I apologize if my blog is bringing up past hurts for anyone, and feel I should post a disclaimer warning the following post contains sensitive content regarding miscarriage. I process my emotions through writing, and I’m dealing with a lot of big feelings due to the recent miscarriage of our baby, so you can expect lots of writing on the topic for a little while…

The night I started miscarrying I kept calling my midwife over and over because I had never experienced anything like this before and was totally confused and overwhelmed. I needed someone to walk me through what was going on, and she was so calm and reassuring.

At one point I remember us talking about me feeling weird about flushing my baby down the toilet, yet not being able to fish it out. She told me to try to save some of the baby’s tissue and find a way to memorialize the baby – bury it, put it in the ocean, just do something so there’s a place and time to mark the existence of this baby… I liked that idea…

Suddenly I was gushing tissue and blood again, so I found a little container in my cupboard and caught some of it, put the container in a baggie, wrapped it in paper towel and put it in the back of the bottom of my fridge until we could deal with it together as a family. That was in the wee hours of Thursday morning.

Today was the day we planned to take the baby to the ocean and say goodbye… My boys were going to town to pick up a few things from the health food store for me and run a few other errands, so I suggested we go down to the ocean first and then I would take them to the ferry. We picked a spot on Berry Point Road because that is where Brent proposed to me, and also where we got married. It’s a particularly special spot for our family.

When we got in the car, I told my son what we were going to do, and he started crying and saying over and over how sad he was. I felt myself tearing up. Then Brent, who was driving, suddenly burst out laughing and when I looked at him like he was an insensitive buffoon, he grinned sheepishly and said, “I saw some guy holding his hand to ear like he was talking on the phone. It was funny. Sorry.”

The waves are not usually very big here because our little island is sheltered by Vancouver Island, but today the wind was gusting and the waves were crashing unusually large and wild. There were two cars parked at “our spot” when we arrived so I suggested we walk down the rocks a bit for some privacy. Brent had our camera and I warned him not to get it wet.

I found a small inlet that looked like a good place, and just before I unwrapped my little package to release the baby, a huge wave came crashing in, soaked my feet and legs, I slipped on the slippery seaweed covered rock, and Plop! I landed on my butt in the ocean. We all burst into laughter. WOW, it was cold!

I scrambled to my feet and moved out of the wave’s way, found a different spot nearby, and released the baby.

The waves moved the tissue and blood in and out, in and out… and it slowly unfolded like a crimson flower. It was strangely beautiful – the most vivid red imaginable.

On the way back to the car my son and I held hands and giggled about me falling in the ocean.

“Mom, we didn’t even get to find out if it’s a boy or a girl,” my son started sobbing in the backseat as we pulled on to the road.

“Which do you think it was?”

Without hesitation, “A girl.”

“Then a girl it is. Should we call her Ellie?” (the nickname we had picked out if our baby had been a girl)

“No, lets call her Eliza. Mom, I’m so sad right now.”

Brent was silent and didn’t want to talk, lost in his own private thoughts.

We went back to the house so I could change into dry clothes, and when I got back in the car M said, “Mom, I figured it out. Sometimes there’s life, and sometimes there’s death.”

“Yes, and you are life, and we will always hold Eliza close in our heart and will never forget her.”

Life often strangely twists the tragic and hilarious together in a way that brings hope and joy back to our hearts.

My SIL is a Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor, and she offered to treat our entire family. We started the full body healing clease on August 11, 2009. The first month I lost 10 lbs just by eliminating sugar, dairy, caffeine, soy, wheat, yeast, vinegar, and citrus.

The second month I started regaining weight at the rate of about 0.4 lbs a week for 3 weeks running. I felt angry and betrayed and wanted to give up. In desperation I consulted my MD about a referral for weight loss surgery (WLS).

