Today I heard the baby's heartbeat!!! :-)

This is very exciting! I managed to keep it together pretty well at the doctor's office, but was quite emotional for a while thereafter. I think if I really think about it again, I'll probably start to cry again! When I got to work, I phoned Darryl and then my family to tell them the good news (though I was sort of bawling a bit which may have initially scared them). I'm very happy that they were able to find the heartbeat (with a doppler machine), because it's still a little early to be guaranteed hearing it. It sounded like a quick swoosh-swoosh-swoosh, beating about twice the rate of my own heartbeat. This is very good news because, as you know, I was worried. I don't think I'll be nearly as worried now--the baby seems healthy (as healthy as one can tell from just a heartbeat) and I'm almost into the second trimester, when the risk of miscarriage decreases dramatically. Now the baby seems more real, though I still can't believe I have a baby inside me! I failed to record the heartbeat on a tape recorder and I'm sad about that because Darryl deserves to have heard this first sign of baby too. Next appointment will be in 4 weeks and Darryl will come with me so that he can hear the heartbeat too! The appointment after that one will be the ultrasound, which I'm very much looking forward to. This post is a little disjointed, but it definitely mirrors the sort of chaotic maelstrom of thoughts that are flying through my mind. YAY!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy!!!! And it was so nice to hear how happy Darryl and my family are too. I know they are looking forward to this, but I really appreciate their support and love. (oh, I'm so emotional right now....!)