Week 13: The Doppler Chronicles

For those of you who don't understand the title (I hope none of you do, actually), today was Meredith's 3rd doctor's appointment, marking the beginning of the 13th week of her pregnancy. We went into said appointment expecting to hear our baby's heartbeat, which was interesting because we could only see it on the 9-week ultrasound. The method of hearing the heartbeat was a "Doppler", which is nothing more than a handheld device that looked like a walkie-talkie with a cord attached to a probe. Now upon hearing the word "Doppler", I secretly hoped ABC 33/40 Chief Meteorologist James Spann would show up to facilitate the test and assess the results, but to my displeasure it was just a nurse. She was really nice, though. As she gooped the jelly on the belly and began to probe around, I initially heard a loud "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh", which I naively assumed was the baby's heartbeat; either that, or Meredith's heart had fallen into her abdomen! Shortly after, the nurse said that was Meredith's heartbeat, so I'm glad I didn't speak up. For the next few seconds, she moved the probe around only to pick up what sounded like a tin roof blowing off a house in a tornado, then followed by a "wsh, wsh, wsh" that was much faster and lighter than Meredith's heartbeat. The sophisticated device that is the "Doppler" showed a heart rate of 156-158, which is good, so nothing but good news for us today. I couldn't be more thankful! After the belly probing was done, Meredith had a list of 7 or 8 questions neatly written out and double-spaced (I was so proud) to ask our doctor. We weren't expecting to see our normal doctor, but he popped his head in to say hello, and decided to see us instead of his scheduled appointment! I like to think it was our welcoming aura and irresistible charisma that drew him in, but I think he was actually pleased that Meredith had written down specific questions to ask him. She got a gold star today! To wrap up the appointment, he told us that we should be able to see the gender of the baby in 4 weeks, so we excitedly scheduled the next ultrasound for 4 weeks away. March 10th it is! All in all, the visit couldn't have gone better, and if Meredith is this good of a mommy now, I can't wait to see her in 6 months!

On another note, my parents just added another dog-child to the family. It is an 8-week old Pomeranian who it yet to be named...but I did hear mention of "Boscoe" and "Grizz". With names like that, how could he not be a man?