Kickin' it

I'm in my 17th week of pregnancy with little peep #2, and the flutters and little taps have my heart all in flutters too! With Sevryn, I felt the first kicks at 16.5 weeks, and I distinctly remember it feeling like popcorn popping- like 5 little rapid twinges in one place.  So cool!

This time, I did feel the baby a bit sooner- around 14/15 weeks, mostly because I knew what to be looking for.  With your first pregnancy, you really don't know what a kick feels like, and it can easily be mistaken for a gas bubble. In fact, after I gave birth, I was still feeling "phantom" kicks for a while, just because every time my stomach gurgled, I felt like it was a baby kicking! Did this happen to any other moms?

I think the strangest part about feeling a fetus kick inside you is that you mentally have to register that it's NOT in your control, and you can't MAKE it happen again.  Since it's inside your body, you feel like you can control it and make it happen, and it's so weird that it's a separate PERSON that's independently moving and squirming inside you! Ah! I can't even tell if I'm making myself clear, but I'm sure some other moms will understand.

When I first felt the baby kick, I would find myself mentally WILLING the baby to move again, as if I somehow had something to do with it (haha). And since those first twinges are SO faint and so sporadic, it can be frustrating when you feel a kick and then you're like... "COME ON!! DO IT AGAIN! PLEEEASE!"

When I had an ultrasound at 13 weeks, the baby was moving and kicking so much, it took about an hour for the techn to get the measurements she needed because the baby was moving and flipping so much and wouldn't stay still.  As I laid there, I realized that again, I was mentally trying to make the baby stay still, and I laughed out loud as I told the technician. It's so weird that you feel like you have something to do with it, but you absolutely don't!

I feel this little soccer player a whole lot more often now, and it's definitely getting stronger. This one moves a lot more than Sevryn did- she was a relaxed, chill baby.  I can feel kicks on one side of my belly and then on the complete opposite, so I know this baby is doing some major gymnastics in there! It really is such a relief when you start to feel movement, because you spend so much time wondering if everything is ok in there. I'm thankful for every little flutter (no matter how ticklish!) that tells me everything is gonna be fine :)