Hi Moms! you may know I recently posted about not having fetal movement. I am only 16 weeks and altho I am slender and this is my third child, I know now that it is normal to not feel movement yet anyway. Actaully I thought i felt it Friday but nothing since and maybe i was wrong. My doctor let me come in today, a little early to reassure me with the fetal doppler. She searched and searched for that heartbeat but it just sounded SO empty. It took FOREVER! I was about to have a heart attack and my boyfriend had tears in his eyes...THAT LONG. But finally she seemed to find it. She said the heartbeat was 140 and that mine was 90 (my heart felt like it was racing by then). However the sound was so faint it sounded just like my own heartbeat to me. I askedher for reassurance that she definitely thought that was the baby and she said, "Yeah, I am pretty sure." That sounded good enough to my boyfriend but left me with nagging doubts. I am just so stressed this pregnancy because I had bleeding early on and was sure I would miscarry and I am still getting cramps...altho to be fair i guess it could be gas. So, have any of you experienced a fetal doppler session like this? I know I am paranoid but I worry that the doc wasn't sure but said so just to ease my mind... she wouldn't do that tho right? I'm just being a worrier?
I would think that if there was ANY concern about the fetus, they would have ordered an ultrasound......
I think you can rest easy....
My friend had a similar experience and was wondering why she rarely felt the baby move. At her ultrasound it was discovered that her placenta was to the front of her uterus, so it was much more difficult to feel the baby move until she was much farther along.
I seriously can't believe they didn't give you an ultrasound for peace of mind. My third was usually hard to find until the 3rd trimester, and if it took more than 5-10 minutes of looking, they would just do an ultrasound. Did you tell the OB about the cramping?
I think Robyn had an excellent point. It depends a lot on where your placenta is...for both feeling the baby and hearing the heartbeat. Women that have a placenta running along the front uterine wall tend to feel the baby about 2 weeks later than women who have it along the back wall. The baby needs to get that much stronger to kick hard enough so you feel it through the placenta.
Then, as far as the OB listening to the hb, if the placenta is along the front wall then the baby is more along the back of the uterus, which is farther from her Doppler device making it more difficult to find. Don't worry about it being faint vs loud, what matters is the heart rate and 140 is wonderful. If yours was 90 bpm then 140 HAD to be the baby's. Your baby is totally fine. Stop worrying! :)
140 bpm is amazing, congrats! It doesn't matter how loud or faint it is, the BPM (beats per minute) is what matters. You're a worrier, but most of us are :) I was a nightmare!
I have a tilted utereus and could not hear the heartbeat with either of my children that early on. Both times they had to do an internal ultrasound to catch the heartbeat. If they thought there was none they wouldn't just let it go.
Totally understand stressing - I did through both of my pregnancies. I have a tilted uterus and with both my kids, the doctor ALWAYS had a hard time finding the heartbeat with the fetal doppler. Hang in there, and enjoy the next ultrasound. Good luck!
=)
Are you a larger woman? I have extra cushion, and with my second baby, his heartbeat would be faint on the doppler depending on his position.
Like the others said, if the Dr had doubts, she would have likely scheduled an ultrasound...
I have a fetal doppler at home and it has a volume level on it. it might have sounded faint to you because the dr. didn't have it turned up. also, if the baby is turned away, especially early on, it can be hard to find. if the doppler measured the heartrate at 140, that is good. again, the volume isn't very relevant as far as i know. when i would listen at home, some days it would be harder to find than others, and sometimes i couldn't keep it for more than a second or two because baby would probably move.
also, it is very normal to feel the baby move and then not for a few days, even up until the early 20's (weeks). they are small and light and not too strong at that point, so you are only feeling the strongest movements. if you are that worried, just call up and ask to come in to hear again.
No doctor would tell you they heard a heartbeat just to make you feel better. If there was anything wrong, they would tell you.
I'm having a lot of cramping with my second pregnancy and the doctor told me it had to do with how fast I was growing. I am growing a lot faster than with the first causing a lot of strong painful cramping. Everything is fine. I've also sat for a very long time as they tried to find a heartbeat. Everything turned out just fine. A doctor wouldn't say everything is fine if it isn't, they have nothing to gain. They would ask for an ultrasound if there was a problem.
My doctor never used those because they are damn near impossible to find the heartbeat early on. A couple times he would be optimistic and then go, this isn't going to work and grabbed the ultrasound wand. There would be the healthy baby. I used to give him trouble, do you wear that for decoration?
