20 Week Ultrasound

So it is a ....? Well we know but I think we are keeping it a surprise except for our immediate family. I think that we even have a name picked out and there is still so much time left. I can tell you that we are elated. What are your thoughts of finding out the sex of the baby? If you did find out who did you tell.

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A Scare with a Happy Ending: Fetal Doppler

Monday started out as one of those days that you hope you never have. We had a scheduled appointment with a specialist that we have been seeing after we lost our first pregnancy. The doctor went over all of our tests and things looked like they were going well. He then decided to use the fetal doppler to check for the baby's heart beat. He was unable to find one. I felt our hearts drop and began to think about what happened last time. Not again, I kept thinking. The doctor called the Ultrasound clinic and unable to get us in for an appointment until Wednesday. He indicated that it was still early and that he did not like to use the fetal doppler. The look on his face did not make me feel any better.

I know that waiting until Wednesday was not going to work, so we went down to the ultrasound clinic to see if we could get in any earlier. The lady at the desk said there may be a cancellation. She new what happened last time and told us that she would call us if something opened up, but could not promise anything. She did call a few hours latter and we did get in, I guess I can not complain about our health care system. I still can't believe that we got in. We went into the clinic scared and not sure what to expect. Well........ as they say a picture is worth a million words:



As you can see things worked out. The baby positioning caused us not to be able to hear the heartbeat when using the fetal doppler. We were able to hear the heartbeat during the ultrasound (music to our ears) but do to the positioning they could not determine if we are having a boy or a girl, only time will tell. Life could not be any better. What are your experiences with fetal dopplers?

Ultrasound Pictures

Here are the pictures from our latest ultrasound. We were sure happy to get seven new photos. As of October 18 the ultrasound indicated that the baby is 12 weeks and 1 day old, with a length of 5.6 cm.

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Nervous Moments: No Heartbeat at 10 Weeks

We were both anxious to get back to our jobs after the weekend and the day started off with a beautiful morning, no wind and warm. My wife had a doctor appointment close to lunch to ensure that she could fly out east. Everything seemed to be going well until I got a call from my wife. She told me that the doctor was unable to hear the baby's heartbeat. My heart skipped a beat, I knew that I had to be able to support my wife, but I was in shock. I was sure that this news had to be negative, I thought the worst. We have had some concerns over the last two weeks as my wife had been spotting and very tired. The doctor set up an ultrasound two hours later. I started to panic...

I came home for lunch and thought I would be meeting my wife. She was not at home.. I was concerned and called her at work. She had been given more bad news but not related to the pregnancy. I went to the Internet and looked at how common it is for a doctor to not hear a heartbeat, especially after 10 weeks. For the most part what I found did not look good. A few articles indicated that the baby can shift in the uterus and a heartbeat may not be heard. When my wife finally arrived I showed her all of the good articles I found and excluded the negative ones. I thought I needed to stay positive for both of us, I am reading The Secret right now and it talks about how you have to stay positive and use the law of attraction. I started to think about the day we are blessed with a baby and holding it for the first time. I told my wife to do the same thing. This may sound corny but it did make us feel better.

The wait at the ultrasound clinic seemed to last forever. When we were taken into the room I felt tense and anxious. We did see the baby right away, then I saw it move. We then saw the heart beating on the screen. It felt like the weight had been lifted off my chest. I could see color going back into my wife's face. We then had to wait about five minutes before we were told it looked like everything was all right. Below you will see two pictures of the ultrasound. If you look close you can see arms and feet. What a relief.

After seeing our heart beat of our little gaffer, I knew that all of our other problems were really so trivial. The bad news she got earlier did not seem so bad. The gift of life far surpasses any hardships--which helps to put everything into perspective....I think our little guy/gal will be a great little hide and seeker!!

How common is it for a doctor to not be able to hear a heartbeat but an ultrasound picks it up?

Ultrasound

Today we had our first ultrasound. I was sure excited and scared at the same time. The best part for me was hearing the heartbeat. It is a sound that I will never forget. It really did not hit me that I was going to be a dad I until I drove away from the clinic. Below you will find two pictures. The dotted line in the second picture is our baby! The baby is only 1.64 cm and yet has a heartbeat, that is truly amazing.