I’m Having Difficulty Processing

We took a routine trip to our nurse-midwife’s office this afternoon, expecting nothing. Our second pregnancy has been fairly quiet, with each checkup resulting in an “all clear” and all indications pointing towards a largish, healthy baby. Today, however, our midwife plunked the doppler mic down onto my wife’s stomach and hunted around for the normal, comforting whoof-whoof-whoof-whoof of the baby’s heartbeat. When she caught the heartbeat, though, a look of concern flashed across her face; she tried very hard to put her gameface on but we had heard it too: the beat was different this time. Irregular. Stomach-churningly irregular. Arrhythmic.
I could tell that she was concerned when she uttered those words you never want to hear from your doctor, plumber or auto mechanic: “I’ve never heard that one before.” She assured us that most arrhythmias work themselves out prior to birth and that the vast majority of cases result in no complications post-birth (an assertion backed up by our Googling/WebMDing [is that a word?] this evening). Supposedly we’ve got little to worry about, since in most cases the baby ends up fine, but try telling that to my now-enlarged Parental Concern Gland which has swollen to roughly the size of a casaba melon and has mysteriously forced out moisture from my eyes at several points.
It’s funny, really: in this, our modernized age, we abstract and obscure so much of what pregnancy involves that we start to get a very clinical, detached view of the entire process. Those not in the throes of pregnancy (and I’m even counting current parents that have forgotten their previous experiences) tend to just forget about how much risk and danger there really is in having a child. Women used to routinely die in the birthing process, yet because of how advanced our technology has become, we wave our hand at that and simply assume that everyone will have a wonderful, magical, blessed pregnancy (all anecdotal evidence to the contrary).
We’re headed in to get an ultrasound first thing tomorrow morning and we’re scheduled for a perinatologist consult on Wednesday. I will post updates when/if I get a chance.
As always, your prayers, particularly for momma and baby (Codename: “Thumper”) are heartily appreciated.