Second midwife appointment

[rivka]

There's a real baby in there! With a heartbeat!!

I was good. I didn't hound the midwife about the one thing that had been on my mind since, oh, two minutes after we left the previous appointment five weeks ago.

Until the end of the appointment, when she said, "Okay, about all that's left is to check your blood pressure..."

And I couldn't wait any longer. "Will we hear the heartbeat today?"

"At thirteen weeks, we should." She took my blood pressure - which was fine - and walked me over to the exam table. I unbuttoned my jeans, pushed them down around my hips, laid back on the table. Nervously asked curiousangel, who was hanging back out of the way, to come around the other side and hold my hand. My heart pounded.

Touch of gel on my stomach, not cold at all, and then a burst of static and some mysterious sounds. She said right away that it was a heartbeat, but then the baby moved. She moved the transducer around for a moment, pressing on to my uterus with the other hand, and suddenly there it was. Unmistakable. Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump, steady and strong and even.

"My God," I said, "there's really a baby!" Then I cried.

curiousangel, bless his heart, timed the hearbeat. "What is that, about 150?" he asked the midwife. She said yes, and said that 150 was a perfectly fine heart rate, and "the baby sounds really strong." She told us that our risk of miscarriage is now very slight.

All I could think was: my God, my God, there's a baby. There really is. With a heartbeat. The baby is alive.

In other news from the appointment:

I have lost two more pounds, for a grand total of seven. If I continue to struggle with nausea, she recommends B-complex vitamins in therapeutic doses. She also recommended smaller, more frequent meals. One suggestion I can't believe I didn't think of sooner is to mix up some homemade trail mix, with peanuts, dried fruit, and some kind of starch like crackers or pretzels. (I can't eat packaged trail mixes because I'm allergic to so many nuts and fruits.) That way I'll have a high-nutritional-quality snack that requires no preparation or effort. She is all about not letting my blood sugar drop. We both agreed though, that just from the calendar alone I am probably about done with the nausea.

I refused the triple screen test, which potentially tells you if you are at higher risk for fetal abnormalities but also has an astronomical false-positive rate. I explained our reasoning, which is that with my family history of birth defects, we'll want to have a high-level ultrasound regardless of the triple screen results. (My sister was born with her stomach outside her body. Obviously, if the Li'l Critter has the same problem, we need to know in advance because it will completely change our birth plan.) She agreed, had me sign a form stating that I refused the test, and wrote out a prescription for an ultrasound. I'll get the ultrasound done in the last week of October, and then see the midwife on November 1 to have the results interpreted.

We asked about childbirth preparation classes. She said that sometimes the ones offered by hospitals are a problem, because they mostly focus on teaching you how to be a good patient. She recommended an independent course taught by a licensed childbirth educator, and the receptionist gave us some names. It sounds like the big thing in Baltimore is the Bradley Method, but the receptionist warned us that their classes can be pricey. She also said that the standard Bradley course is twelve weeks long, so it's a good thing we're starting our research early.

Comments

[saoba.livejournal.com]

"My God," I said, "there's really a baby!" Then I cried.

What wonderful news!

Sitting here beaming and sniffling in a happy way for all three of you.