After getting my hopes up that the surgery might actually be a possibility, my hopes were dashed when the Vancouver Island Health Authority slashed gastric bastric OR times. I re-consulted with my MD and he decided to try me on a WLS type diet without the surgery. He had me eating around 1000 cals the first week and a half, and then I had to up it to 1350 cals cause it just wasn’t enough food. I lost 13 lbs in a month!

I am continuing with this weight loss program in addition to the healing cleanse my SIL, Dr. D has me on, and I am loving the results I’m seeing! Scroll down to see my progress pics. I will be updating them regularly…

Goal Weight: 146 lbs

Weight Log

Aug 1: 280
Sept 1: 272.5 (-7.5)
Oct 6: 270 (-2.5)
Nov 2: 262 (-8.0)
Dec 7: 254.6 (-7.4)
Dec 28: 256.8 (+2.2) + pregnancy test Jan 12th
Jan 4: 253.5 (-3.3)
Feb 1: 255.3 lbs (+1.8)
Mar 1: 258.8 lbs (+3.5)
Mar 8: 256.6 (-2.2) miscarried March 4th

254.6 lbs on December 11, 2009

256.6 lbs November 28, 2009

268 lbs September 11, 2009

278 lbs August 9, 2009

280 lbs May 8, 2009

Back in August of 2009 my family embarked on a natural healing cleanse. One of the major changes we made was eliminating all sweeteners from our diet because we all had an overgrowth of candida, and “sugar” feeds yeast. The one sweetener we were permitted was Agave Nectar. It’s “natural”, it’s raw and organic, it has a low GI index and doesn’t affect your blood sugar/insulin levels like other sweeteners, and it doesn’t feed yeast. And it tastes amazing!

I started cooking with it all the time and adapting recipes to be “sugar free” by replacing the sweeteners with agave nectar. I made everything from ketchup to chocolate cake with this amazing sweetener.

But now there’s some new controversial information surfacing about Agave Nectar, and I would be remiss in not addressing it. A friend of mine, Elayne, brought this article to my attention, and I have quoted the part that had most to do with agave nectar, but the entire article is worth reading in detail.

In spite of manufacturers’ claims, agave “nectar” is not made from the sap of the yucca or agave plant but from the starch of the giant pineapple-like, root bulb. The principal constituent of the agave root is starch, similar to the starch in corn or rice, and a complex carbohydrate called inulin, which is made up of chains of fructose molecules.Technically a highly indigestible fiber, inulin, which does not taste sweet, comprises about half of the carbohydrate content of agave.³⁴

The process by which agave glucose and inulin are converted into “nectar” is similar to the process by which corn starch is converted into HFCS.³⁵ The agave starch is subject to an enzymatic and chemical process that converts the starch into a fructose-rich syrup—anywhere from 70 percent fructose and higher according to the agave nectar chemical profiles posted on agave nectar websites. ³⁶ (One agave manufacturer claims that his product is made with “natural” enzymes.) That’s right, the refined fructose in agave nectar is much more concentrated than the fructose in HFCS. For comparison, the high fructose corn syrup used in sodas is 55 percent refined fructose. (A natural agave product does exist in Mexico, a molasses type of syrup from concentrated plant nectar, but availability is limited and it is expensive to produce.)

According to Bianchi, agave “nectar” and HFCS “are indeed made the same way, using a highly chemical process with genetically modified enzymes. They are also using caustic acids, clarifiers, filtration chemicals and so forth in the conversion of agave starches.” The result is a high level of highly refined fructose in the remaining syrup, along with some remaining inulin.

In a confidential FDA letter, Dr. Martin Stutsman of the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Labeling Enforcement, explains the FDA’s food labeling laws related to agave nectar: “Corn syrup treated with enzymes to enhance the fructose levels is to be labeled ‘High Fructose Corn Syrup.’” According to Mr. Stutsman, agave requires the label “hydrolyzed inulin syrup.”³⁷ Even though, like corn, agave is a starch and fiber food processed with enzymes, it does not require the label “High Fructose Agave Syrup.” Agave “nectar” is a misnomer; at the very least, it should be labeled “agave syrup.”

