The dreaded home doppler

AlexLindzz · April 2016

Anyone have any luck finding the heartbeat yet? I'll admit I tried today even though I know I am too early and no dice.

EmmieAnn22 · April 2016

I found it fairly easy right at 10 weeks. I was pretty shocked considering that really is very early. H and I tried lastnight to find it and no such luck. Disappointing but I know I just got lucky the first time and didn't worry over it.

DunkinDecaf · April 2016

I found it yesterday at 8w6d! It took a while but after some trying I found a really loud heartbeat. I found it a couple days before that too but only for a second and it was much quieter. I think that's pretty early though. I don't think I'm going to try again until after my next appointment because I'm afraid if I can't find it it will just stress me out.

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt · April 2016

Not yet at 9w5d but that's not that abnormal, particularly in larger women. I'm just going to keep trying though. I found it with my daughter right around 10w.

beforeyou · April 2016

I tried it at 9+2 and found it. Tried again at 9+6 and 10 wks and couldn't find it. Our doppler has been on the fritz lately though and then completely died yesterday so I'm trying not to fret too much.

eta: words

comealongponds · April 2016

Found one of the two at 9+6...I was quite surprised since I have a retroverted uterus. I've looked a couple times since and haven't been able to find it again. Considering they're the size of Lego people, I'm not surprised lol

josiebegosie2002 · April 2016

I bought one but haven't tried it yet because I know I'm too early. Thinking I may start trying at the nine week mark.

mrsasolomon · April 2016

I tried today, knowing it was WAY early being only 8w3d but I found it. Light and only for a few seconds but it was there. So excited.

tigerfish227 · April 2016

I'm excited to try mine tonight. One of my managers just had her 3rd baby and let me borrow hers (so I just got out today).

XmomX · April 2016

I found mine fairly quickly (within 5 minutes) at 8w5d then. I also found it at 9w but it took a looong time. I was starting to freak but then I found it. I am not letting myself try again until 10 weeks (this Thursday).

Hedgessm · April 2016

I've been too scared to try at 9+1. I'm afraid I'll stress myself out.

mrsasolomon · April 2016

Hedgessm said:

I've been too scared to try at 9+1. I'm afraid I'll stress myself out.

I was afraid I would stress myself out too, I mean being less than now weeks and I am a little on the fluffy side I knew for sure I wouldn't find it so just kept saying that to myself. And then I did for like 2 seconds and was shocked. Now I know I won't find it if I were to try again (like to show DH or something since he wasn't home) so I am going to try to not use it again for a little bit. I'm sure I will cave and try again in a few days at 9wks.

aquasocks · April 2016

I tried to use mine today (10+2) but then my toddler grabbed the tube of gel and went to town. So yeah it was unsuccessful.

stepamos · April 2016

I tried today at 8+1 with no luck. I found my sons right around 9 weeks. I have an ultrasound tomorrow so that should calm my nerves.

asreinholm · April 2016

What brand Doppler do ya'll have?

AlexLindzz · April 2016

@asreinholm I have sonoline b fetal Doppler. I got it when I was pregnant with DD in 2013 and had to order of the website. Not sure if it's on Amazon or anywhere else yet.

NurseMamaB · April 2016

I first found mine pretty early...surprisingly around 7w5d, it was extremely difficult though. Took forever to find!! Since then I've checked about once a week. I found for me an empty stomach, and bladder works best. So first thing in the morning. Also, it's right next to an artery or something so I have move the angle of Doppler around to find out. I am now 9w1d and its gotten super easy to find and way louder!! Its usually around 165bpm. Try not stress out trying to find it. There's many factors to why it can be easy or hard to find.

comealongponds · April 2016

@asreinholm I also have a Sonoline B. I got it off eBay for like $60.

GirPipley · April 2016

This is exciting that so many have found heartbeats!

I just told H to go grab mine.
H: where is it?
Me: "It's in with the sex toys"
H: okay.
15 seconds later
H: wait, what? Why!?
Me: made sense since I need lube to use it?

tigerfish227 · April 2016

I found the sweet spot!!! The machine isn't calculating the bpm so I just timed out 20 seconds and counted. 177bpm! I was worried I wouldn't be able to tell between my heartbeat and baby's but oh boy is there a HUGE difference!

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt · April 2016

Found mine this evening too - 9+6 (well, after midnight so I suppose I'm officially 10w.) 160bpm. Best sound in the world. Managed to record a few minutes but then baby moved and I can't find them anymore.

Knottie1458416769 · April 2016

I totally want to get one and go treasure hunting (for hb) every night - but hubby shut down that idea very quickly. He's worried it's going to be anxiety inducing if I don't find a heartbeat all the time. Hopefully I have enough patience to wait.

LikeICantEven · April 2016

Mine is coming on Wednesday! I got another Sonoline B off ebay, I can't for the life of me remember who I loaned my other one to.

