The home doppler...it worked!

Last week I ordered a home doppler...basically you can now rent these things for about $20 per month so you can hear the heartbeat at home. While most normal people would never think about this, women with multiple miscarriages or pregnant after infertility very commonly get them for reassurance that everything is OK between appointments.

Ours arrived today. How apropos given the concerns of the day. J and R stayed after our weekly Bible study tonight to try it out. We all got excited about finding what sounded like the heartbeat until we counted the beats and realized we were probably picking up HER pulse (only about half the rate of the babies at this point in the pregnancy). We couldn't find the babies' heartbeats at all. I actually didn't freak anymore than I already had been all day because they say it can be quite difficult to pick up the heartbeats this early. However, I was well aware that by week 12 (a week and a half from now), they said you should be able to pick up the heartbeat 95% of the time.

So J and R left and a little later R instant messaged B to tell him that they tried it again but lower in the abdomen and picked one up right away with the right heart rate! Then a little later R called because they had found the other one, a little to the "west", also with the same heartbeat they gave us at the clinic. How amazing that this technology is available to us. It certainly is nice to have the reassurance that at least for now everything sounds well. J could even feel movement from one of the babies when they were pressing right where they found the heartbeat!

A lot of people have asked if there will be repeat blood work or anything due to the progesterone drop. The doctor isn't concerned at all so he didn't mention it. He also released us yesterday to the regular OB, with whom we have an appointment on Tuesday so I guess we'll see what they say then. In the meantime I guess we just hope that he is right and bust out the home doppler between ultrasounds to confirm they are still there. I can't imagine a better use of $20 bucks per month right now. :)