When Your Heart Beats Next To Mine

Today I went to the doctor. I was nervous at first, thinking I would be chided for waiting 12.5 weeks until I saw a doctor, but no one was finger wagging. In fact, I got told that I am the "perfect pregnant patient" because I've had so few symptoms of pregnancy (nausea, etc) and that if I had not confirmed it with a trip to the clinic, I'd probably not ever know I was pregnant.

The doctor is this really nice, older gentleman who has a really thick accent. It's kind of hard to understand him at first but he has a great sense of humor once you can figure out what he is saying.

So they did the usual, blood work, urine test, pap smear etc and what not and said that so far, everything was okay. Waiting for results on the pap/blood work but they said they weren't too worried about anything coming up.

I was told that I wasn't getting an ultrasound today, so not to get my hopes up. I wasn't really expecting one, I thought they might have a look since I was so far along, but if they weren't worried, I wasn't worried.

It turns out I got a huge surprise! We got to listen to the baby's heart beat for the first time!


At first the doctor had trouble locating the baby's heart beat with the wand, and I thought I might be "too fat" to hear it but he said since it's so small at this stage generally they have to search for it. I heard it before Brian did. It sounds like a regular heart beat, but much much faster. 165 beats per minute. Brian was grinning really big when he heard it, then his grin disappeared a few seconds later. I thought he might be bored of it already, or irritated we couldn't see an ultrasound, turns out he was just concentrating and thinking of baby things lol

I asked the doctor about whether or not I should gain weight, if it was okay if I didn't gain any weight and just maintained through pregnancy. I told him I was trying to lose weight before but we got pregnant so I'm not trying to anymore. I'm okay with gaining weight if it's necessary, but was unsure of what to expect. He told me that even though I was over weight not to worry about health issues for the baby because I'm a pretty healthy over weight person. If I gained, it would probably be no more than 10 lbs, unless I eat a lot for the hell of it. He also told me that most overweight women he sees don't gain weight, if at all, and that they still deliver perfectly healthy 8-10 pound babies. He said the ones who struggle the most are the "pet-it" (petite) women since they don't have a lot to help them along. They also tend to have more problems since their bodies aren't used to carrying extra weight.

So that's a relief.

It also means... no baby bump for a while for me! Hurray! I won't have to buy maternity clothes! :)

When we were getting ready to go the doctor asked Brian if he had any questions, and Brian said no. He told us that we were both quiet (uh, BOTH of us??) and we didn't ask a lot of questions. I said "he's always quiet. I'm the talker. But I did my research, so I'm pretty up to speed on things." And then I was told again, that I was the perfect pregnant woman! :)

Let's hope it stays that way!

Listening to the heartbeat really brought it all home. It has finally sunk in. It's felt like a mix between a fairy tale and disbelief. I keep waking up every day half expecting to start my period still. But since hearing the little guy's (or girl's) heart beat, it really hit home. WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!! 




The blood work was... interesting. The nurse/technician had some trouble finding my vein in my arm, so she did some wiggling and twisting and turning but finally hit pay dirt. I clenched my teeth and kept my arm as still as possible. It didn't hurt, really, it was just unnerving. I looked away and tapped my fingers on my other hand. She said while I had a good vein it was tricky because it moved a little. I told her that I was okay and not to worry about me :) 4 little vials of blood later, I've got a nifty little hole in my arm and tender-soon to be bruising. Hurray! I was also told that I was a great patient because I didn't tense up, and I didn't flinch, and I stayed calm. Lol so for the record... I'm calm, quiet, and collected to these doctors.... Not how I usually am at all! Loud, hyper, and hyperventilating is more accurate! I wonder what their other patients are like!