Heartbeat

I had a doctor's appointment this morning. Mac went with me. They weighed me and took my blood pressure and a urine sample. Then the doctor asked me how I was feeling and if I had any questions. I mentioned that I've been getting sharp, brief pains in my lower abdomen sometimes when I sneeze or stand up quickly. She said short pains were normal and were just "growing pains" as my uterus expanded.

Then she used a doppler fetal monitor to find and listen to the baby's heartbeat. At first it was hard to find and we could only heart my heartbeat ... then suddenly we could hear this little heartbeat at a much faster rate! 160bpm. I have something inside me that has it's own heartbeat! How weird is that?

Our next doctor's visit is in one month. At that visit we will get the AFP blood test. This test will measure the level of various hormones in my body and tell us if the baby is at risk of having Down Syndrome, a neural tube defect, or another problem. If the test is positive and determines we are at risk, then we will have to have an amniocentesis to determine if the baby really has a problem. At the visit after the next one, we will get an ultrasound - the BIG one - where we can find out the sex!