Our first taste of worry...

Paul and I have been ob/gyn shopping recently, and yesterday we met with the doctor who's the "keeper". The first ob/gyn that we saw at our 6 week mark was impersonal, couldn't even give us a 50/50 shot that he'd be the one delivering, and ran through his "speech" without even wanting to seem to build any sort of relationship with us. We want the Cliff Huxtable of ob/gyn's, and we finally met him yesterday.

Dr. Marcus came to me via referral, and he's a well kept secret here in Riverside, though multiple people have told me "he's the best of the best". He had numerous 5 star ratings on several different user sites, and from the moment we walked into his office, it just felt right.

Dr. Marcus runs a private practice, which allows him to have a much closer bond with his patients. It's difficult even to get in with him, in fact when we knew we were pregnant mid-May, I called to make the appointment and was told he couldn't accept a new patient until July. That's why we ended up seeing my original doc for the 6 week appointment.

Anyhow, his office and staff are great. Paul and I were in the examining room and Dr. Marcus came in, plopped himself down (he's a big man), and spent almost 35 minutes just hanging out with us. He wanted to know us. He joked with us. He provided good information. He's definitely quirky and I love it.

So here's where the worry part comes in. He examines me (even though my chart had been sent over from my 6 week appt) because he wants to start from ground zero himself. Everything is fine, until he pulls out the doppler to check the heartbeat. My friend Jovita told me earlier that day that hearing the heartbeat is the best feeling in the world, it gives you confidence that everything is going smoothly. That was the moment I was most looking forward to. He asked how far along I was, I told him 13 weeks, based on what my other doc told me and when I thought we'd conceived.

He couldn't find a heartbeat. This man has been practicing for 28 years, and I was worried, because while he didn't tell me there was anything to worry about, he also didn't overly reassure me that everything was "just fine". He ordered an ultrasound for the next day (today) and the past 24 hours have been nailbiters, to say the least.

I don't know what I would have done without my good friend Kymberli. She is the best pregnant friend in the world! She gave me great advice (stop reading too many blogs and boards!) and to realize that every woman's body is different. She's the best. We're twins in another life, for anyone who didn't know :)

Anyhow, we went to the ultrasound today, Paul by my side (what a champ) and we learn that 1)the baby is just fine 2)we hear the heartbeat LOUD and clear, at 156/minute and 3) we were way off in our calculation (and this was based on what the 1st doc had said!) We are actually about 11 weeks 4 days today, not 13 weeks like we thought.

So, this makes a little more sense about why we couldn't hear the heartbeat with the doppler. Sometimes you can't identify the heartbeat until after 12-13 weeks (and sometimes even longer!) so knowing our little one is younger than we anticipated is just fine by us. That means we'll have a full-blown January baby (new due date estimated January 17th) so if we go full term, we won't have Christmas and New Years to worry about!

Worry isn't so fun these days, but hearing that heartbeat IS the greatest moment in the world. Paul squeezed my hand a little more tightly when we heard it, and life is back to being just peachy...