Most recent visit

On Monday we had another appointment with the midwives. Currently, I see the midwives every four weeks for what is basically a check up. They take my weight, blood pressure, answer any questions we have, inform us of any test results that have come back since the last appointment and THEN (!!!!) we get to listen to Baby C's heartbeat via the doppler (it's like a mini microphone they hold on my tummy- it makes me want to karaoke but I refrain.).

Yesterday, the midwife we had was Courtney, who we actually saw for our very first appointment at the beginning of November. As soon as she put the doppler on my stomach, we heard the heartbeat- Baby was apparently right there waiting to be heard. As we were listening to the heartbeat, we heard this "blurp!" and Courtney said that was a fetal movement and something (an arm, a leg?) was "whizzing by" the microphone. The last time we heard the heartbeat in December, it took the midwife a couple minutes to find it, which was not unusual, particularly because it was on the early side to hear it. The heartbeat was around 150 beats per minute. The first time it was 169 beats per minute. Some people say you can guess the gender based on the rate of the heartbeat. Basically, everything I've read has said this is bunk. Plus- which measurement do you use? Courtney let me know it varies of the course of the pregnancy as the baby gets bigger so I'm not sure how you really apply this gender prediction idea.

Speaking of gender, we've basically decided to not find out. I say basically because I have a strong desire to both know and to be surprised. Obviously both cannot happen. Charlie is falling more on the side of not knowing so that seems to be the consensus. Our "big ultrasound" (where we could find out the gender if we wanted to) is scheduled for February 8th. I can't wait! We haven't seen the Baby since 7 weeks in which he/she looked like a few little bubbles (see previous post). During this ultrasound they take lots of measurements to make sure everything is developing normally so we get a nice long look at Baby C. I'll be 19 weeks for this ultrasound and Baby C will look very much like a real human baby.