Had our first prenatal today...and we heard a heartbeat :joyLO is snuggled in there, lower left, it took a few tries to find it, but that sound was music to my ears!!
Its also really nice this time around because I had so few questions that the appointment felt really relaxed. We'll see how my progesterone looks next week ...
I went to my appointment today, everything looked great, baby's HR was 145 BPM. I've been having a lot of round ligament pain but I didn't remember it this early with my first son. Anatomy scan is March 13th, we hope to find out Boy (Sullivan) or Girl (Rosemary) so I can begin making special blankets and other name related crafts. I have a feeling it's a boy for some reason.
I'm so excited to hear all of the appointment updates. We have our first appointment with a midwife in two weeks. We're waiting because we only use the fetoscope/stethoscope and it doesn't detect as early, but I'm getting really ready to try and listen. I can't wait to feel baby move!
@aillidh08 so glad to hear everything looked great!! Thats wonderful news. I've also been getting a lot more round ligament pain this time (I remember having some last time, but much later and less intense!!) That's so exciting that your anatomy scan is coming up so soon!!! @~Chava~ how cool that you wait till you can use fetoscope/stethoscope!! How many weeks roughly is the heartbeat audible using those? I remember asking my midwife last time if we could try with a fetoscope, but it just never happened, I can't remember why. You're inspiring me to try that again this time!! I also can't wait to feel movement, and for DS to be able to feel it - I bet its going to blow his mind!
@FyerFly I think 12 weeks is when it becomes audible? It's easier for some midwives than others to find the heartbeat that way. They have to develop the skill. The midwife we hired for this birth uses it by default! I'm so excited. The midwife team we had for the recent two babies were not always able to find it easily. Sometimes they would have the more skilled one take over.
The background story is that I switched to home birth with my fifth pregnancy and it took so long to settle on the decision and care providers that we were 4.5 months along at that point. I had felt great, so I wasn't worried. The baby was moving well and I could feel him too. When the midwife went to use the doppler he literally ran away from it and she could not find him for a few minutes. He was always calm and gently flowing in my womb, but when she placed the doppler monitor on my belly he really flipped. She had to go back and forth and I could feel him jerk from one side of my belly to the other. I decided that day to never use it again and really read about ultrasound technology for the first time. He may have just been particularly sensitive, but it motivated me to do more research about the technology to make an informed decision. This article was helpful in researching: http://sarahbuckley.com/ultrasound-scans-cause-for-concern What I read, combined with my experience is why I don't even have a scan by default either during pregnancy. I had no ultrasound scans with my fifth and sixth babies.
@~Chava~ fascinating!! That is so interesting that baby #5 reacted so strongly to the doppler. I also had the feeling last week that my little guy or gal was trying to hide or get away from it!
I will definitely read the article you shared. I've also read a bit about the potential (largely under-researched and not understood) risks of ultrasound technology, and just generally feel good about limiting it to the greatest degree possible. At this point I'm open to the anatomy scan halfway through, but we'll see how things shape up.
@FyerFly It was a lot of changes for me all at once the gestational year my fifth was born! I had researched very little and gone with the flow. I had always been unsatisfied with my experience, but not enough to motivate me to really really own my experience until my fourth birth. That birth was a real eye opener!
"...there are not any studies that prove its safety. Ultrasound has been around for such a relatively short amount of time, that we do not have data on long-term effects. We are basically conducting a population-wide experiment in ultrasound safety...It has been said that the baby hears sound the equivalent of a freight train during an ultrasound and we know that they will move away from the transducer."
This is what happened with my son in a very dramatic sort of way!
Had our first actual prenatal appointment with the midwife yesterday. I had saw the heartbeat on the ultrasound when I found out I was 12 weeks, but it was so reassuring to hear it. She asked if I had felt any movement yet, but I don't think I have which kind of worries me. I'm only just over 15 weeks, but this is my forth so I am hoping I start to feel her/him any day now.
@mrsbonjangles yay for hearing the heartbeat!!!! That has got to be one of the greatest sounds in the world.
That's interesting about movement -- I'm almost 14 weeks and have also been wondering when I'll start to feel the baby. I've felt teeny pings and flutters, but I'm not entirely sure if those have been the baby or just gas or something else (they're also extremely few and far between-- like once or twice a week). Will be sooooo nice to start feeling more regular movement! I hope you will soon.
I have the same! Midwife said that it impacts everyone differently; some people feel baby just as early but many don't. She also said it's common to not feel much until closer to 20 weeks. I felt DS earlier than that but I'm 17 weeks and have the occasional flutter which could be baby, could be something else all together.
