Big scare. Big baby.

Soooo . . . Scott and I had a bit of a scare at our doctor's appointment today.

First, a little background: at our last appointment I was 10 weeks 6 days and although we had a good wait before being called back to the room and being seen by the doctor, it was all worth it when our wonderful OB, Dr. Long, came into the room and found the baby's heartbeat (best sound in the world!) within about 2 seconds of trying with the doppler.

Today, everything was going even better than usual, as we were quickly called back to the room and Dr. Long had knocked on the door before we had even sat down.  As she began to check the fetal heart rate with the doppler, however, things quickly went awry.  I am 14 weeks 4 days and most sources say at this point it should be fairly easy to hear the baby's heartbeat on the doppler.  Unlike last time, however, Dr. Long did not find it within the first 2 seconds of trying . . . or in the next 10 seconds . . . or in the next several minutes of trying and trying some more.  I was desperately trying not to panic and tried to think of a not scary reason for her not finding it, and stuttered out that I had not drank as much water before this appointment, which helps to amplify the sound.   Dr. Long seemed completely unfazed as she gave up and said she would just send us to get an ultrasound.  By this time the panic had most definitely caught up with me, and I think Scott and I were both silently freaking out as she scheduled us for our next appointment, the "big" ultrasound where we can find out the baby's gender, and asked if we had any questions.  Of course, neither of us could think of a single question and just stood there dumbly.   Still completely calm, Dr. Long scheduled us for the big ultrasound on May 5, led us back to the waiting room, and spoke with the front desk clerk about getting us in for an ultrasound to hear the heartbeat we couldn't hear on the doppler.

Unfortunately, for this second go 'round, we were not so lucky to get a short wait, and we sat for a terrifying 40 minutes trying not to think the worst as we waited for the ultrasound tech to call our name.  We were finally called into the ultrasound room and our baby's image quickly flashed onto the screen.  The ultrasound tech's first words after she looked around a bit were to tell me that I could breathe, which was a huge relief as I am pretty sure I had not done that since the doctor told us she was giving up trying to find the heartbeat on the doppler.  She then explained that I had an anterior placenta, meaning my placenta had grown in the front of my uterus and was in front of the baby underneath my belly which created a bit of an extra cushion that the doppler signal had to get through and that the baby had not been in a cooperative position, making it even more difficult, but that everything was ok.   I don't think Scott and I heard much of the explanation, as we were just so relieved to hear everything was good and our little one was ok!  The ultrasound tech then looked around very thoroughly and said everything looked perfect.  She couldn't tell us the sex yet (we definitely asked) but said that our baby looked great and was a very healthy 4 oz, which is definitely large for this week (almost double).

Sorry for the super long ramble but Scott and I have been breathing easier today and are thrilled to have a happy little one, even if it is a little chunky right now (that is just more to love . . . right?)

We are now just counting the days until we are able to find out what it is!