I was happy to leave with a gift
by KAT, The SITS Girls
Million Moms Challenge Blogger
It was a routine check up.
I left my beautiful one-year-old daughter at home with her Dad so that I could go in and see how our second baby was growing. It hadn’t occurred to me that my husband should be with me to hear our baby’s heartbeat until I found myself waiting to hear it.
My doctor had slowly moved the heartbeat monitor over my belly and when there was no sound she frowned and said, “I’m going to go get the ultra sound machine and see what’s going on here.” She touched my shoulder on the way out, “you know…sometimes babies just stop growing…” and then left the room.
Sometimes babies just stop growing? I thought. Was that a warning? Was she prepping me?
I nodded appropriately, “Yes, of course,” I said…eyes welling up in tears.
It’s amazing how we are trained to conduct ourselves with composure even amidst terrible news. She left the room and I immediately regretted not finding a babysitter for our one year old so that my husband could be there holding my hand in that moment.
When she returned with the machine you could have heard a pin drop. My doctor quietly focused on the search for a heartbeat. I couldn’t speak for fear my quivering voice would reveal how scared I felt.
How was I going to recover from this? Why would my baby just stop growing? Why, in the 20th century, had we not developed some kind of technology that prevented babies from dying?
My thoughts were interrupted by a strong persistent wooshing noise.
The heartbeat.
Arguably one of the most joyous sounds I’ve ever heard and I was so grateful to receive it. My baby did not stop growing…the most difficult and best moment of pregnancy wrapped into one.
I was happy to leave that office with a gift.
Again.
Becoming pregnant changed my life, and I’d love to hear more about your best or most difficult pregnancy moments. By replying, you will be entered to win an exclusive Million Moms Challenge Gift Pack, which includes an all expenses paid trip to a conference on mothers hosted by the UN Foundation in DC (Jan/Feb 2012), an iPad2, a custom-made Million Moms Challenge pendant and $50 donation in your name to Global Giving.
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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Million Moms Challenge. The opinions and text are all mine. Contest runs September 19 to October 16, 2011. A random winner will be announced by October 18, 2011.