The heartbeat

Today was our first midwife appointment. After an hour of chatting and catching up, we finally made it to the bedroom, so I could lay down and she could use the Doppler to try to hear the baby's heartbeat. I'm at nine weeks, so there was a chance we wouldn't be able to hear anything yet.

UberDad found the fundus first. He got pretty good at guessing fundal height correctly during the last two pregnancies. Then the midwife started listening. First she found my own heartbeat, on my side of the placenta. Then, after another minute, came the much quicker pulsing of the baby's heart. Hearing that sound the first time is so exciting! The boys were both in the room to listen, too. In that moment, the pregnancy becomes more than a combination of first trimester physical discomforts. The Baby is suddenly a reality of the current moment, not just an abstract idea or image of the future.

I found out today that one of my best friends is going to have a boy. She has two little girls already, so this was very exciting. We'll see in another two months whether she and I will be keeping our tradition of birthing opposite genders, and can trade all our baby clothes.