Mafe Maria: Personal stories by autism parent mentor, Maria Stultz

The Heartbeat

When the little peanut growing inside your womb doesn’t have much material presence, you take what you can get…

I had a checkup with my doctor this afternoon. All good, all great. Time came to check on the baby’s heartbeat. I have not written about this, so I need to explain that few things compare to the first time when you hear your baby’s heartbeat. At the time — many weeks ago — it made Joey’s day (he wouldn’t shut up about it). It’s still a little magical even now, though by now I’m very familiar with the sound and the accelerated frequency of the little pulses.

Doc had me lay down and pressed the doppler on my underbelly. We heard:

tucu tucu tucu tucu tucu tucu tucu tucu tucu tucu tucu tucu…

When suddenly:

tucu tucu TUCU TUCU TUCU TUCU TUCU TUCU TUCU TUCU TUCU TUCU TUCU TUCU

It became so loud, I almost went “wow”. But something better happened… My doctor, one of the most serious women I’ve ever met, had no option but to crack a smile. She reached for the volume dial (or that’s what I thought she was doing), turned it down, and said with a big smile: “That’s very good”.

I laughed. Bolliti’s heartbeat had gotten so loud it was impossible not to acknowledge it. It almost made it sound like he/she was banging objects, and screaming “HEY! CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME???”

5 comments:

  1. On , marla wrote:

    pictures are great, but I always thought it would be fun to play back for O the sound of her heart beat as a baby in my belly. Her eyes would just light up. :)

  2. On , Maria wrote:

    How did you record it?

  3. On , Petie wrote:

    Glad to hear all is well. :)

  4. On , KSR wrote:

    sounds…pictures…movement…..all those things that are the reward for the 1st trimester woes…..yippee!

  5. On , Ken Weissman wrote:

    Hi Maria,

    Many “hearty” congratulations from Isabel and I regarding the Heartbeat! I know it has been quite some time (5 years), and it took finding your blog to find out where you are.

    Amazing how old friends can catch up without even picking up the phone!

    Ken