I have been meaning to write about our active baby for some time, and since I have written in this blog so sporadically, I should probably start at the beginning.
First contact
When I was just over 16 weeks pregnant I felt our little one move for the very first time, yet I was not sure then it was baby I was feeling. I was laying down in bed resting before falling asleep, and I experienced an odd sensation in my lower abdomen which felt similar to a muscle twitch. You know how a muscle can twitch spontaneously - you can feel it move, but you did not instruct it to move? That is what it felt like. This sensation continued to occur and became more frequent daily. It did not take long for me to figure out that I was indeed feeling baby move around and I remember how excited I was. It was as if it finally occurred to me that I was really carrying a baby! Magical. That's really the best way to describe how I felt at this realization.
Daddy's baby
Not too long after I began to feel baby, John too was able to feel our little one move around. On the evening of 10/1/09 as I was reclining - almost laying down - I pressed John's hand to my abdomen below my navel when baby was particularly active. At first it was hard for John to differentiate between the movements of my ab muscles, my heart beat and the baby's kicks. But then, as if baby was trying to reach out to his Daddy, baby kicked very strongly - a sensation John couldn't mistake for anything other than baby's movements. John was so amazed, and almost a little weirded out at this encounter. Baby continued to kick strongly so that John could feel him move for several minutes more.
I cannot speak for John, but I can report that the look on his face was a mix of awe and disbelief. I could see his mind trying to grapple with the "oddness" of feeling baby move, and the strange realization that a little human is growing inside me. We consider ourselves thoughtful people, but feeling baby move makes the concept of gestation a reality!
Baby kicks!
In an effort to share pregnancy with John as much as possible, I tell him whenever baby is moving around. I announce "baby kicks!" whenever I feel a wiggle, jab or twitch from our little one. I think John likes these announcements, and I think he feels a bit of pride in how active his little guy is. New parents feel pride in every tiny thing, right?
But seriously, our little one is active, and I'm pretty sure we are in trouble when he is no longer in utero. Our OBs have us keep track of baby movements every day. The theory is that if baby moves 10 times in an hour, then there's plenty of amniotic fluid which baby must have to be safe and healthy as gestation progresses. The exercise is to keep track of how long it takes baby to make 10 movements, and to record them in a journal for the OBs. We have been monitoring this since my 28th week, so we've been at it for almost 8 weeks now, and only once has it taken baby more than 20 minutes to make 10 movements. Many days baby makes 10 movements in under 10 minutes which makes counting & tracking easy for me, but I can already imagine how things will be after he is born!
Feats of strength
In addition to the crazy amount of movement, now that baby is getting bigger his ability to kick at our hands and distend my abdomen is absolutely amazing. He is so strong! Daily I watch his somersaults; sometimes pushing my belly out a full inch! It amazes me that something so small can push so hard - especially considering he has to push against the inside of the uterus, ab muscles, and my generous "padding" first! You know how scientists speak of ants and their ability to lift things many times in excess their own body weight? Well that's how I feel about baby!
Play time
One of baby's favorite games is to push against anything resting on my abdomen (or as John calls it,"his" abdomen). It started one day with a book I was reading, which I had rested on my belly. All of a sudden the book started bobbing up and down very noticeably. My initial reaction was that I was breathing hard, but after checking myself I sat amazed watching baby nearly toss the book off my belly.
Later that same evening John placed his hand on my belly trying to catch some of baby's movements as he was wiggling all over. Baby stopped moving as soon as John placed his had on my belly (another game baby likes to play - one I think of as "playing possum"). But then, all of a sudden, baby started pushing vigorously against John's hand and only John's hand. Even though John was not pressing very hard, baby knew exactly where his had was placed. We decided to see if baby would push again if we moved John's hand to another location on my abdomen. Sure enough, every time we moved his hand baby found it and pushed back. Gestational patty-cake!
I'm guessing that none of these experiences are out of the ordinary during pregnancy, but they're certainly amazing to me! People have started to ask if I am ready for baby to come since his due date is just over 4 weeks away. And while I feel as "ready" as I will ever be, I know I will miss his little antics in my abdomen. I feel like I already know a little bit about him and his playful personality (he reminds me of John) and I thoroughly enjoy the connection we share.
