Heartrates -- for fun ;) « Back to Group Discussions

[CountryMommy]

So my baby had a heart rate in the 160s at my 16 week appt! Old wives tale would suggest GIRL but both my sons heart rates were high in early pregnancy and were usually in the 120s at term so I am not using this as a gender indicator, just for fun :)

What have your babies heart rates been so far and how far along are you?

[zeeohee]

Mine was 136 at 13 weeks, which fits my boy suspicions if the old wives are to be trusted ;)

[Eilis]

Ooh I have a story about heart rates! At my midwife appointment yesterday, she could not get a heartbeat on the doppler despite about 10 minutes of trying. She reassured me that it was likely due to my tipped uterus and in addition to her calmness, I just had a feeling that everything was OK.

The midwife was going to order an ultrasound, but then the senior midwife came into the room to give it a try herself. (I think she privately expressed worries to the senior midwife even though she was projecting calm to me.)

Senior midwife also couldn't find a heartbeat after 5 minutes so said, let me try something a bit different. She rotated my uterus with her hand (getting pretty personal, but it didn't hurt at all) and somehow by internally tilting it forward, was able to get the heartbeat! And it was 150! And then she started crying because she was so relieved for me. So that was all kind of unexpected and cool! Even though I usually freak out at the least bit of potentially bad medical news, in this case I was really calm because I just had that feeling everything was OK.

When I got home I googled it and lots of people with tipped uterus at 13 weeks or so reported similar issues w/doppler.
 

[talldarkeyes]

At 13 weeks it was 157 so according to that I will be having a girl. If I remember correctly my dd's heart rate was in the 150's and 160's as well. I will know in a few weeks! I get to schedule my anatomy ultrasound next week! I am hoping for Valentines day.

[skycheattraffic]

I don't have any measurements for this pregnancy yet but DD's heart rate always hovered right around 140 - right in the middle! It's like she knew we were keeping her a surprise and did her best to remain mysterious. Along those lines, she was super squiggly for her anatomical US and we had to go for a second scan to finish the measurements. I'm curious to see what this little peanut will do.

[Tenk]

Of the 4 girls I've delivered, all of them were 160+ at 12 weeks (this is when I've found this OWT to be most accurate)

Of the 4 boys I've carried this far, all of them have been around 135-140 at 12 weeks .... I'm assuming this one is a boy based on last weeks ultrasound but could still turn out to be a girl I suppose.
 

[zeeohee]

Originally Posted by Eilis 

Ooh I have a story about heart rates! At my midwife appointment yesterday, she could not get a heartbeat on the doppler despite about 10 minutes of trying. She reassured me that it was likely due to my tipped uterus and in addition to her calmness, I just had a feeling that everything was OK.

The midwife was going to order an ultrasound, but then the senior midwife came into the room to give it a try herself. (I think she privately expressed worries to the senior midwife even though she was projecting calm to me.)

Senior midwife also couldn't find a heartbeat after 5 minutes so said, let me try something a bit different. She rotated my uterus with her hand (getting pretty personal, but it didn't hurt at all) and somehow by internally tilting it forward, was able to get the heartbeat! And it was 150! And then she started crying because she was so relieved for me. So that was all kind of unexpected and cool! Even though I usually freak out at the least bit of potentially bad medical news, in this case I was really calm because I just had that feeling everything was OK.

When I got home I googled it and lots of people with tipped uterus at 13 weeks or so reported similar issues w/doppler.
 

Eilis, I had similar issues, including worried midwives! I got an ultrasound because my tipped uterus (and, as it turns out, anterior placenta) made for a lot of difficulty with the doppler, so I had two weeks of total freakout mode waiting for the u/s (midwives don't have a machine in-office, and I didn't want to pay for emergency room visit) So glad it turned out well so quickly for you!