Agave syrup comes in two colors: clear or light, and amber. What is this difference? Mr. Bianchi explains: “Due to poor quality control in the agave processing plants in Mexico, sometimes the fructose gets burned after being heated above 140 degrees Fahrenheit, thus creating a darker, or amber color.” However, the labels create the impression of an artisan product—like light or amber beer. As consumers are learning about problems with agave syrup, the label “chicory syrup” is beginning to appear as a non-conforming word for the product. Consumer beware! (Source: Weston A Price Foundation)

What about the low glycemic index? Isn’t that a good thing? What about reports that it is causing liver damage?

The Truth About Agave Syrup: Not as Healthy as You May Think (Living and Raw Foods)

Debunking the Agave Myth (That’s Fit)

And finally, a less alarmist viewpoint on the Agave Nectar debate:

Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Agave Nectar: Which Should You Choose? (VegFamily)

I want people to be able to draw their own conclusions, but here’s my personal take: it makes the most sense to stick with sweetener sources as close to their original state as possible, the same way I choose other foods – whole and unprocessed, natural and local. Local honey. Organic pure maple syrup. Unrefined cane sugar. And of course, use moderation in all choices. Will I still buy agave nectar? Not likely, unless I’m doing a candida cleanse, in which I did find it most helpful.

My life was starting to centre around a new baby arriving in approximately 6 months and I’ve had to really adjust my focus the last couple of weeks. I opened a drawer yesterday to get my scissors and immediately noticed a couple little flannel newborn nighties I picked up at the thrift store and a little pair of tiny gap shoes my friend found for the new baby. I took them upstairs and put them away in a bin in storage, along with the three ring slings I scored at the local recycling depot. Closure.

Yesterday I got a letter from the BC Foster Care agency listing the upcoming dates for the foster care orientation classes we enrolled in last month. It’s part of the grueling long process to become approved foster parents. When I woke up this morning I felt a sense of excitement that I couldn’t place, and then I remembered we are going to have a new child in our home in about 6 months. It won’t be a newborn baby like we had hoped. It will be a hurting child who has experienced too much heart ache. It will be a girl. She’ll be around 5 or 6 years old. She’ll be a child to love and welcome into our home. It’s meant to be and our hearts are aching to meet our borrowed child.

March has come in like a lamb and my hands are itching to get into the garden dirt. Herbs and veggies, mulch and compost. Organic fresh produce. Oh joy! My pasty white winter skin is longing for the sun and fresh air. I have a long checklist of things to do… find some old wood to re-use in building garden beds… get a pile of dirt to plant seeds on top of my lasagna garden beds… source some mint shoots from friends and family… get some decent tomato cages… buy more seeds… find some wood chips to use as garden paths… dig up the miles of parsley taking over the herb bed… check my garlic shoots… transplant bulbs into the flower garden… figure out how to refill the whipper snipper thread and trim the grass in the garden area…

I called my grandma Jean today. She’s going to be 87 years old in July, and is still as spunky and spry as I remember her when I was a kid. I keep her updated on the news in our family out West, and she keeps me updated on the news on our family out East. Her and Grandpa have been married for 67 years. My grandpa will be turning 89 years old in two weeks, but suffered a severe stroke last year that has affected his speech and sight, and he was already mostly deaf, so she has become his full time round-the-clock caregiver. He used to love working in his wood shop, was a voracious reader, but now he’s no longer able to communicate, hates TV, and is unable to read due to his loss of sight. Grandma says they bought a treadmill and he walks numerous times throughout the day, winding down his final years, like a hamster on a wheel. All of their friends died many years ago now, and they are now living in a grandparent suite at my Aunt and Uncle’s house. Grandma wants to come visit me and experience our little island here, but can’t leave Grandpa. I pray that his – and her – suffering will end soon.

