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can you hear me now?


I’m going to tell you a dorky secret, Internet.

I rented a baby doppler.

Just for 2 months, at which point I should be regularly feeling the little Turd bouncing around in my belly, which will calm my recurring fears that something has gone wrong (I’m told I’m not alone in this fear, which is only somewhat comforting to know)

We’ve actually had it in our possession for over a week now and have tried it every couple of days (I’m afraid to use it too much, lest my child be born with some problem and I’ll blame myself for strapping the doppler to my gut just to hear the reassuring ‘glurb glurb glurb’ sounds) The first 2 times I used it, I found a heartbeat right away and was all ‘Yay!’ Then I realized after counting that it was a little too slow to be the baby’s heartbeat- I was listening oh-so-wistfully to my own pulse. DORK. I tried again late last week and this time, I DEFINITELY heard the baby! Much faster, much clearer, and much more elusive. After hearing 5 or 6 beats, I would hear this ‘whooshing’ sound- reminds me of an alien movie or something- then the beats would disappear. Then another ‘whooshing’ sound, and the beats would be back. My guess was that the baby is moving around during the ‘whooshing’.

Today I tried it again, when Dan was home, so he could hear it too. We heard the heart for 2 or 3 beats, and then all we could hear for 5 minutes was A LOT of ‘whooshing’ and movement- that kid is dancing in there! It’s still too early for me to be able to feel it (just a few more weeks, I hope!) but it was definitely cool to be able to ‘hear’ the baby moving in there. It’s also interesting to see how the baby is moving up- 2 weeks ago, the heartbeat was still really low on my abdomen, under my panty line actually. Now it’s at least an inch above there, and I can feel the hardness of my uterus now. Very cool.

I think the weirdest part of pregnancy so far is that I’m just going about my normal life, sleeping, walking, eating, laughing, etc. and the whole time, there’s this absolutely insane and ridiculously amazing thing going on in my body. I almost feel unworthy to be able to do such a thing. ME! Allowed to create a person. Weird.

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8 Comments


  1. Mel

    Oct 9 at 10:07 pm

    Awww..that’s not a dorky secret. I think that’s cool, actually. :) The things they have available are so neat. :)



  2. Sandy

    Oct 10 at 3:57 am

    Wow! I didn’t know contraptions like that existed. I guess hearing baby stories from my mum wouldn’t help – I don’t think she’d be able to comprehend that you can hear your baby’s heartbeat outside of an ultrasound. :) How cool!



  3. Priscilla

    Oct 10 at 10:39 am

    Pregnancy, for me, was the most amazing time. I loved being pregnant, though I never had morning sickness or anything really. The great thing is…it will continue to be more and more amazing and wonderful for you! Enjoy this time as much as you can, I think it is an exciting experience to be carrying a developing baby inside of you!



  4. Melissa

    Oct 10 at 11:00 am

    Totally not dorky. Just a pregnancy worry that I think a lot of people have. I was superparanoid too. Knowing so many things COULD go wrong, I freaked myself out all the time. Like you said, you’re just going about your day while this tiny little human being is growing inside you, and if you can’t even tell they’re IN there yet, how would you know if something went wrong? Even after I started feeling him move around 18 weeks, it wasn’t very often yet (and still hard to distinguish), and I panicked if I hadn’t felt anything for a while. I would count the hours at work until I could go home and lay on my bed with my stethoscope to listen for his heartbeat or movement. In the 7th & 8th months, he was pretty much taking up my entire abdomen (and kicking harder) and he constantly had his feet in my ribs (especially around bedtime when I wanted to sleep), and I could see my stomach move as he moved (which is also kinda alien-like–just wait till you & Dan see that!)… but then in the last month when he was running out of room I didn’t feel him moving as often and so I had my stethoscope out pretty much every day again! Then when my due date passed, by the 10th day after that I was sure something bad happened. Nope. He was just warm & snuggly and didn’t want to come out. :P

    They say you’re supposed to feel 10 kicks in every 2-hr period or something like that, but for me, that didn’t always happen. I felt him moving and kicking a lot, and then sometimes I wouldn’t feel it again for 5 or 6 hours. Maybe it was just too subtle or maybe he was taking a long nap. Some days I felt it more often, some days not as often. But try not to focus too much on all the numbers you read because it will seriously drive you crazy. You will have a perfectly healthy little baby. :)

    P.S. The worrying only gets worse when they’re born. I still check on Oliver now & then while he’s sleeping to make sure he’s breathing. The first time he slept through the night I flew out of bed into his room in a panic, thinking of SIDS–but he was just fine. Now he’s been sleeping 10-12 hrs straight through the night for about 2 weeks (yay!) and I’ve stopped freaking out when I see 7:30 or 8:00 on the clock in the morning–I know he’s fine, so I can sleep peacefully too! :)

    Yikes–Sorry this was so long!!!!!



  5. jadensmommy24

    Oct 11 at 2:00 pm

    I was the queen of FREAK OUT, with the kids. I love to feel a baby kick inside my stomach. I am always in awe of that feeling, it’s so special.



  6. Jenn

    Oct 12 at 11:36 am

    I always wanted a baby doppler for both my pregnancies, but I couldn’t quite convince my husband that it was an “essential”. He thought me feeling the baby move and getting audio confirmation at appointments was enough. Pfft.

    Congratulations on your pregnancy. :)



  7. Jen

    Oct 12 at 11:40 am

    heh, my answer would have been- Who’s carrying this baby?!?!?!!? ;) heehee It’s definitely not an ‘essential’, but I knew my sanity was worth it.



  8. Terri Wells

    Apr 25 at 1:39 pm

    Is it possible to feel your baby’s pulse through your neck?