I'm so pumped. I have an U/S on Friday so that should help tide me over.

comealongponds · April 2016

Found both babies this morning!! So excited to have located them both

TwandaFTG · April 2016

This reminds me that I need to get mine back from my friend...but I am still too early to use mine. I will probably wait until 10 weeks (or at least until I get the 1st us from my ob in a week)

shamrocandroll · April 2016

I don't have a home doppler (which is probably for the better), but my OB wasn't able to find one with the office one at 8+5. She said my uterus is tilted back, which makes it harder to get a heartbeat that early, plus I'm not exactly starting out with a flat tummy to begin with, so I'm sure that plays into it. She said she sometimes gets one at 8w, usually gets one at 10w, and always gets one at 12w for a healthy pregnancy. First u/s is 2 weeks from today and I'm pretty sure I'm going to bawl my eyes out when I finally hear it!

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt · April 2016

Funny enough, even at 12w it can be hard to find the heartbeat on Doppler! I can't recall whether it was UpToDate, Merck, or SOGC (but it was a reliable clinical resource, I just can't remember which one and don't want to go digging for it) that says says the heartbeat is audible on Doppler in 95% of healthy pregnancies at 12w. That means 1 in 20 won't be able to find it even at that point (and that's clinicians, not untrained people.) At 9w, it's only about 60% according to an interesting article I found on PubMed.

Just adding that in for peace of mind for people who aren't able to find it yet.

GreenEyedUnicorn · April 2016

I just found the baby's heartbeat a little bit ago. I'm 9 + 4. Right around when I found it with our first son.

AlexLindzz · April 2016

So happy for those who have found it! Looks like there's more luck around the 9 week mark.

thatlauragirl · April 2016

Gah! I'm 8+2 and I know I have no business trying but this post has got me so excited to pull mine out and give it a try!

msu_gal · April 2016

I don't have a home doppler, but my OB let us listen to ours at 8 weeks. It was pretty strong (with the fancy equipment they have) and I was surprised how clear it was. I also have a very tilted uterus.

LikeICantEven · April 2016

I'm freaking crying guys. I'm 9 weeks, 2 days and it took me about 30 seconds to find my little chubrock-a-thumpin'-away. 135 bpm according to my Sonoline B

I could give the world a hug right now. I feel all the love. It makes me look back at 5 weeks of vomit inducing exhaustion and absolute misery and it feels legit now. Best money I ever spent.

XmomX · April 2016

HomeyDontPlayThat said:

I'm freaking crying guys. I'm 9 weeks, 2 days and it took me about 30 seconds to find my little chubrock-a-thumpin'-away. 135 bpm according to my Sonoline B

I could give the world a hug right now. I feel all the love. It makes me look back at 5 weeks of vomit inducing exhaustion and absolute misery and it feels legit now. Best money I ever spent.

Yay! My guess is that the Doppler didn't actually show the numbers for the baby's HB, sometimes even if you hear it it won't actual change the number on the screen because it's not quite strong enough. My own HB usual reads around 130, I think the babies is usually higher at this point. The first time I heard my baby's the same thing happened, but when I tried two days later it actually picked it up strong enough to read and changed the number to 167.

Congrats on finding it so fast! Took me about 10 minutes at 9w 3d!

comealongponds · April 2016

XmomX said:

HomeyDontPlayThat said:

I'm freaking crying guys. I'm 9 weeks, 2 days and it took me about 30 seconds to find my little chubrock-a-thumpin'-away. 135 bpm according to my Sonoline B

I could give the world a hug right now. I feel all the love. It makes me look back at 5 weeks of vomit inducing exhaustion and absolute misery and it feels legit now. Best money I ever spent.

Yay! My guess is that the Doppler didn't actually show the numbers for the baby's HB, sometimes even if you hear it it won't actual change the number on the screen because it's not quite strong enough. My own HB usual reads around 130, I think the babies is usually higher at this point. The first time I heard my baby's the same thing happened, but when I tried two days later it actually picked it up strong enough to read and changed the number to 167.

Congrats on finding it so fast! Took me about 10 minutes at 9w 3d!

Yeah my Doppler was reading 130s on the screen as well but when I counted them out they were actually in the 170s

XmomX · April 2016

Yeah exactly @comealongponds , as long as your can decipher between your own and the baby's HB then I find that counting it out is more accurate.

AlexLindzz · April 2016

throwing a question out there - does anyone know if it's more difficult to find for taller women?

XmomX · April 2016

AlexLindzz said:

throwing a question out there - does anyone know if it's more difficult to find for taller women?

I'm not sure. I'm 5'10 and haven't had to much of an issue yet. I think heavier set women may have a harder time but don't quote me on that.

LikeICantEven · April 2016

AlexLindzz said:

throwing a question out there - does anyone know if it's more difficult to find for taller women?

I'm about 6' and haven't had issues. I know if you're a bit thicker that might be cause for difficulty.

AlexLindzz · April 2016

Okay, thank you! Good to know @XmomX and @HomeyDontPlayThat ...You ladies are around my height, I'm 5'11". Now I'm determined!

Kermie53 · April 2016

This gives me strength to try mine at home! They used one at my dr appt last week (I was 9w 6 days) and I was shocked how clear it was! Last pregnancy, we didn't get our doppler til 16 weeks or so, so obviously it was easy to find the hb. I've been debating to try it at home but nervous it would be hard to find. Maybe in a week or so

AlexLindzz · April 2016

I'm starting to feel extremely discouraged and slightly panicky

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