[Eilis]

Originally Posted by zeeohee 

Eilis, I had similar issues, including worried midwives! I got an ultrasound because my tipped uterus (and, as it turns out, anterior placenta) made for a lot of difficulty with the doppler, so I had two weeks of total freakout mode waiting for the u/s (midwives don't have a machine in-office, and I didn't want to pay for emergency room visit) So glad it turned out well so quickly for you!

Wow - 2 weeks is a long time to worry! Yes, I felt lucky when she did the midwife ninja thing with her hand, because I was anticipating to have to wait for an ultrasound appt too.  Tell me more about anterior placenta - was that an issue that remained throughout your pregnancy and did it affect the delivery?

[CountryMommy]

Eilis, that is so neat! I am glad you got to hear the heart rate! I have a tipped uterus too and out of my 3 pregnancies, none of my OBs never found the heart rate with the doppler at 12 weeks.

[CountryMommy]

I had anterior placenta with baby #2 and I suspect I might again, this time around as well. Other then feeling baby move/kick later then with my first baby, that pregnancy was very much the same until delivery. My first baby was delivered normal presentation but my second baby (anterior placenta) stayed posterior the WHOLE labour no matter what positions I laboured in. I think he was stuck in that position because of the anterior placenta. The ultrasound tech I saw during that pregnancy said that a possible complication from anterior placenta is that if they have to do a C section, they have to be extremely careful where they cut as not to cut the placenta but anterior placenta is fairly common and not a huge deal.

[CountryMommy]

Now I am curious if there is a correlation between tipped uterus and anterior placenta..anyone know?

[zeeohee]

Originally Posted by Eilis 

Wow - 2 weeks is a long time to worry! Yes, I felt lucky when she did the midwife ninja thing with her hand, because I was anticipating to have to wait for an ultrasound appt too.  Tell me more about anterior placenta - was that an issue that remained throughout your pregnancy and did it affect the delivery?

It was actually just a week ago that I got the u/s and found out everything was fine, so...still pregnant with my first. :) Anterior placenta just means that it's attached to the front wall of the uterus, in my understanding...not actually a problem of any kind, but just another layer to try and get the Doppler waves through. 

[zeeohee]

CountryMommy, that would be interesting info...maybe it's easier for the fertilized egg to attach on the front for us tipped-uterused folks because the back of the uterus is farther away? Hmmmm.....

[here we are]

I didnt think to pay attention to the heartrate at my app. If you all convince me this tale is true, i may start to believe it! I wonder in what cases it changes &why.: Or if youre stressed, doesnt that make babys heartrate also change? I think i heard it at my 13wk app, now i want to hear it all the time, like right now

[SunnyMuffin]

Heard it tuesday at my first midwife appt, it was 160.  It wasnt actually that exciting because I bought a doppler online that came in the mail just the day before and I already tested it out.

I'm 13 weeks

[Eilis]

Originally Posted by zeeohee 

It was actually just a week ago that I got the u/s and found out everything was fine, so...still pregnant with my first. :) Anterior placenta just means that it's attached to the front wall of the uterus, in my understanding...not actually a problem of any kind, but just another layer to try and get the Doppler waves through. 

Thanks! That is interesting info.

[ChelseaKell]

Mine was 161 at my 8 week appointment and 168 at my 12 week. I have anterior placenta too, but no tipped uterus. My doc couldn't find it with the doppler at the 12 week either, so she did another ultrasound and I got to see my squirmy babe kicking me around instead

[InLove2009]

My 13 wk appointment was 146 bpm. So I guess we are still guessing about a boy or girl. But, let me just say how amazing it was to hear the baby!!!! It's all I can think about now...

[rainbownurse]

mine was 162 at my ultrasound, but I had a really vivid dream (although I always have vivid dreams) that it was a boy last night. 

[Eilis]

Originally Posted by rainbownurse 

mine was 162 at my ultrasound, but I had a really vivid dream (although I always have vivid dreams) that it was a boy last night. 

Cool! I have an intuition that mine will be a boy, and since we're not planning to find out prior to birth, we'll be testing my intuition!

Biologically it's already determined - exciting!