Jobs. I have had three different job opportunities present themselves to me over the past week. I didn’t actively seek any of them out, but all three came about through friends and family recommending me for the job! I’m a blessed girl. Praying that the one I really want works out. I’ll post more when I know more…

So… my life turned upside down on Wednesday and Thursday. Today it’s righting itself. Life is a funny, strange, hurtful, joyful, wonderful thing. One of my oldest (she’s not old, we’ve just known each other a long time) and dearest friends wrote me after I told her about the miscarriage and she said some very wise words, “one of the wonders of being older is you know that life is in cycles and when you have to experience the sad ones yourself it hurts, but with that knowledge you are able to carry on…” It certainly does…

Last night after I posted about miscarrying, things went from bad to much worse. I started hemorraghing around midnight and ended up needed emergency transfer to Nanaimo. No small feat when you live on a small gulf island where the ferries don’t run through the night. An ambulance came and hooked me up to an IV and started monitoring me while we waited for my parents to come and sleep at the house with our son so my husband could come with me.

I wasn’t dizzy or anything, but my legs were really unstable and I left a murderous looking trail of blood behind me as I was moved from the ambulance to the emergency medical boat to another ambulance and then into the hospital emergency room around 3 AM. They monitored me closely, subjecting me to all manner of unmentionable horrific torture-style procedures until the on-call gynecologist finally arrived at 9:30 AM. Within moments they had me in O/R and I was under anesthetic to have an emergency d&c done to stop the hemorrhaging.

B had gone home a couple hours earlier cause my parents had an appointment in Vancouver they couldn’t miss, and he had just gotten our son off to school and was crawling into bed for the first time that night when I called to let him that the hospital wouldn’t release me unless I had someone to pick me up after surgery. My incredible super-husband who hadn’t slept in well over 30 hours picked our son up from school and was there to meet me when I was released from recovery. He truly is my safe place in this storm.

We had to break the final news to our son, and I did a sloppy inadequate job of comforting him, but we just tried our best to validate the pain we are all feeling as a family. B & I went to bed when we got home around 1:30 PM, while our ds watched movies and kept quiet until B got up a couple hours later. I slept straight through for about 6 hours, just in time to wake up and tuck my son into bed, with deep gratitude for the gift God gave us in him.

There will always be a hole in our heart for “nemo”, and we are planning a little memorial for our family of three to honor and remember “nemo”. We thought it would be fitting to send some of nemo’s tissue back into the ocean, in the same place where our family started, where B proposed to me, and where we had our wedding. Life is a full circle of laughter, joy, death and pain.

Last night I started bleeding heavily and have had intense cramping for the last 24 hours. Tonight I passed a couple masses, and we said goodbye to our 11 week plus 1 day old baby that had stopped growing in my womb sometime around 5 weeks ago.

There’s no way to prepare yourself for something like this. For the past week I have agonized over every little spot, every little cramp, hoping it would miraculously stop, but knowing in my heart that something was terribly wrong. There have been tears, laughter, friends, prayers, and tonight, deep sadness tinged with guilty relief that the wondering is finally over.

How do you explain to your 6.5 year old child that the sibling they have been praying for is going to heaven before we even get a chance to meet him or her? Before we went for the ultrasound yesterday I pulled my dear sweet boy onto my lap and told him that I was having signs that something wasn’t right with the baby, and there was a good chance they would be going to heaven sooner than we hoped. Wordlessly he wrapped his arms tightly around my neck and sobbed his disappointment into my shoulder. I have no words to express how my heart shattered for him in that moment.

We had names picked out. If “nemo”, as we sweetly dubbed my tummy, was a boy his name would have been Maxwell Brian. We all love the name Max, and Brian is my dad’s name. I adore my dad and would have been honored to have the chance to name my son after him. If the baby was a girl, her name would have been Eliza Mae, named after Brent’s gran, Eliza May, but with a change of spelling to match mine and my gran’s middle name, Mae. Both our grans died before we were ready, so it seemed fitting to have our love for them grow on in our daughter.

