Last week one of our Bump Club members heard her baby鈥檚 heartbeat for the first time. You can have a listen too, and hear more from Laura, on Tuesday鈥檚 Bump Club on the Tony Livesey programme from 11pm on Tuesday 19 March.
When I was pregnant with Ava I remember the 16 week appointment聽being聽a heart warming occasion, hearing your babies heartbeat for the first time brought about an overwhelming surge of love for the little person you were carrying.
Fast forward to this pregnancy and I was told by my midwife that聽 (NICE)聽guidelines suggest not listening for a fetal heartbeat until around the 24 week mark.
Due to the babies size (around 10cm) it can make for a tricky business to try and locate the heartbeat and should it not be found no further testing or investigation would be done at this stage. As you can appreciate this only adds to stress and upset of the expecting parents.
However, not one to disappoint, my asked if we'd like to try and find the heartbeat and, of course, we accepted the offer.
So let's set the scene, as all of my appointments, bar scans, take place at home I got comfy on the couch whilst Leanne, my midwife asked my 16-month-old if she would like to help try and find the baby. Everyone gathered around expectantly and waited鈥nd waited.
To quote my midwife finding a fetal heartbeat at this stage of pregnancy is "like catching a fish in a fishbowl" and despite not being defeated by my slippery on board passenger it did take some time before we heard the sloshing sound of baby Dunning's heart.
By this time my daughter had rifled through the contents of the midwife's bag and was throwing a knitted breast around the living room and my poor harassed husband was busy chasing the aforementioned breast to ensure it wasn't lost into the chaos of Ava's toy box forever.
Therefore due to the chaos unfolding around me there was no time for tears of joy or emotional outbursts, just the reassurance that so far, so good.
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