A tough doctor visit

Yesterday morning as Matt and I were both getting ready for the day, I mentioned I had a doctor appointment later. He wondered how far along I was, and I proudly told him I'm 32 1/2 weeks, and that a baby born now would likely do very well. We both discussed this fact and our relief.

And then I wandered off to my appointment, leaving Kalina with her Grandpa this time (yay!) and happily read pregnancy magazines until becoming mildly irritated about how long the appointment was taking, and wondering if Kalina would be getting hungry for her lunch.

The doctor finally came in and asked if everything was going well, and I said yes, just measuring a little small (I'm at a group practice so I don't see the same doctor every time). He agreed I was measuring small and said I'd be having another ultrasound just to make sure the baby was continuing to grow. I replied that I'd look forward to it.

He decided that approximately 4 weeks from now would be a good time for an ultrasound, although he almost upped the date due to the fact that I hadn't gained any weight these past two weeks. "Are you eating well?" he wondered. "I'm pigging out!" I informed him, mentally making plans to add more ice cream into my diet.

And then we listened to the heartbeat.
"Did you hear that?" the doctor asked. "It sounded like it skipped a beat."
I'd heard it, as had the new doctor who was shadowing the one with the heartbeat-listener-gadget.
And a dozen or so beats later, "there it is again."
By this time, my heart was making up for any and all missed beats as I tried to figure out what to think. Wasn't listening to the heartbeat something we did just for fun, to make my 45-minute wait worth it? Could it instead show me something may actually be wrong?

The doctor kindly informed me that the heart wasn't actually skipping a beat, it was adding one in just before--which made it sound like it'd skipped a beat. I took his word for it. He also said that this isn't common, but it's also not rare. We'll have to do an ultrasound to look more closely, but the baby is fine, he told me.

Really? Fine? A little internet research later on confirmed for Matt and I that the baby is most likely just fine. Most likely.

In fact, she's fine as long as she's growing fine, according to one website. But what if she's not? Does that make me the world's worst mommy for not eating enough ice cream prior to this? Should I lay off my daily green salad and replace it with cheap pizza?

I am encouraged by the fact that her first two ultrasounds by our favorite experienced ultrasonographer showed absolutely no problems. And this is the first time we've heard anything strange in the heartbeat. Everything should really be just fine.

The doctor said that I'll need to get a Level 2 ultrasound at Duke Hospital so they can take a closer look at the baby's heart, and that they'll call me with a time. They haven't yet.

As if I could be sleeping any worse.

Please pray for the health of Little Sister!