with boys!" but I'm sure we'll all learn quickly enough.

Now for one of the biggest pressures any first-time parent will face in the pre-birth days; the choosing of a name.

I'm sure this process must get easier the more children you have, but with your first-born it feels like we could ruin their life just by choosing a name that is all wrong for them.

If we pick a popular name, it's likely many children his age will share it (as someone who was in a class with four other Sarahs, I'd like to avoid this if possible).

Pick an abstract name and people struggle to pronounce or spell it.

Then you have to find a name that both parents actually agree on.

Thankfully we still have plenty of time to choose and will hopefully decide before the baby is born.

I recently read a book in which a woman was the fifth child and by the time it came to naming her, the mother had run out of ideas.

She ended up named Baby.

We spoke to someone on the radio a couple of years ago who had so much trouble deciding on a name for her child that the baby was called "Hmm-hmmm" for the first six weeks of her life.

After all the scan troubles, if all else fails, Monkey will do.

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