Today's OB appointment went well, aside from waiting a while -- occupational hazard I'm guessing. Heartbeat heart <3 He mentioned genetic testing, but was fine when I said that we weren't going to do it. SUCH a relief after the last practice where we had to tell them no multiple times at multiple appointments! I told him if we have a baby with DS or SB then we have a baby with one of those conditions. It's not going to make a difference for us with continuing the pregnancy. It just means we'll have to adjust to a child with special needs
So I just got a call from the OB office -- due to a heart condition that popped up and was diagnosed last year they ordered a baseline EKG. They just called saying that I was borderline and my OB wanted me to get in touch with my cardiologist as soon as I could... but I don't have details beyond the EKG being "borderline" :-/ I should note that when I saw the cardiologist I told him that we were looking at getting pregnant within the next year and asked specifically IF this was something I needed to be worried about. OY!
@justlizzy that sounds stressful. What does an EKG measure exactly? A lot of things? Do you have a sense of what you might need to do if you have to do anything?
We have our next appointment tomorrow, and like you mentioned about your last one, I definitely have the pre-appointment jitters. My anxiety has been infinitely lower this pregnancy than my first, but I'm still not feeling much of any movement (even though I'm pretty sure I felt DS by this point last time), so I'm just anxious to hear the heartbeat again. And I'm also a little bummed that I've gained a bit more weight than I'd like to by this point. My diet is definitely not what it should be!!
@justlizzy I'm sorry to hear that. I had a heart problem diagnosed last year as well and was able to have a surgery that resolved the problem. It had become debilitating. I feel completely normal now, but terrified that it will come back. The whole thing was so dramatic for my whole family. I'm wondering now if I should check in with my cardiologist for good measure. We saw them when I was about a month pregnant. I had the surgery one week before conceiving. That was not entirely anticipated, so I've had very little time for processing. I have had very little time for posting lately, but I'm following and want to let you know that my thoughts are with you. I hope the cardiologist will help you to manage it and that it doesn't become an issue for you.
@~Chava~ so glad your surgery was successful. It does sound really hard not to have much time to process something like that before jumping into this pregnancy.
Had our second prenatal today, and it went very well. We talked about the need for (or not) an anatomy scan, and I'm fairly certain we've decided not to have one. Its kind of a cool feeling, to be comfortable with the unknown! We did use a doppler today (LOVE that little heartbeat sound! And our heartbeats were kind of commingling at one point, almost echoing each other, which was so sweet!), but I asked if we could try the fetoscope next time around. Should be fun! I also borrowed a book from my midwife's library called Lessons of Labor and I'm looking forward to diving in.
@FyerFly -- hearing the heartbeat is probably my favorite part of the the appointments :love
I had a follow up with my insurance company's Healthy Pregnancy Program nurse (they reward you with a $100 gift card for completing it) and she said that it's not uncommon for my condition to be MORE noticeable during pregnancy due to the increased blood volume, but it's also common that OBs are overly cautious about it. I suppose we'll just play the waiting game for now.
@FyerFly I felt the same way too! I hope you hear the heartbeat with the fetoscope! @justlizzy I'm hoping it doesn't cause any issues! Best of luck with the waiting game!
Had a good follow up this morning. Surprise surprise, we're measuring ahead! I'm 17w+5 and my uterus is measuring 22 weeks already! With DS I consistently measured anywhere from 3 to 7 weeks ahead and they were predicting he was 10lbs at 38 weeks (he came out a healthy 8lbs 12oz). Anyway, we're going to monitor the growth and hopefully we have a chance at the VBAC.
The big look is in three weeks! I'm excited to see this little one.
@FyerFly, I'm still researching the GD test. Diabetes and insulin resistance run in my family and I've been borderline before so maybe it makes sense to do the test for me personally. Last pregnancy, I drank a bunch of orange juice before getting my blood drawn. My current midwife has suggested I do the finger prick tests over a series of days. She says that will actually give us a more accurate read on my numbers and help trouble shoot if there are any problems. Curious to see what others are planning to do!
I'm hoping I can have an alternative to drinking the syrup for the GD test - I threw it up last time, or see if my doctor is open to keeping a food log and monitoring this time.
Side note -- does anyone else find it somewhat weird that they wait until more than half-way through your pregnancy to test for GD? Wouldn't it make more sense to look at this sooner since there are some serious complications that can result?
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