NOT AGAIN!

It happened AGAIN.

Regular OB appointment.

Nurse comes in.

Nurse can't find the heartbeat.

I contain rage and anger and horror.

Doctor comes in and says he'll try for a minute but if he doesn't find it he'll just take me to ultrasound as he knows I'm about to jump out of my skin. (As an aside, this is the doctor who saved my life with G, did my D&E, delivered the Bear and who, as far as I'm concerned, walks on water). He plops the doppler on my growing belly and 30 seconds later finds the heartbeat about 4 inches above where the nurse was looking for it.

Relived? Yes.

Amused? No.

I need to hear that whoosh whoosh whoosh of a baby heartbeat or I go to a very, very unhappy place.

Turns out $40 on Amazon will fix that.

Check out the Angel Sounds fetal doppler. I was dubious that it would work so early in a pregnancy but the reviews all suggested that it would work by about 14 weeks and for the money it was worth a shot for the piece of mind.

I added $4 to the Amazon Prime we already have – to have it overnighted – that's just how I decided to roll.

It absolutely need some sort of gel to glide over your skin. I actually ended up using some of the Pure Romance “just like me” lube that we had because, well, it seemed like the right consistency. It worked like a charm. (I do have some actual gel that I ordered with the Angel Sounds thing but I didn't feel the need to overnight it) I found the baby's heartbeat after about five minutes of trying. The machine doesn't give you a reading of the heart rate itself - you just hear that lovely sound that lets you know the baby is still there.

I've had it for about a week now... and believe it or not, I don't use it every day. There's no time for it during the day – and at night I'm busy or exhausted or both. I do love knowing I can check in whenever I want on the little lemon (current estimated size of the baby) and get the piece of mind I need to be comfortable.

Also, since I figured out how to do it in about 30 seconds – what exactly is the problem with the nurses at my OB's office?  I am going to go with "overworked" as opposed to "lazy" as I'd like to give the benefit of the doubt.  Clearly though, they need another doppler-operation seminar!