About fetal dopplers

When I was in my first trimester I read somewhere that fetal dopplers
can be reassuring. Some can identify the baby’s heartbeat from as
early as 12 weeks with some pregnant woman stating they could find the
hearrbeat from week 8. The principle is simple: you put some gel or
water on a mini ultrasound machine, press it on your stomach, find the
position where your babies heartbeat is and little to its little hear
beating along at aproximately 160 beats per minute.

Well, if you followed my blog for a while you’ll know how terrified I
was of losing my baby and specifically of have a missed miscarriage,
i.e. not even knowing that the baby died. So of course I went on Ebay
and bought myself a Doppler.

What I didn’t consider was that I had no idea (and couldn’t find any
advice) on how to find the babies heartbeat. The bay is somewhere
between the pubic bone and the uterus… Okay, so somewhere in my belly
– I kind off guessed that. But I couldn’t find the heartbeat for a
long time. I started getting really worried, but the ultrasound came
and went and was well. THEY found the heartbeat. In week 21 I had a
midwife appointment and she used her Fetal Doppler to listen to the
heartbeat. I remembered where she found the heart and tried it at
home. There is was – loud and clear. The machine works, I just don’t
know how to use it properly.

On Saturday (24 weeks now) the baby was very quiet. I thought I
reassure myself by listening to its heartbeat again. I tried the same
spot as before, but these babies are not exactly know for holding
still. She will have grown a lot since then and I also hope that she
might have given up her breach position and is positioned head down.
So the heart could be anywhere by now. I tried, and tried, but I
couldn’t find it. I was really worried because she was so unusually
quiet and I couldn’t find a heart! I kept telling myself that I would
have felt if she had a problem, had some cramps or bleeding…

After a while I decided to have a little chat with her “Hello little
princess. Can you move around a little bit, please? Mummy is worried
because she can’t feel you.” Good little girl that my princess is, she
gave a few quick kicks and then went back to sleep. I felt
indefinitively better. Since then she’s been busy kicking about again
and I am no longer worried.

The Fetal Doppler? I’d love it to work for me, but it doesn’t. I just
am not knowledgeable or intuitive enough to find the little heart or
to know where exactly the baby positioned itself. Therefore it worries
me more than it helps me and I’ll try to stay away from trying it
again. Until next time I try it at least.