Now Isn't That Strange--Hiccups!

Thomas left out a small detail from the fetal echo that I wanted to add.

As the doctor was examining Nathan's heart, I began to feel slight, recurring spasms in my belly. After a few of these, I noticed that each time I felt a spasm, the picture on the screen would jump! It didn't take long to put together what was happening: Nathan had the hiccups!

It was the first time I'd felt him have the hiccups, and I had wondered if Nathan could get the hiccups because hiccups are a spasm of the diaphragm and Nathan's wasn't complete. Well, now we know that you do not need a whole diaphragm to get the hiccups! It was really fun for me to be able to both feel the hiccups and see the screen jump at the same time. It added a dimension of happy reality to the pregnancy.

Unfortunately it made it harder for the doctor to see what he needed to see, but he still felt like he had gotten a good look at the important structures and functions of the heart, so it was OK.