Week 18

I had my 18 week checkup yesterday and I’m happy to report that the little bean and I are both in excellent health. Prenatal checkups are pretty straightforward – check blood pressure, check fetal heart rate using a Doppler, feel abdomen to determine size of uterus, and that’s about it. I go to a midwife who schedules all appointments for 30 minutes, so that leaves lots of time for questions.

Every time we’ve had the heart rate checked it’s always registered at the high end of normal. The normal range is 140-160 beats per minute, and the little bean clocks in right at 160 pretty consistently. There is an old wives tale that says you can determine the gender based on the heart rate – 140-150 means it’s a boy, and 150-160 means it’s a girl. My midwife says that the heart rate is more an indication of how active it is, and the more active, the higher the heart rate. So if you believe girls are more active in the womb than boys, I guess the adage holds up.

In a few more weeks I’ll be able to tell just how active the bean is, since I can expect to feel movement at around 20 weeks, and that’s definitely something I’m looking forward to.