Well, unlike Fraser and Hammie, who waited to try to kill me until after they were born, Baby #3 isn't wasting any time. Yesterday I had my appointment with my OB for my first regular pregnancy checkup. Those of you who have been through this recently know that it is standard for the doctor to listen to the baby's heartbeat at each visit. So, after lying there for a few minutes while the doctor waved the goop covered wand around on my belly I started thinking "It has never taken them this long to find the heartbeat before..." Then the doctor says "I can only hear you. I'm going to check if your uterus is tilted, that can make it harder to hear." So he calls in his nurse and she chatters away like a magpie while he checks the position of my uterus (tilted slightly to the right) and checks again. Still nothing. Now I know that isn't good. So after a few more minutes of searching he says to the nurse "I'm not hearing anything. She is going to need another ultrasound."

Among the list of things you really want to hear your OB say, this isn't one of them. Normally it takes about 2 weeks to get an appointment for an ultrasound at my hospital, and as I'm walking out the exam room and trying to imagine living without knowing if my baby is alive for two weeks the nurse comes out and announces that they have just had an ultrasound cancellation for an appointment in 5 minutes, would I like to go now? Hell yes. So I drag both kids and my poor mother's helper Maggie who has been with two screaming kids in the waiting room for 45 minutes already, down through the hospital to radiology. True to their word, I am in the ultrasound room in 5 minutes.

So, the baby is fine as far as we can tell. The heartbeat was 146, perfectly normal, and all the limbs and body parts appear to be where they are supposed to be. I need to wait to hear from the radiologist who will compare this ultrasound with the last ultrasound to make sure the baby's growth is proceeding according to plan. So, as you probably can guess, I'm a bit of a stressed out paranoid mess now, freaking out over every twinge and real or imagined pain. I'm incredibly relieved that the ultrasound showed the heartbeat, but I still can't shake that terrible fear that something is wrong too. Have a mentioned how much I just love being pregnant?