I saw my baby's heart beat today!!!

Congratulations to you and your wife ebrown!

Ultra sound is the most wonderful thing. Glad everything is okay with mom and baby. I'm guessing...you're expecting your baby to arrive around Valentines Day?

Life truly is a miracle, isn't it?

Congrats, ebrown.

Congratulations ebrown!

Yay!

For those who haven't experienced this, let me explain a bit better.

The technician adjusts the wand while moving clouds swirl around the screen. There are vague shapes, I don't recognize anything in this foreign nebulous landsape. The technician keeps on pointing out anatomical features in a professional voice. I recognize the words, but try as I might, I can't see anything in the mist.

All of a sudden a black oval zips accros the screen. "Oh, thats the gestational sack" says the technician. she quickly adjusts the machine and the black oval stops at the center of the screen. She makes one more adjust and suddenly...

There she is, plain as day! On one side of the black oval is a tiny head connected to a small little body. Under the head is a small throbbing mass. "Is that the heart?" gasps my wife. "Yep" says the technician, "that's it".

The technician pointed out the yolk sack and a couple of other things that I didn't really hear. I was amazed that I was actually looking at the lifeform that I am responsible for.

It is simply the most amazing thing!

Thanks to all for the congrats.

That's great! Congrtulations! How many kids will you have after this one?

When I was pregnant, the tiny sozlet-to-be didn't like the device used to find the heartbeat -- "too cold" was a possible verdict, though that never made sense to me -- and would somersault away from it. Each time it took forever to find her heartbeat, which in turn always stopped mine...

Always been a contrary gal...

I have two wonderful sons, but they already had a few years when I got them.

This is my first birth child.

What I found so astonishing was the deep and profound love I felt for my son from the very start. I first saw him on the sonogram when I was ten weeks pregnant. I gushed and cried and felt a love like I had never felt before.

Wait till you feel him/her kick/move for the first time....WOW!

God Bless and congrats ebrown.

Both my younger cubs were preemies and therefore closely watched.

When we were looking at Seth in utero I asked if it was a boy or a girl and the technician said she couldn't tell because it's hand was between it's legs.

I of course immediately knew that it was a boy, and definitely mine. :wink:

BPB

Aw, ebrown, that's wonderful!

Yeah, the first ultrasound is a stunner. I still have the printout. (They DID give you a printout..?)

My son was born ten years ago, and they gave us a copy of our ultrasound (done at 9-10 weeks) on videotape. MUCH better than a printout...I bet we watched that little heart beat for 40-50 hours!

Soz, I can identify with your experience. Every time the doctor tried to get a heartbeat with a stethoscope, the baby would turn around and kick it. Doctor just laughed and said it was a very strong kick, so it must be a healthy baby! Couldn't have amnio done either (despite all the counseling because it was my first child at age 39.) Seems the placenta grew all the way across the front of my abdomen, and there was no place to insert the needle. (Happens in about 2% of cases, they say. Doesn't make a bit of difference for the pregnancy.) And our insurance wouldn't pay for a second ultrasound, so we had to wait until "it" was born to find out "it" was a boy. (Didn't plan it like that, dammit. I intended to know early!) Like your sozlet, my son was determined to do things HIS way. He spent his first three or four years the same way, too. Then for some reason he calmed down. Now he's very easy to get along with.

I've been to several ultrasounds. I was never part of the child's genetic make up. But, I saw both my neice and my nephew in utero. It is very cool. My sister's oby/gn took a snap of my nephew's scrotum, heehee.

How wonderful for you! I remember those days of ultrasound being the only vision of my child. She is now 3 months old and just as beautiful as ever. Every day , ultrasound or not , is an exciting wonderful reminder of our mortality, love, spirit, and the never ending question of life. Enjoy every bit of it and Blessed Be. :-)

Very cool! Congratulations to you! There is nothing like it in the world. How exciting. I almost wish I could do it all over again.
That's where they get the sounds they use for alien movies, I think!
Do they still make the woman hold a gallon of pee while they do it?

Suzy - I don't think so.....

Ah, progress! That's good, because that part of it was brutal!
It seems like I had my children in the dark ages.