I got one. Not until I was about 14 weeks. But I love it. It's so reassuring to hear the heartbeat more often than once a month. I listen to it everyday lol
I love mine. I worry an insane amount since I have suffered 4 losses before this baby. I only use the doppler maybe 2 times a week and only for a few min because it emits tiny amounts of heat the longer its on plus sound waves. There are NO STUDIES showing a doppler is harmful to a fetus. I have used it so many times now I can find the heartbeat within seconds. Its crazy cool its so fast like a little bunny, so much faster than ours and it brings me so much peace hearing it for a few seconds every few days. Knowing we are supposed to try to stay calm and happy especially in early pregnancy, I can't think of a better way to do it.
*note: it is really difficult to find the heart beat early on, but once you figure out where it is it is usually easy to keep finding in the same position and place. Like for me, I had to be standing up. I could never find it laying down.
For me, it was priceless. I was an anxious mess all the time and being able to check on her whenever I started panicking soothed my soul. There have been a few times since she started moving around that she didn't for a while and instead of freaking out and running to the Dr, I got my reassurance within a minute. Best $50 I ever spent!
And before you can feel baby it takes a minute for the doctor to even find the heart beat, cause baby could be in any position.. Freaks me out to do it myself. So I decided to not worry about it and let them check it at appointments. Then the further along if baby is head down then the heartbeat is usually found in the same place, and you can feel more so there is less worry there
I did have one before but ended up returning it because it was really hard to use, and it made me freak out everytime I couldn't find the baby's heart beat. I say it's better not to have one, but that's just me.