Hunting the Heartbeat

So one Sunday after the first week of school, I tried eating cottage cheese, again. I made sure it wasn't the first thing I ate that morning, since the other 2 times I threw up, I figured it was because I'd had dairy first thing in the morning (cereal with milk and cottage cheese). So I had breakfast, but was still hungry just prior to church. We go so late (1pm) I figured I better eat something. So I thought cottage cheese should be safe. Wrong! Twenty minutes later I was hurling. Then I thought maybe it's not pregnancy related, because I feel fine when I'm eating it, the smell doesn't bother me, I'm not having to choke it down. It just hits me shortly afterwards, like food poisoning. I knew it wasn't expired, I just bought it, but I checked the date anyway. Maybe it was somehow contaminated. I thought it was too specific to be morning sickness. A few days later it was garbage day, and I decided not to chance it anymore and just throw it out. When I picked up the container, I started to gag. Okay, maybe it's the baby, and she/he must REALLY hate cottage cheese! A week after my first OB appt, (9/11) I decided would be a good time to try hearing the baby's heartbeat again. So I when my bladder was about to burst I asked my freind, Krista Libby, (a night RN) to try to find it. She assured me she could, she said she found her own at, only 9 weeks, and she's fluffy too. Sure enough she did. I counted it at about 140-150 beats per minute (bpm). I was so ecstatic. Unfortunately, I forgot AGAIN, to record it. So the very next night I asked my friend Laura Schoel to listen for me. She couldn't find the hearbeat, and neither could I. I was disappointed because I thought I was far enough along to hear it whenever I wanted. Apparently not! I waited another week, to try again. And on 9/20/13 I found the baby's heartbeat right away, ALL BY MYSELF. And I made a recording. I sent it to Justin's cell phone and told him to play it for the kids, because let's face it, I knew they were still awake at 10:30pm! I asked him what they thought, he said, they were grinning ear to ear. He said at first Cody thought it was an airplane or a helicopter. He said Cameron was worried at first, because he thought something was wrong. My sweet boys are going to be so protective of this baby. It makes me feel so grateful! This time I counted to the rate at about 170 bpm, and the doppler read 168-172. I think the old wives' tale is the faster heartrates are girls! We shall see. (heart rate recording) I just read an article that states at a certain gestational week, (like around 6-7 weeks) the heart is beating at 80-85 bpm. I always just assumed it was always between 120-180. It said that the heart rate then increases by 3 bpm every day until week 17 or so. And that the heart rate can actually be used to help the doctor determine an accurate gestational age. Then after about 17 weeks it slows down a little and remains about that rate until the last few weeks of pregnancy when it may reduce a little more. Fascinating!!! (Photo at 13 weeks - from phone)