My wife and I went to the Ob/Gyn today for our first check-up … and got to hear our baby’s heart! It’s our first child and we are very excited!
The heart-beats weren’t easy to find, either! The Doctor took four passes over the womb before anything could be heard. Apparently the baby hides pretty well. 
Just wanted to share. 
DarkRabbit
Congratulations! I remember hearing that for the first time, and the whole “baby” idea suddenly becoming very, very real to me. It’s a long wild ride, parenthood. Have fun!
Thank you!
It all seemed a little, um … distant until today. I mean, I could see the changes in my wife but until today it seemed more like the flu than a child.
Three months have passed by VERY fast. In eight weeks we visit for an ultrasound and actually get to look at our child for the first time. After hearing the baby for the first time I had butterflys in my stomach - I hope I don’t faint when I see him/her!
DarkRabbit
Your experience may well be very different, but when I first saw my lovely little miracle on ultrasound, all I could think was, “Does it have gills?”
Okay, I was a little more awed than that, but between the poor picture and the early development, there wasn’t much to look at. Mr. Legend and I toyed with the idea of naming her “Tad” for a few weeks, though.
A friend of mine just wrote to me telling me that it will look like an Alien a la the X files.
I can deal with that.
DarkRabbit
When we went to hear the heartbeat for the first time, we heard this really strong and loud rhythm and got all excited. Then the doc informed us that what we were actually listening to was my wife’s uterine artery. How embarassing. Then he moved the probe a bit and there was this faint but fast whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh. An amazing experience, still brings a tear to me eye thinking about it.
Maybe, maybe not. But I promise you will cry.
Darkrabbit – been there myself, just a short time ago. My wife and I had our first just over four weeks ago… and I still remember the joy and awe of hearing his strong little heartbeat for the first time.
The early ultrasound is very cool - and the later ones, that can actually catch him (or her!) moving around… are beyond words.
Congratulations. And some advice - start stocking up on newborn-size diapers NOW. Have 200-300 ready by delivery time.
If you’re anything like me, you’ll really “get” that you’re going to be a daddy when you see the sonogram. It’s an awesome, humbling, thrilling, and frightening experience. Get used to those emotions: Yoou’ll be living with them for the rest of your life.
Congratulations, and welcome to the New Parent Cult. 
jesuslynch … I promise you will cry.
Yeah, my wife is pregnant and I’ve been the emotional one.
Bricker … And some advice - start stocking up on newborn-size diapers NOW. Have 200-300 ready by delivery time.
200 - 300 ! gulp That’s a lot of diapers! We actually got some ‘leftovers’ from some friends whom just had their baby last month and have already had their daughter outgrow them.
Trangquilis … Congratulations, and welcome to the New Parent Cult.
Thank you! Sonogram is in eight weeks. Hopefully everything will go smoothly and we’ll find out if it’s a boy or girl come May 14th next year.
Thank you, everybody, for your comments!
DarkRabbit
Yep, thought I’d chime in that hearing the heartbeat for the first time was when it all started getting very real for me. Congrats. BTW, you’ll need at least that many diapers. Get a lot of baby wipes while you’re at it.
Wow, congrats Darkrabbit! Mine are now 5 and 3, and that first little miracle seems like forever ago. Don’t get too stressed about the diapers, you’ll become expert in that in no time. 300 may be a bit excessive for newborn diapers, depending on how fast s/he grows, what size s/he is at birth, and how prompt you are about changing them. It’s certainly becoming real for you now, but just wait 'til you first hold your new child. It’s magic.
If you don’t already have one, and can afford it, a camcorder is a good investment about now. Along those lines, write notes to yourself constantly as you watch your child grow. My daughter loves to hear stories about how she was born, when she was born, etc. I wish I had done this so I could embellish more with the little things that your memory lets go of after a while.
Other things to take into consideration: birth lessons (we used Bradley method for both children and were very pleased with this), we had a OB for our first child, but switched practices (since the OB didn’t show up until 1 hour after our child was born) and used a Dulah(sp?) for the second birth.
IANAParent, but I am going to become an aunt (for the second time) somewhere around January 22, 2002. Since he couldn’t get the time off work, I drove my brother’s girlfriend to her last appointment. No pictures (damn it), but I did get to hear the heartbeat. It was SO COOL! I cried. I couldn’t help it, I was just so thrilled. Of course, she’s been pregnant twice before, both ending in miscarriage. So the tears could have been the “Heartbeat = Alive” reaction.
ShibbOleth … If you don’t already have one, and can afford it, a camcorder is a good investment about now.
We are looking at that as our Xmas present to ourselves. I’ve also been keeping a diary (at my wifes suggestion) of significant moments during the pregnancy.
What’s a Dulah?
Silver Fire … I am going to become an aunt (for the second time) somewhere around January 22, 2002.
That’s terrific! We were Aunt/Uncle twice before we started on our family. It was certainly a relief to find out her and my sister were pregnant; the good-natured, “Is she pregnant yet?” looks during family reunions and weddings was getting a little trying on us both and our siblings having kids certainly relieved that pressure to a great extent.
Now that the first trimester has passed without any problems and we’ve been given a clean bill of health from the Ob/Gyn Doctor we can look forward to growth, Growth, GROWTH for the next six months! Before she got pregnant, I had a lot of thoughts of how our kid would be … working out the possibilities and combinations of our personalities … but now that the baby is cooking all I can think is that I hope the baby just comes out normal and without complications.
… I also wonder, How are Mr and Mrs Tygr faring?
DarkRabbit
I think they’ll give you a picture when they do the ultrasound later.
That’s the first of many, many pictures in my son’s photo album, volume I.
Heartiest congratulations to you both.
(If you think you’ll cry when you see the ultrasound, just wait until you hear “Wuv you” for the first time.)
I’ve seen it spelled “doula.” She (usually) is like a midwife, only more like a coach/supporter than a medical person. Our medical plan started covering doulas and midwives two years after our second child was born, and we didn’t have any extra money for extra personnel when we were having babies, so I never had the pleasure.
I had to pop in and say congrats, obviously.