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Published 05.06.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (26)
Your Baby:
You:
Okay, so the Big Thing with this week is that you MIGHT feel your baby move. The range for feeling those first delicate, pitter-pattery movements is something between week 16 and week 20. And it's different for everybody. Thin women feel it before heavier women. Women who have been pregnant before feel it before women who haven't.
Except for this thin woman who has been pregnant before and did not feel a blessed THING this week, even though I felt Noah move for the first time (clear as day!) when I was exactly 16 weeks along.
Well, let me sort-of take that back. Two weeks ago, during week 14, I swore I felt some quickening movements. It was in the right spot, over to the left a little, and felt like a few tiny soda bubbles had just popped against my insides. By the time my brain caught on to the sensation, it was long past. A couple days later, while lying quietly on the couch, I felt it again.
I spent a loooong time Googling and checking the books to see if it was AT ALL possible that I really felt what I thought I felt -- I mean, quickening is both really easy to miss and yet impossible to forget, once you've experienced it -- but came up dry. Just the same vague old language about "women who have been pregnant before feel it earlier" but no real examples of how MUCH earlier.
Whatever, I never felt it again and am still waiting for my first pregnancy-book-and-calendar sanctioned movements.
For the first-timers among us, I'm sure you've read the descriptions a million times. Little bubbles or flutters or pops or tickles. I guess these words describe it as well as it CAN be described. I used to tap the tips of my fingernails against the underside of Jason's forearm to try to give him an idea of what I was feeling (bum deal for the partner -- being able to feel the kicks from the outside is still a long way off), but it's more like an impossibly gentle and faint THUMP than a tap. Which is why, I guess, the "bubbles popping" metaphor works the best. The sensations are delicate, like a soap bubble, but there's just enough force to suggest the dramatic explosion of that little bubble.
With Noah, I found I could feel him move best while lying on my back at first, and then while sitting very quietly at my desk and focusing on my stomach. Drinking a carbonated beverage always seemed to perk him up -- I always imagined he could hear it fizzing away in my stomach and would decide to make it a rhythmic duet.
Be patient -- you'll DEFINITELY feel something in the weeks to come, depending on how active your baby is, and
Oh!
There's MY baby! I totally just felt it! And there it is again! HOLY CRAP! HI SWEET THING! Thanks for being so totally on cue there.
Oh Yeah, THIS: Uh. I completely forget what thing I was going to complain about this week now. Clogged sinuses? The misery of an unmedicated allergy season? WhatEVER. Baby just kicked! Whee!
New This Time Around: Last time I had the AWESOME side effect of not shedding any hair while pregnant. It was weird. My brushes and black sweaters remained hairball free. Of course, it all fell out a few months postpartum but during pregnancy my hair was awesome. Thick and full and I didn't have to do a THING to it. Ah. So nice. And no such luck this time. I am still shedding full chunks everyday and my hair is limp and hangy and blah no matter what I do.
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Zero to Forty is a week-by-week guide to the miracle of pregnancy and all the various indignities that come with it. The calendar follows the forty-week model and is complete for now, though the author plans to come back and add some more articles soon.
The follow-up to this column, Bounce Back, is about the postpartum experience -- the good, the bad and the gory. There Amalah is covering everything that happens to your body, mind and circadian rhythms after you have a baby, and (hopefully) help you make sense of the New Normal. You must go read that too!
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Amy Corbett Storch, aka Amalah, is a freelance writer and professional blogger from Washington, DC. She has since had this baby. His name is Ezra, he was born in October of 2008 and is delicious. Amy's first son Noah is in preschool and he's pretty edible too. NomNomNom.
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Comments (26):
Zoot said:
Okay. This kid I'm pregnant with here? Did not finally kick me until about 21 weeks. I mean, NOTHING. I think maybe once or twice I thought MAYBE something. But nothing real until week 21. And even then it was kinda wimpy. I spent the next 8 weeks or so telling everyone, "This kid is just not as active as his brother and sister were." Because he wasn't and I wanted people to reassure me that their kid was kinda lazy in the womb as well so I would feel better.
BUT NO ONE TOLD ME THAT. Everyone got that sort concerned attitude that upset me more.
Then, at like 32 weeks? He started training for a marathon and he has NOT STOPPED. He punches me in places and ways I never knew a child could reach while residing in a woman's uterus. Did he just kick my SHINS? What the hell? He climbs my ribs and pummels my spinal column.
I have no idea what my point was. Just wanted to chime in on that whole second-time expectation thing and how it can get you EVERY TIME.
