Baby Beats (18 weeks)

I went to my 18-week prenatal appointment today and as promised, I captured audio with my cell phone (the audio will open in a new window as a Quicktime file).

LISTEN HERE

You can hear us discussing the beats. The first noise is softer, that was my beat - then it gets really loud as she found the baby's beats. As you hear the baby's beats more prominently you can notice interruptions in the beat like someone is hitting the microphone - THAT is the baby moving. We started discussing it because she was surprised that I couldn't feel it. If you turn the volume up you can hear her asking if I felt it or not. I started to tell her that I can feel the flutter-bubbles of the movement but wasn't sure if I'd actually felt the baby move with my hand. This has helped me better understand what I am feeling and what is obviously a movement or not. I have concluded that I have been feeling the baby move around...more and more as the bubble gets bigger. She also mentioned that because I had worked out a lot pre-pregnancy, my abs could hinder my hand being able to feel a kick or whatnot right now.

I love the nurse, Christine, she likes to spend the time and give you that excitement about having a baby. When I told her I wanted to record the heartbeat audio she was all for it and made sure we got a good clip. I apologized for taking up her time and she said,"nonsense, it's not every day you're having a baby!" - I really like the office and attitude of the people there.

Interesting info from my discussion with the Dr:

An episiotomy is not as recommended as it use to be. Latest studies recommend letting you rip (ouch!) rather than jumping at the chance to slice you up. The dr. explained that this was because there is a much greater chance of muscle tissue and nerve damage as opposed to tearing which naturally decides to rip the weakest areas instead of the dr doing a direct cut through everything. She did say that sometimes it is still necessary if it's just not working w/out ripping you completely in half. *lol* She even said it is hard for her to sit back and let it rip (so to say) than immediately make an incision. ok, I know it's gross for you guys that know what I'm talking about.... but interesting all the same.

I was considering a water-birth but my office doesn't offer it, so no big deal I'll go without, it was just a thought. The Dr noted that there is a higher chance for infections and such due to swimming in your stuff post birth. haha. gross.

All grossness aside, everything checked out OK and we're set to fly out Sunday for Europe. By the way, everyone has one more week to place their votes on the gender-poll and the score is ACTUALLY 9 (girls) vs. 6 (boys) as Fiona has not been able to place her vote for some odd reason. You have 1-week from Monday. Robyn finds out this coming Monday. yippee!!