8 Week Gift

At our 8 week appointment we were told there was a small chance we might be able to hear the baby's heart beat if we were lucky, but if not - not to worry. Like everything else so far, I just knew we would hear it because I knew it was beating.

I laid back on the table, with MJC at my side and we (MJC, me and Rachel the ultrasound technician all looked for the flicker on the screen). "There's the heart beat," Rachel said. "Give me just a second and we'll be hooked up to Doppler. 

Suddenly the room filled with the most amazing warmth, the steady drum of 160 beats a minute coming from that tiny flickering speck that is our baby's heart. It was like sound of a washing machine sloshing, or a wild cat growling, or galloping horses, or some sort of alleged recording of communication from outer space. My eyes filled with tears, not with sentimentality, but with the overwhelming proof that this little life that changes me every day, but that I can't yet feel is confirmed. It's actually there. Nothing could knock me down from the high that I felt from that delicious sound..

From Wiki Answers: How soon can you detect a baby's heartbeat?

Detecting a Heartbeat

The baby's heart beat can be seen on an ultrasound at around 7 weeks, and if you are very slim MAY be heard on a doppler from 9 or 10 weeks. Here is more advice and input: * Most Heartbeats can be heard by 15/16 weeks. * My doctor wasn't able to hear my babies until I was about 3-4 months pregnant. * It is most generally possible to begin to hear the baby's heart beat at the beginning of your second trimester, however sometimes it is possible to hear it a couple of weeks before or after these daytes as well. It most likely depends on the size of the baby and how quickly it is growing in each individual person. I personally heard my baby's heart beat the first time at 14 weeks with my first, 13 weeks with my second and 10 weeks pregnant with my current pregnancy. * You can start to hear the babies heartbeat through ultrasound as soon as 6 weeks into your pregnancy! A doppler can start to pick up a heartbeat at around 10-14 weeks into your pregnancy. A stethoscope can be used to hear the baby's heartbeat late in the pregnancy. * If you have an early scan it can be seen from about 6 weeks. If listening with a doppler and you are very slim sometimes (not always) it can be heard from about 8 weeks. A midwife listening with a Pinard can hear it from about 22-24 weeks. * You may be able to see it on an ultrasound at about 7 weeks but unless you are very thin you won't be able to hear it with a doppler until about 10 weeks, possibly later. Until 12 weeks the uterus is still in the pelvis and the heart is very small and the machine has to be pointed directly at the heart so the sound is reflected, unlike a microphone. * I heard my baby's heart beat at almost eight weeks and it was very strong :) I think everyone is just different it depends largely on your specific pregnancy