I saw our baby on the ultrasound screen. So tiny and perfect in every way. Thank you for waiting till I was able to see you with my own eyes.

Tonight I laid on the couch with my feet on my husband’s lap, sipping red raspberry leaf peppermint tea he brewed for me, and talking to my midwife on the phone about our loss. I felt safe to cry with her because she understands the cycle of life and death like nobody else I know, and she feels like the closest thing to talking to my own mom, who passed away over 10 years ago now. We’re linked together by a unique thread. My mom labor assisted her daughter’s birth more than 30 years ago. We have both lost dear ones to cancer. She was there for me when my son was born. It makes sense that she is the first one I wanted to call to tell about our loss. I love you, sweet friend. Thank you for listening and understanding.

After both Brent and I talked to my midwife, we were commenting on the deep peace that has settled over our home and our hearts tonight. The sweet presence of God, here to witness the soul of our child being released into His care, comforting us, and confirming that all is well. Rest in peace, sweet baby. You will never be forgotten.

Please feel free to leave comments below, but we ask that you refrain from calling our home for the time being. Thank you for understanding our need for privacy…

Yesterday I went for my first ultrasound, thinking I was 11 weeks, because I’ve been having spotting and cramping for more than a week now and we were all concerned that I was possibly miscarrying.

The tech looked and looked and looked. She asked for the date of my last period. December 12th. Then she asked the date of the FIRST day of your last period. Yes, like I said, December 12th. How sure was I of my dates? Positive. I wrote it down.

I started getting nervous and asked if she could see a heart beat. Her answer was strange. Well… no… but you’re only measuring 6 weeks and 1 day, so that is normal. Huh?! My immediate thought was that the baby stopped growing and was no longer viable…

Then she swung the screen around and showed me that it likely IS viable. There was the yolk sac, the little perfect embryo, the amniotic water… The tech pointed out that the line around the uterus was clear and black, which doesn’t indicate any re-absorption, but rather growth. She also explained the spotting – implantation of the placenta.

I went out to the waiting room and told my husband and son I’d explain in the car. Prior to my appointment we had agreed that if the baby was gone, I would not invite them in, but if there was a heart beat they would come in to see. And here I was, still in limbo, with neither scenario!

Despite having polycystic ovaries, the month I got pregnant this time was the third month in a row I had a normal cycle after almost completing our healing cleanse.

When I got home I pulled up my fertility chart to see if I could make sense of it all. I started charting Dec 12th, the first day of my last period… I had signs of ovulation, and we had sex on Dec 26, Dec 29 and Jan 11th. We haven’t had sex since – we both had a horrible virus for a month, then I wasn’t feeling well, then I started spotting, so we know for SURE those are the only three possible conception dates…

I got my first positive pregnancy test result on January 12th, and referring to the cart, that would place my date of conception on December 29th, for a Sept 21st EDD. The pregnancy test was a strip. I got a positive… very very faint… couple hours later used another one and it was darker… went to the doctor’s office, and they confirmed it was positive too…

Yesterday I’m told that I have a totally normal looking viable 6 week old plus 1 day EMBRYO, putting my new due date at October 25th. I am SO confused I can’t even begin to tell you where my head is right now. That’s not possible. EVEN if I got pregnant on Jan 11th, it’s not even remotely possible I would have been able to have a positive pregnancy test on the 12th. And that still places my EDD at October 4th, NOT the 25th, so there’s still a 3 week discrepancy.

I also don’t know how to explain the whoosh whoosh of the placenta was that we heard on the doppler… or the fetal movement the doctor was sure he picked up… or the flutters I’ve been feeling… Indigestion?

I’m having my progesterone levels checked, and will hopefully have those results later this week.