Posted on May 7, 2008 16:51
Colleen said:
Felt my second kid earlier than the first (about 15 weeks), but like Zoot, he was lazy and didn't move much until the end. Then I swore he was scratching out the insides of my uterus with his tiny baby claws. Honestly...it felt exactly like when they tried to "rough up my membranes" with the first kid. Each time he did it, I nearly clawed my way to the ceiling. Kid came out with gigantic claw-like fingernails, and when he got riled-up, his hands went straight for his face in a way I never have seen any other baby do. I'd have to fight, with a NEWBORN, to hold his arms away from his face. Crazy! He also found his hands at the illustrious age of 2 weeks...way earlier than baby #1 or any of my nephews.
It's crazy how some of their movements while in utero still occur once they're out (I'm not sure why that amazes me, but it does).
Posted on May 7, 2008 17:22
heels said:
I SWEAR that I felt my son for the first time at 14 weeks. Perhaps I just have an abnormally sensitive uterus...? I can't wait to get pregnant with our second so that I can feel that again. It was so much fun!
Posted on May 7, 2008 17:33
cnanavati said:
Just wanted to chime in and say there is NO reason any woman should go through allergy season unmedicated, especially if she's pregnant and is already dealing with the rhninits of the nose thing. My allergist green-lighted Zyrtec with his blessing, along with nasalcrom and albuterol with a pulmacort back-up on especially bad days.
Let me repeat...we are pregnant...we deserve to breathe!
Posted on May 7, 2008 19:10
Audrey said:
For the allergies: try taking about 1 tablespoon of LOCAL honey a day. I used to be a Zyrtec/Claritin girl, but I have been doing this for the past three spring/summer allergy seasons and I am amazed! I have rarely had to take allergy medication. It's something about exposing yourself to the local pollen through the honey and yes, honey is safe for pregnant - and nursing - women. Good luck!
Posted on May 8, 2008 11:12
Sar said:
I'm pregnant with my first and SWEAR I felt him moving for the first time at 15 weeks. But everyone, including my own mother and family-practitioner-I-have-birthed-hundreds-of-babies father-in-law, insisted that it was gas and I could not possibly be feeling what I knew I was. Hello? I have been on this planet for a quarter century, I did not suddenly get pregnant and forget what gas feels like, thank you. Now at 27 weeks, the baby is starting to be able to reach my ribs and damn! Not as much fun as the cute little kicks to the belly button.
Posted on May 8, 2008 12:31
Jessica (aka Rose) said:
Just a quick aside about the cutting of the nails while at the hospital.
I was about to whip out my trusty file and clippers because my baby was born with unbelievably long nails and all the nurses jumped down my throat.
There are way too many germs and too much bacteria floating around hospitals to risk any unnecessary cuts on your baby. They told me to keep my baby's face protected with socks as mittens and wait to clip until I got home.
Posted on May 8, 2008 14:25
Stephanie said:
I am 16 weeks right now with my second (first child is also 2 and I live in the DC area as well). I swear I've been feeling kicking and moving for maybe 2-3 weeks now. My daughter was so active and kicky that at the 20 week sonogram the doctor actually called out "Wow! Look at her go!". Maybe my husband's and my genes combine perfectly to produce champion kickboxers.
Can I tell you how much fun it is to be at the stage of people looking at you and wondering "have you been getting fat, or are you pregnant?"
Posted on May 8, 2008 14:50
Sara said:
So I heard an old wives tale that a baby is born EXACLTY 5 months to the day that you feel them move.. How do you feel about that?? any truth to that????? Just wondering if anyone can match up their days with it..
Posted on May 8, 2008 15:54
Deborah Svoboda said:
omg...what great timing! I got the warm fuzzies from "Holy crap! Hi Sweet thing!". So now my clothes are fuzzy and I need to go to Ann Taylor. Yeah, that's it.
Congratulations on the fizzing tummy =) Are you starting to feel any better?
Posted on May 8, 2008 19:43
Amy Corbett Storch said:
Jessica - yes, I can definitely understand the no clippers (I was always too scared to use them)...although I brought a file specifically for baby's nails and there was no risk of scratching with that dull thing. (That, and few things pissed Noah off more than newborn mittens.)
Either way, though, I honestly found that biting the nails off myself worked best. Heh. Gross, but I swear it works and is totally easiest.
Posted on May 9, 2008 11:20
psumommy said:
I felt my first 3 kick at 14 weeks (I KNOW that's insane, but there was no doubt) so with this one, when I didn't feel a darn thing until 19 weeks or so, well, I was a little worried. Although I think my midwives thought it was funny because 14 weeks? Really? That's a little weird. Just wait until I hit my due date and I haven't gone into labor and I freak...because ALL 3 of my previous children went ON their due dates. ON.
A big huge congrats on that perfect little bit of timing! See, your baby was just waiting for that 'just right' moment.
