4th Prenatal Check-Up/Exam


	4th Prenatal Check-Up/Exam February 14, 2001

Today I had my 4th Prenatal Check-Up/Exam. For the first time, I was able to listen to my baby's heartbeat. It took the Doc a while to find the heartbeat and I thought that something was wrong. So I asked him if the baby is there and he said that since the baby moves a lot, it is hard to find it sometimes. Eventually we did get to hear the heartbeat and it was sooooo fast. He said that the baby's heartbeat is 2 times what the mother's is.

I told the Doc that I am concerned about the weight of the baby. I was in a prenatal education class with 3 other women and all of them were 3 1/2 months pregnant. Well, so was I but they were HUGE. At 18 weeks, I am still not as big as they were at 3 1/2 months. He asked me if these women had babies before and I told him that one of them has and the other 2 hasn't. He felt my stomach and pointed out where my Uterus is and said that the Uterus is in the right spot. It is close to the belly button and at the 20th week, I think he said, the Uterus should be at the navel. So, he said not to worry and that since this is my first pregnancy, I probably won't gain as much weight as other women who have had more than one child. He said that generally, not in all cases of course, that women who are having their first child don't get as big as they will with later pregnancies. He told me that when I get pregnant with my next child, that I will get bigger and I will get bigger faster. I am really not that big at all. I just hope everything is ok.

I also told the Doc that I think that I have been feeling the baby move. Actually, I can feel it a couple times a day. He said that for 1st time pregnancies, the mother usually feels the baby move in the 18th week. He said that women with prior pregnancies can feel movement much earlier. So, she/he has been tapping me a couple times a day for the last 2-3 days or so. It doens't happen a lot and because it happens only a few times, I really notice it.

I was sent to have some blood work done. He is doing a Triple Marker Scan to check to see if an Amniocentisis needs to be performed. It is a voluntary test and he recommends it to everyone. I don't know for sure what this Scan looks for or how much it can tell but he said if the results come back normal, then he is around 98% sure that the baby will be normal..they can't tell me 100% because I don't think any kind of test like this can detect 100%. If the test comes back abnormal, then I will be scheduled for an Amniocentisis. I really don't want to have one of those done because I KNOW it is going to hurt pretty bad...just the thought of it hurts...but, if they say I need one, then I guess I will go through with it. They said that I will get a call about the test only if the results are abnormal. I haven't heard anything yet but they may not have done the scan so we will see what happens.

Since I will be in my 20th week in 2 weeks, he set me up for an Ultrasound and this time I will get a picture of the baby. When they do this ultrasound, they will be looking to see if the organs are forming how they should be. They are going to do a profile of the baby. I can't wait to get a picture of the baby.

Today was a pretty good day. I got to hear the hertbeat for the first time and it was pretty amazing. I will update this site after I have the ultrasound performed on Feb 28, 2001. My next appt. with the Doc is on March 15, 2001 and I will also update the site after that appt. as well.

Thanks for coming by!