Something showed up on my blood work that I am wondering about now too… apparently I have borderline hypothyroidism, which can cause slow fetal growth…

At the end of the day I’m still pregnant, albeit less pregnant than I thought. I don’t know what to think. So until I know otherwise, I’m thankful to be pregnant, and am praying for a healthy baby.

This statement may be re-posted in it’s entirety.

The admins of Gentle Christian Mothers (GCM) have felt led at this time, as we mourn the loss of seven year old Lydia Shatz[1], to issue a statement of disagreement with Michael and Debi Pearl and their child rearing methods. Not only are their methods extreme and outside the realm of normal and healthy child rearing practices, but the doctrinal foundation for these methods contain a level of heresy, including denial of the Christian doctrine of original sin[2][3], which leave them without biblical basis and at odds with the truth that all are in need of salvation which has been provided through Jesus alone[4].

Though the Pearls affirm the value of relationships in parenting in their attractive “tying heartstrings” message, their harsh teachings are in diametric contrast to building healthy relationships. They advocate “training” and “chastisement” of children, starting in infancy[5][6], using methods and means not described in Scripture — including using ¼ inch plumber’s supply line as a spanking instrument[7] and claiming that a “proper spanking leaves children without breath to complain”[8] — for stated purposes of absolving guilt and cleansing the child’s soul[9].

The combination of an adversarial us vs. them mindset where the parents must “win,” physically “disciplining” children until they surrender their will and show total submission, and false doctrine makes the Pearls’ methods dangerous. They present a very distorted picture to the world of what it means to be a follower of Jesus and a Christian parent in the world today. It is time for Michael and Debi Pearl to be held accountable for their teachings. We urge other Christians to join us in speaking out against what Michael and Debi Pearl have been teaching for far too long.

References

1. Godly discipline turned deadly: A controversial child “training” practice comes under fire — this time from Christians themselves, Lynn Harris, Feb. 22, 2010
2. Second Council of Orange (529)
3. Teaching tape on Romans 5:12-21 by M. Pearl
4. Michael Pearl on Original Sin: An Analysis, Catez Stevens, October 11, 2005
5. To Train Up a Child, M. Pearl, D. Pearl, chapter 1
6. “In Defense of Biblical Chastisement Part 2,” M. Pearl, October 2001
7. Ibid.
8. “Angry Child,” M. Pearl, August 1998
9. “In Defense of Biblical Chastisement Part 1,” M. Pearl, May 2001

This happened to me last Monday at my first prenatal visit, and I’ve decided to stop the cycle. Hopefully my experience will inspire others like me to do the same when they are put in a situation that makes them awkward and removes their voice. I challenge you, the patient, to stop being intimidated and speak up when doctors are doing things you don’t agree with. Find your voice. Take your power back.

Names removed to protect privacy…

On Monday, Feburary 22nd I had a first prenatal visit with Dr. X. She offered to see me because my regular doctor, Dr. Y, is on vacation, but I did not have a patient/doctor relationship established with her. During the visit she questioned me about my first birth, and challenged the choices my midwife and I made, which I thought was very inappropriate and upset me because the choices we made had the best possible outcome – a healthy baby and a healthy mom.

Next she took my blood pressure, which was understandably high (144/91) after all the questioning. She took me to another room to have my blood pressure checked again on a different machine, and took that opportunity to usher my husband and son out to the waiting room. I was under the impression they would come back when I returned to the examination room. I brought them with me because I wanted them present for the whole visit. Having a baby is a family affair, not a medical procedure behind closed doors.

When I returned to the examination room, she offered to do an internal exam because I had some questions about some lightly colored discharge the night before. I said no, it was probably best to leave it and see what happens, and her reply was “everyone says no to an internal, I’m going to go ahead and take charge here and just do it.” I said okay because I felt pressured by her take charge attitude, but my gut instinct was that it wasn’t a good idea.

