Sergey

One of the main differences in the medical care here I have discovered from talking to friends is ultrasounds. Most of my American friends had 2-3 ultrasounds during their pregnancy. During my 9 month pregnancy in Moscow I have had 11 ultrasounds. I don’t know if this is healthy, but I did enjoy being able to see the baby so often and watching him grow. However, getting the ultrasound was always kind of nerve wracking. This was due to our ultrasound tech, Sergey. Sergey is blond haired, blue eyed, about 6 and a half feet tall and big. He looks like someone you would see in a movie as a mafia hit man…or a Nazi officer. Sergey never smiled and I only heard him speak 5 words. While having an ultra sound done…Sergey would glare at the baby’s image on the screen while he clicked on the computer…he would grunt and sigh as he measured the baby and listened to the heartbeat. Many times I was convinced that something was dreadfully wrong with the baby, it took awhile for us to realize that it was just Sergey’s way. At our 5 month appointment I summoned the courage to ask Sergey if he could tell the gender. He said yes and then grunted a word. Tim and I looked at each other, confused. I thought Sergey said boy, Tim thought girl. But neither of us really wanted to ask him to repeat himself. Thankfully a minute later Sergey pointed to the screen and Tim and I were thrilled to see we were having a BOY!