Baby flails 101

Every mother, even the 'veteran', is interested in fetal movement. Though we all go through it it's different for each one of us; ranging from aches, to flutters, to a popping bubble sensation and even the occasional mistaken gas bubble. This is my personal experience.

In only 2 months my little monster has gone from lightly tapping on my belly to feeling like an octopus having a seizure. It started out at 16 weeks feeling like a small, quick push on my abdominal wall. Similar to having a sore muscle gently poked. It was rare and minor for the most part making me question it a bit but then a huge rush at work confirmed that he was alive and kicking in there. The aches became slightly more pronounced for about 30 minutes especially when bent over the sherbet cooler. When mentioned to my doctors they all tell me that I wouldn't feel it at 16 weeks but on this one I'd have to go with mothers intuition. Shortly after the rush at work I experienced the dreaded 'days of silence' where all those fascinating little aches seemed to cease all together. But, as every pregnant woman knows the number one rule of pregnancy is "DON'T PANIC!" so I carried on and gave the fetus time to warm up again. The little guy must have taken some tae-bo classes while I wasn't paying attention. After a long week he came back like Bruce Willis in Die Hard 3 leaving no doubt in my mind that his development was going swimmingly. I'm sure the dose of Omega complex everyday helps, as well as helping mom to avoid those dreaded side affects of being prego.

From then on the kicking has been normal, steady and increasingly stronger. Though he seemed shy at first, going still when I would poke my belly or move about, he appears to be coming out of his figurative shell as of late with a light tap inspiring a flurry of activity within and no amount of walking slowing him down. Since kicking my hubby in the head one evening there hasn't been much head to belly interaction but that doesn't mean we haven't both been reveling in the activity. For just over a month now the kicks have been extremely visual conjuring up images of the Alien movies. As for how it feels, it's akin to an empty tummy bubble at times and a full length stretch by the little bugger at others. Causing a pressure on opposite sides of my abdomen elongating it into a bizarre oval shape and pushing my organs into unique, never felt before locations. I must say the weirdest kicks so far have landed on my diaphragm, just under my rib cage, and on my lower intestines, giving that opposite of a fart bubble feeling. All this activity does inspire the usual mental images of somersaults, marathon runs and flailing fits.

Though I know his arms are just as active as the rest of him I don't seem to feel them as distinctly most likely due to his proper positioning, which is yet to been seen. As of the last ultrasound, 2 months ago, he was still heads up but I think he figured it out. Almost all the activity has been just under my bust and above my belly button leading my to conclude that it's either his feet or the little bugger has figured out how punch above his head already. I'm going with feet.

The best confirmation of these weird sensations have been the doctors appointments. Starting with my very first ultra sound at 12 weeks revealing a crazy little worm that proceeded to spin front to back first showing his spine then his belly every few seconds giving the doc a run for her money. Come to find out this was going to be par for the course. At the following, 20 week ultrasound the whole thing was a little complicated with each measurement being 'to the best of their ability' due to the spasticity rivaling a 3 year old the day after Halloween. Same 'guesstimating' format at work for the sexing of the baby. Since then I haven't had another ultrasound but I did receive the usual fetal heart monitor check with unusual results. The heart beat was perfect, once she found it. After roughly 5 minutes of moving from one side to the other and cracking jokes about "of course the last one of the day would have to be the hardest" and "all the other one's were very cooperative" she finally found a spot where he was still for just long enough to properly assess before disappearing back into the static.

The best part of all this vigor is the irrelevance of doing kick counts. He's developed his schedule of a minor morning and after noon workout and then an all night party from about 6pm - 6am leaving no questions of wither or not he's still alive in there. In the end it's all been a lot of organ rearranging, entertaining doctors visits and highly amusing nights on the couch spent watching my little alien stretch and squirm. For now I'm enjoying the show before it turns into the cramped, rib cage jabbing slug fest of the final weeks when "get this thing out of me" becomes my personal motto just before the critter bursts out of me to wreak havoc on the rest of the world.

Countdown: 12 weeks (I'll put a nifty electronic one up soon)