the most beautiful sound in the world

i woke up this morning from my own persistent coughing, and i said to justin, "why is it light outside?" i jumped out of bed, ran to the bathroom, and the clock said 7:40. my appointment was at 8:00. i had set the alarm clock last night for 6:30 pm instead of am. doh!

i brushed my teeth, ran a wet washcloth over my hoo-ha, and decided to pretend like my bedhead was intentionally punk. we threw on clothes, scraped the snow off the car, and were on our way by 7:50.

we pulled into the parking garage at 8:00 and ran upstairs...only to wait half an hour, of course. but then we saw my ob, who was thrilled about the ultrasound results from last week, and who okayed my upcoming travel plans and nixed any hope of medicinal relief from the cold i have, which is now in my chest, my head, and apparently my feet, my elbows, my pancreas, etc. i am a walking phlegm factory.

then we had the obligatory talk about how unlikely it was that we could hear the heartbeat today by doppler, but as soon as i laid back on the table and he pressed the wand to my abdomen, there it was, speeding away. my favorite sound in the world, at 165 beats per minute. i feel like i'm floating. :)

we talked about home dopplering, too - he had sort of a mixed reaction to it, but as long as we were using an actual doppler and a good one, and not a glorified stethoscope from boobies-r-us, and in light of my intention to use it so as to not call him freaking out every single day, he thought it was a good idea. our lovely, kind, generous friend the coalminer is loaning us hers - she deserves the friend-of-the-year award! - and the ob talked to us a little bit about how to use it to get the best results. i'm not concerned about using it immediately; i'm really interested in having it in the third trimester, about which i am already a wreck. please let us get to the third trimester to be freaked out enough to use the doppler every day. please, please, please.

next stop - the nuchal fold translucency ultrasound in two weeks, followed by the quad screen a couple of weeks later.

in other good news, no vaginal exam today. good news for all of us, but especially the ob, who did not have to face my unwashed cooter.

i've got to jump in the shower now to get to work, but work will be easier to tolerate knowing there's a buck sixty-five of z's heartbeats galloping away in there. hallelujah.