I See You, My Son

Dear world: We are having a son. Yesterday myself and my lady were witness once again to one of the most wonderful technological marvels of our age – the Ultrasound scan. This was our second scan and it was thrilling, from the moment we arrived and waited until the final moments of the scan when we discovered that the shape we had been referring to by an affectionate nickname could now be referred to by the name we had chosen for a little boy.

Once again I was mesmerised by the level of detail that was visible on the crystal clear LCD screens that the delightfully pleasant midwife was working from. Hand in hand with my other half, we watched in awe as each part of our baby's body was examined, catalogued and checked for abnormalities.

We gasped in even more awe as we watched the baby, our beautiful son, moving around inside his mummy's tummy. One of the defining moments of our lives had arrived, and it was so much better than I could ever have hoped. Technology is marvellous, but at that moment it really did seem like magic.

Plus, it wasn't just a fuzzy image of a vaguely baby-shaped conglomeration of pixels. It was a baby. Our baby. Our son. We saw him, getting comfortable, moving his arms, arranging his legs into a new position. We saw his brain, his heart beating strong, his bones through his precious skin. We saw our son and we held hands ever tighter.

We left the hospital soon afterwards, clutching new scan photos and marvelling over them on the bus back to town. We celebrated with hot food from the Christmas market in the town square and lots of laughter, many meaningful glances and a swelling of pride that could rival the swelling of my lady's belly. Seeing him there, much bigger than before, growing perfectly as he should, gave me a heady cocktail of emotions. At once elated and scared, bringing it all home ever more that I'm about to be a daddy for the first time.

Well, my dear son, I will do all that I can to make you proud. I see you, my boy, and I look forward to you seeing me for the first time.