Thump, Thump, Thump

Last week I ordered a fetal doppler so that Justin & I could hear the baby's heartbeat at home whenever we want. I had it sent to my office so that someone would be there if it required a signature -- big mistake.

I had been waiting for a week and tracking it's travels as much as 3 times a day. On the day UPS said it was out for delivery I was so excited I could hardly stand it. It arrived while I was in a meeting, so I didn't see it until about 3:30, which was probably a blessing in disguise because the hour and a half between then and 5:00 when I was able to go home was the longest 90 minutes I've experienced in a long time!

I finally made it home and luckily Justin was off early that day, so he was able to be home when I tried it out. After reading the instructions on the way home (don't worry, I carpool so I wasn't driving and reading at the same time!) I was sure I'd have no problem using this miracle instrument.

NOT.

It took me about 10 minutes to figure out what exactly it was I was hearing until I found the heartbeat. Finally after some adjustments with the volume and amount of lotion we finally heard it. And just as quickly it was gone again. It's thought that the waves emitted by the doppler sounds similar to a helicopter to the baby, so if it is awake it will likely try to get away from it until it gets used to it.

So almost every day since then I have tried to hear the heartbeat and one night I was able to find it right away. To my surprise our little one didn't run away! I have a feeling that baby was sleeping, because I was able to hold it long enough to call my sister Amanda and let her hear it through the speaker. It was amazing.

This morning I hadn't felt many kicks in a little while so I thought he/she might still be asleep, so I tried again. Well baby was awake, but I was still able to get some good rhythms,, albeit only for a few minutes.

Here are a couple I recorded. (Don't mind the very beginning. It's me adjusting the microphone to the phone so you could actually hear it.) You might need to turn up the volume because it's kind of low.

Audio 1

You hear the heartbeat loud and strong at the beginning, then a little lighter as I am chasing baby around with the sensor.

Audio 2

You hear the baby's heartbeat pretty consistently until about halfway through until what I think is my heartbeat gets picked up too.