Listening to the Lime

The most amazing thing happened yesterday...I listened to a Lime!

My most favorite sister, Paula, is going to have a baby in July to the great joy of everyone in the family. I consider it a priceless gift that she loves and trusts me to be a part of the process. I've been to all of her first doctor's appointments and we were looking forward to yesterday because it was expected to be the first check for a heartbeat! Paula had been calling the baby 'peanut' because that's how big the growing fetus was, then last week it was described in her books as a kumquat. As we pulled into the parking lot, she said "hey, the books say it's the size of a lime now!" So... we were headed in to listen to Our Lime.

The doctor swoops in, calmly applies the gel, and we all tense and listen. Nothing. Lots of static, lots of moving the doppler wand around. Still nothing. I've never had children and this is my first experience trying to hear the heartbeat, so I'm trying to 'make' a rhythm out of the static. I'm tensed, hiding out of the way behind the table, holding my breath, and then WOOOOOOOWW! A heartbeat! There, clear as a bell, beating away with a precious life of it's own, was The Lime! My breath caught in my throat and tears sprang to my eyes. There, growing by the day, was a tiny, perfect little heart hidden in a body the size of my palm, already doing the job it will do every day of it's life. What a miracle.

In the picture above, the kumquat sits at the bottom left corner, and the lime next to it. Perhaps next week it'll be the kiwi at the top? The starfruit.....well, let's hope that's just a hello from Uncle Steve and his backyard in Hawaii!!

As Paula left, she quipped "Hey, it's hard work making a heart!" My dear, beloved sister and her darling child to which I'll be Aunt Kimmee.....and I was there to witness it's first sounds of communication with it's life to come. What a priceless gift.