Practice Run

Here's a story from about a week and half ago:

Pretty much all of my appointments have been "Everything looks great.  Any questions?  See you next time!"  I see the doctor for 10 minutes max.  On January 3rd, I had my 38 week appointment.  The nurse did the usuals...weight, temp, blood pressure, pulse.  When the doctor came in she asked how things were going, if I was feeling anything different, and then we listened to lil man's heartbeat.  His heartbeat was in the 120's, but it got down to 114ish also.  Now there is a "normal range" for a baby's heartbeat, and his was in this range.  It was on the lower end though.  My doctor said that everything was fine, and that his heartbeat was probably in the lower range since he is a "full term baby" so close to being born.

Having said that, she also asked if I minded going over to labor and delivery because they can listen to the heartbeat for 20-30 minutes, and she could only do it for about a minute.  What they want to see when they listen to the heartbeat is a wide range.  They want it to go up and down (think about how your heart rate changes depending on thoughts, emotions, and movements).  She just wanted to make sure his heartbeat wasn't staying in the lower range for a long time.  I really wasn't worried, and didn't think much of it.  I thought it was cool I would get to listen to him for 20-30 minutes.

Cullen doesn't usually come to my normal check-ups because like I said, they are normally about 10 minutes.  My doctor is 40 minutes away, so it's kind of silly for him to drive that far to hear "everything looks great" every week.  Since I was going to get home later than expected, I had to call Cullen and tell him what was going on so he wasn't wondering where I was.  I really wasn't worried about anything, but since Cullen wasn't with me, let's just say he was a little worried even though I told him it wasn't a big deal.  He would have driven to the hospital, but my doctor said it would take 20-30 minutes (shorter than the 40 minute drive).  So he's at home, and I head over to labor and delivery.

I told them why I was there, and signed in.  Next they had me pee, change into a gown, get in the bed, and strapped the contraction monitor and heartbeat monitor onto my belly.  I looked like I was ready to have the baby....it was pretty funny.  While I'm laying there, they ask me 1,938,473 questions and have me sign some papers.  All of this took about 10-15 minutes, but the "monitoring" hadn't started yet.  Once everything was set up, they listened/watched everything for about 40 minutes (longer than I expected).  I just sat there and watched.  His heartbeat would go up to the 160s then down to about 100.  It continued this pattern the whole time I was there.  This is what they want to see, so everything was fine like we thought.  

Right when they were finishing up, my phone rang, but I couldn't get to it.  I knew it was Cullen, but I thought I'd change first then call him on my way out since I was leaving.  As I was signing the discharge papers, he called again, and I realized it had been an hour (whoops)!  I answered this time and told him everything was fine, and I was coming home.  He sounded weird, so I asked if he was okay.  His response was "Yeah, that was just a really long 20 minutes."  I guess he only heard 20 minutes when I said they would listen for 20-30 minutes.  So I've had my practice run and scared my husband in the process :)