Lack of Movement - I Spoke Too Soon...

A few days ago, I wrote about how worried I was because I wasn't feeling Baby A move much. I can happily say that over the past few days she has become a champion mover like her sister. It still amazes me when I feel the girls move, wiggle and kick inside of me. What started as little flutters have now begun to get stronger -- some kicks actually catch me off guard and make me say "ouch" out loud.

Before a pregnant woman becomes aware of what movement feels like, you really don't know what to expect. You always hear women on TV say with great astonishment -- "Oh -- I just felt the baby kick" when they feel the baby move for the first time. So of course, since I learned everything I needed to know about life from TV, I expected that the first feeling I would feel would be an unmistakable "kick" -- when that couldn't be farther from the truth. Actually, before I felt the little flutters that many moms say feel like "little gas bubbles" I felt the babies rolling around and squirming. I was never sure if what I was feeling was movement until they got much bigger -- now I can say with great certainty those feelings are indeed the girls moving around or rolling from side to side. I say that I know with great certainty because when they do it now -- I can feel and see them.

At least once a night I call Geoff to come look at my disfigured belly. I will feel them rolling around and look down at my belly and see a huge bump sticking out of the top or side. As he looks over, he says with wide eyes -- "what the heck is that?" "It's one of your daughters" I happily reply. I still have not yet been able to distinguish exactly which part is protruding out -- but I am still fairly convinced that they are both still head down, so I suspect what I am seeing are primarily little rear ends. He then reaches over and places his hand on the hard little baby part sticking out and holds it there until he feels movement or until she moves back into a more comfortable position. When this happens, my belly resumes its normal shape and no longer looks like a scene from the movie Alien.

I have also reached the point where I can look down at my belly at any given moment and see the whole thing move or shake. Of course I also get to feel the swift kick simultaneously. This earthquake-like movement is not so great when I am in the middle of dinner, as I have conveniently learned how to use my natural "shelf" as a table.

I'm sure there will come a day when all of this movement will slow, as I know the girls will soon run out of room in my cozy uterus. When this happens, I know I will again begin to worry and resort to breaking out the doppler for reassurance -- but for now, these girls are on the move and I'm loving every minute of it!