galloping horses?

When I first learned about what a baby's heartrate should sound like, most people said it sounded like galloping horses. When we got our doppler and I began searching for the heartbeat I was looking for that sound. At first I found my heartrate which sounds like "whoosh...whoosh", I knew it was too low to be the babys. After much searching and determination, I finally found the heartrate! It measured a beautiful 160-170 on the doppler. But, I was confused by the sound...it didn't sound anything like galloping horses. It sounds more like "whish, whish, whish, whish." Once I found it, it was unmistakable...definitely the fetal heartbeat. I assumed that it sounded different because I was using an at home fetal doppler, not an official OB one. I was excited for our appointment yesterday because I was looking forward to hearing the much talked about galloping horses. **And, let me just say that because I am a scared infertile who has walked around holding her breath for the past 3 months, it was an amazing reassurance to go into the appointment knowing for certain that we would not be given bad news. That doppler is one of my favorite things I have ever purchased.** I should also say that I am so glad that my appointment was for pregnancy and not for an annual checkup because the waiting room was lined with preggos.

Anyways, after waiting a half hour, we were finally called back. They weighed me...up 2.5 pounds. Took my blood pressure and then had me wait for the OB. My OB is unbelievably cute and perky. She has deep dimples and curly blond hair and a great bedside manner. Once she came in the room, I felt more forgiving about the fact that I was a hungry, sick preggo who just spent 30 minutes in the waiting room with no snacks. She told me that she may not be able to hear the HB as between 10-12 weeks it can be difficult to find. MBL piped up and said that we had found it at home with our doppler. I confirmed that we had been hearing it for the past 2 weeks. She was astonished and impressed! I explained that I was very determined to find it. She then had me lay down so that she could see if she could find it with her doppler. After a few seconds it was there!! She counted and said it was in the high 140s and absolutely perfect. That was awesome news...but even cooler was the fact that when she had the doppler on the baby we heard a few "pops". I thought it was my gut but she said that it was the baby kicking! Oh. my. goodness. My baby is kicking! I would have to say that hearing that was the highlight of this journey thus far. I basically walked around the rest of the day on cloud nine. It was so special for MBL and I to experience that together. Our next appointment will be in four weeks for another weight/HB check and then the "big" ultrasound will be four weeks after that.

But, MBL and I are actually signed up for an early gender ultrasound at 14 weeks 5 days. I know that seems super early, but after all we've gone through I really want to know the gender as soon as I can! Plus, we weren't offered an NT scan, so our next ultrasound wouldn't be until 20 weeks and I really want another peek at our baby. We will be with family for the Thanksgiving weekend and so we plan on doing a gender reveal party, which I think will be super fun. I'm currently debating whether or not I want to find out at the ultrasound or if I want to wait and find out with everyone else. Right now, I am planning on "revealing" the gender with an appropriately colored cake (I don't remember where I heard of this idea, but I know that I got the idea from somewhere...I'm not *that* clever). We will cut into the cake and the coloring (pink or blue) will let everyone know what we are having. I'm getting more and more excited with each passing day...only 10 days until the second trimester!