Great Expectations: Liz @ 14 Weeks

The fog has lifted!  I’m on my way back to normal (as normal as a pregnant woman can feel.)  After one final week of ridiculous nausea, I’m feeling much better.  The fatigue seems to have diminished and has returned to my usual level of mom-doula-wife fatigue. I am hopeful that I have turned a corner and will finally be able to eat foods that have slightly more nutritional value than spiral-shaped macaroni and cheese.

Since my uterus is tipped backwards, the baby’s heartbeat has been previously undetectable with the midwife’s handheld doppler.  We were hoping that it would be this week and had explained to three very excited kids that we might be able to hear the baby at my check-up the other day.  However, no one could have anticipated what happened when my midwife put the doppler to my belly. After the usual few seconds of static, the sounds of a truck driver on a CB radio began emanating from my uterus!  The looks on the children’s faces were priceless, and the midwife remarked, “Mmm, that’s never happened before!”  After a solid 20 seconds of trucker talk, she was able to pick up the right frequency again, and finally we heard the familiar thumping of a baby’s heart.  Needless to say, I was a bit skeptical that it was actually my baby after the major technological glitch, but it was still a fabulous sound.

I’ve also been reassured by the tiny little movements that I’ve been feeling lately. After over a week of ruling out gas, and discovering that there is a pattern to the movements (usually after a big sneeze, which is happening a lot lately, or eating a meal), I am convinced that it’s definitely my little nugget squirming around in there.