Rockin' and Rollin'

{{Mark and I did our entries independently of one another… it may make you chuckle how similar they are!}}

I’m 36 weeks along now – roughly 8 months… 4 weeks left (if she shows up on time).

One of the first questions asked is whether or not I feel her moving, my answer “All the time.” But that doesn’t sound as much fun as it is.

I remember, early on in the pregnancy, looking forward to what it would feel like – to feel something inside of me moving. Then, sometime in the summer, I lied in bed one night and thought “was that it?” I lied there without moving, breathless, waiting to feel her again, which is usually precisely when she’d stop moving. I didn’t realize that would be a trend to continue for the next several months. For the next week or so, I’d hurry to get ready for bed and look forward to those few moments of quiet, when I wasn’t moving, and the sounds of the day drifted away and I’d wait for her. Wait to feel some sign that she’s still in there.

I told my sister “I think I feel her moving – I think that’s her, anyway.” My brother-in-law promptly told me that it “could be gas” which is EXACTLY what an expectant mom DOESN’T want to here when she thinks she’s felt her baby for the fist time. Though all the books I’ve read have said the same thing. Very unromantic, isn’t it? That the first time you feel your baby it may be gas?... yikes.

Either way, you eventually come to the moment you KNOW what you’re feeling is your baby – which is really amazing. Little kicks and jabs here and there, mostly at night or any time you’re resting. Then one day, she decided to let me know she’s up and about during the middle of the day. I was talking to someone, at work perhaps, and feeling all this movement inside. It’s funny that no one else could tell when the movement felt so massive to me.

There was one time I went to a baby shower at work at 11am for another gal (who just had a beautiful baby boy). That’s when our baby started really moving. She moved through that entire baby shower which was the first prolonged movement I’d felt from her.

There have been nights when she’s hardly moved at all (highly disappointing) and a few times her movements were so abrupt I flinched and even yelped once. I’ve had nights when I thought I’d never be able to fall asleep because she was squirming so much and then I’d have nights when I’d think “If she doesn’t move soon I’m not going to be able to fall asleep!” It’s very reassuring to feel that steady movement. What I really enjoy is that she seems to move a lot when I see a musical. Every time that music starts up she starts jamming. I, of course, think that means she’ll love music as much as I do. Mark likes to tease me and says the movement means she hates it. Of course, when we watched a basketball movie, I’m sure you know what her movement meant then!

Now, it’s all the time, unless I draw Mark’s attention to it… then she stops – which is highly annoying, by the way. It’s still most pronounced when I’m lying down. The movement can make me giggle and make me flinch. Sometimes she’s moving so internally the only thing I can feel is extra pressure on my bladder or on some other inner organ I can’t identify. And then there are times I lift my shirt up and watch the most amazing rolling, moving, bulging, jiggling I’ve ever seen. It’s just fascinating.

I like to feel around and find the harder spots and try to figure out what it is… the head, the bottom, the foot. Mark thinks I’m too rough in poking around but I think she’s pretty well padded and it lets her know that she’s loved! Today if I press my hand against those spots, eventually, she’ll push back.

It is truly a rare experience… and a treat!