Baby's first Picture

Baby's first Picture

April 24th was a big day that I had been looking forward to since the end of March when I found out I was pregnant.  Because my cycles were so unpredictable we were slightly unsure of just how far along I was. My doctor thought it would be best to go ahead and due an ultrasound to accurately date the pregnancy. 

Dave took off work early, and luckily I got out early that day so we were both able to make it.  We even had time to grab a quick bite to eat at Applebees before the appointment.  I really should say that Dave grabbed a bite to eat because the smells in that restaurant were terrible and made me want to get sick.  I ordered broccoli and apple sauce, but unfortunately the broccoli had to much garlic and the applesauce was to sweat, so I didn't really eat anything.  

Once we were at the appointment I was so excited.  I was pretty certain that I was 8 weeks at this point and of course I had looked up all sorts of pictures of what an 8 week old baby looks like on ultrasound and was excited to get to see our baby.  When my name was finally called the lady ushered us back to the ultrasound room and put the probe on my belly.  I was confused because this is not how I was told the ultrasound would be done and I knew that transabdominally the picture would not be that good.  She quickly said "there is your baby and its heart rate is 186, which is to high."  She took some more measurements and checked the heart rate a minute later and said it was still to high.  She then told us that we were not 8 weeks but actually only 6. This was especially devastating to me because it meant even more weeks of feeling nauseated. She quickly printed us some pictures and then ushered us out the door. 

As we were walking out of the office I was overcome with a since of disappointment.  Everyone had told me how magical this moment would be and to be honest it just wasn't.  The picture didn't look like anything, we didn't even get to hear the heartbeat and on top of that I was told it was to high and there was nothing I could do about it.  Dave and I went back to my parents house and I desperately tried to find the heartbeat myself with a Doppler I came across ;).  Dave hung around for awhile but I couldn't find it and as the time went on I was getting more and more upset.  He just kept telling me that I should be happy that it had a heartbeat at all.  I know he was right, but at the time this just wasn't good enough.  About a half hour after he left I finally found the heartbeat and called him.  I was so happy to hear it that I called everyone, even my parents who were in Europe so they could hear it.  

The next day I asked one of the OBGYN's at work about the heartbeat being "to high." She said it was fine for as far along as I was and I shouldn't worry.  This made me feel so much better.