The room was icy cold to the point that my feet were cold for hours after leaving the office. I mentioned it to her and she said the heat hadn’t been working all morning and she had performed other pap smears that day under the same freezing conditions, and they had a call in to have someone come look at it. It’s a horrible procedure under “good” conditions. Lack of heat made it unbearable.

When I returned home I was very upset to find I was spotting. I spotted off and on for the next two and a half days. At no point in the appointment did the doctor mention that an internal exam could cause spotting. I thought I was miscarrying and was very distraught, obviously not a good thing as I was trying to get my blood pressure down. It was my midwife who later reassured me that an internal exam can cause spotting and it isn’t always an indication of an imminent miscarriage.

I had a follow up appointment scheduled for yesterday morning, but after talking to my midwife, I decided to cancel it, and when I called the doctor’s office, inquired into the best way to submit a complaint about my last appointment. The receiptionist said she would find out and call me back.

I was shocked when I got a call back later that afternoon, and it was Dr. X, not the receptionist as I had expected. She invited me to share what went wrong with the appointment, and I have to say I gained a huge amount of respect for her in the way she handled my complaints. She was empathetic, apologetic, and very humble. She let me speak, heard me out, and not once made me feel foolish or inferior. A sincere apology and an honest explanation make all the difference in the world. She even took the time to read my chart thoroughly before calling me, and made me feel like I was important and she truly cared about her doctor/patient relationship with me.

I have decided to go back to the clinic to have my blood pressure checked on Monday, but we both agreed it’s in my best interest to have another doctor do the reading and appointment. I am satisfied with how a horrible appointment has now turned into a feeling of empowerment.

Moral of the story? You have a voice – use it!

There’s a trend in the pregnant community that I find disturbing. People are purchasing their own Dopplers to monitor the baby’s heart rate at home. I’m concerned about the frequency of it’s use, and how people seem to think it’s “neat” to hear the baby’s heart beat on even a daily basis without weighing the possible risks.

The other trend I have noticed is that expectant parents are opting for much more frequent sonograms/ultrasounds, not out of concern for the baby’s development, but more from an entertainment perspective. A series of videos and 3D scans to show their friends and family has a certain “cool factor” that can’t be denied.

But what about the effects of the technology on the developing fetus? If nothing else, go into the ultrasound appointment with knowledge, and make an informed decision.

Fetal doppler technology is based on the Doppler shift principle. This theory was first discovered by Christian Doppler an Austrian physicist in 1842. Doppler discovered that sound waves from a moving source would be compressed or expanded, or that the frequency would change.

Dopplers work on the principle of listening to reflections of small, high frequency sound waves (ultrasound). These ultrasound waves are generated by microscopic vibrations of pizeoelectric crystals. When the waves are reflected from moving objects, such as a foetal heart the frequency changes slightly. It is this change that is analysed by the electronics of the doppler and converted into a sound that you can hear or a digital display of the heart rate.(Source: Ana Wiz Ltd)

Some concerns about use:

While ultrasound generally is considered safe if properly used when information is needed about a pregnancy, the FDA has expressed concern over the burgeoning use of the technology for entertainment purposes, such as in “keepsake” pictures and videos.

There is evidence that the exposure of pregnant mice and nonhuman primates to ultrasound waves may affect the behavior of their exposed offspring. Additionally, studies have shown that the frequent exposure of the human fetus to ultrasound waves is associated with a decrease in newborn body weight, an increase in the frequency of left-handedness, and delayed speech.

Because ultrasound energy is a high-frequency mechanical vibration, researchers hypothesized that it might influence the migration of neurons in a developing fetus. Neurons in mammals multiply early in fetal development and then migrate to their final destinations. Any interference or disruption in the process could result in abnormal brain function. (Source: American Society of Radiologic Technologists)

More resources:

Ultrasound: Weighing the Propaganda Against the Facts (Midwifery Today)

The Dangers of Prenatal Ultrasound

Ultrasound Scans May Harm Unborn Babies

Questions about Prenatal Ultrasound and the Alarming Increase in Autism