Oh, and because this isn't long enough already (what do you mean, I should get out and talk to other adults every once in a while?) I'm having the same hair-thing you are. And this is something totally different this time around. My hair grew like CRAZY with the first 3- absolutely no shedding, it was fabulous! But now I swear I'm going to be bald, because the normal shedding got much, much worse. Yay.
Posted on May 14, 2008 11:16
Michelle said:
I can't remember exactly, but I believe I felt my first move around 15 weeks, really moving by the 18th and 20th week. I am pregnant with my second and certain that I began feeling those "pops" at 10 weeks. I don't recall feeling that with my first, but probably because I didn't know what I was feeling. At 16 weeks, this one is starting to roll around a lot and feels differently than I remember from my first.
Posted on June 16, 2008 20:08
aminah said:
I'm 16 weeks+1 and this week I started noticing my uterus popping out on the right side. I had woken up and there was this lump sticking out and I was like, "huh"? I found it is indeed the uterus and now it pops out all the time, always on the right side only. AND when I'm laying or even sitting down like right now and it's popped out, I can feel the baby kicking or elbowing or flipping....from the outside! I'm very thin so that may be the reason, but yeah, I can feel it from the outside down there. I'm really hyper now, I have to tell everyone!
Posted on June 26, 2008 11:57
Veronica said:
I started to feel the baby move a little before I hit 13 weeks and thought I was imagining it. Then I had a scan and got to see and feel the baby kick simutaneously.
It probably helps that I am quite thin (and have lost more weight than I want to think about, needless to say I want my BUM BACK!) and that this is pregnancy #2.
Posted on July 19, 2008 08:50
Diana said:
Well, I had a psychotically active child with legs of steel. I felt his first movements at - get this - 13 weeks 2 days! He is 17 months old now and he still has a soccer kick that could break a bone. He was trying to stand up when he was only a few weeks old and he actually broke my water a month early with a well-aimed kick. I'm now 4.5 weeks pregnant with another little one and it will be interesting to see how early I feel this kiddo's movement. One thing I have to say is that I can feel almost ANYTHING that happens in my body. I can feel when I ovulate and on what side. I can tell you which side I was ovulating on when I got pregnant with my kids: right, left, left. The doctor said that is probably why I was able to feel my son moving so early.
Posted on August 19, 2008 20:58
Lorna said:
when i had an ultrasound at 13 weeks my doctor actually said 'i would not be surprised if you start feeling this baby in the next couple of weeks'. it kept using its legs to launch off from one side of the uterus so its head would bang the other side and then slide back down and do it all over again. i felt the baby at 16 weeks... not every day, but every couple of days i would feel it - especially when i had cream of tomato soup. now at 18.5 weeks i feel the baby every day... i was told it was gas at 16 weeks too - but it was a new feeling, like a little thump from the inside... crazy!
Posted on September 16, 2008 13:53
Kelly said:
YAY! So I'm not crazy to think that I felt him/her move last week (at 15 weeks exactly!) A tiny little bubble-pop twack! Was totally cool, can't wait for more!
Posted on November 3, 2008 11:47
violist83 said:
I am pregnant with my first and I completely swear I felt my baby move at exactly 15 weeks. The feeling had been described to me previously and I had been waiting for it. It happened in the middle of symphony rehearsal, but I swear that's what it was cause I feel it all the time now. Definately an awesome feeling for a first time preggo.
Posted on November 8, 2008 13:16
Lauren said:
I'm sure everyone has their share of crazy prego dreams, but I just had to share this one. In my dream, we were finding out the sex of the baby. The ultrasound tech said "Ok, here is the penis..." Oh, yay, we're having a boy, awesome. Then she continued "...and here is an ovary." And then she just walked out of the room like it was perfectly normal for my baby to have a penis and an ovary!
Posted on December 1, 2008 10:08
Della said:
Yeah, well, I'm posting this way after you (author) will ever read it, but I suppose perhaps someone like me who is enjoying the 0-to-40 much later might appreciate it:
Whenever my little guy decided to get active, I thought it felt similar to when you're holding a plastic baggy with a goldfish in it, and the goldfish decides to wobble around in the baggy.
Posted on January 20, 2009 12:27
Rachael said:
I'm 16 weeks with my first and am overweight - I swear I felt the first movements right around 14 weeks - but only if I laid there and really concentrated on my uterus, and only right before I fell asleep. Lately I've felt it during the night when I'm sleeping in a position that apparently the baby doesn't like - half on my side, half on my tummy - I get these little jabs and wake me up and I realize baby is not happy! I'm excited to feel more than just "bubbles" though I'm sure I'll regret saying that later!
I like the goldfish bouncing off the bag description.
Posted on February 16, 2009 18:09
Brittany said:
This is my first and I swore I felt it move at 14 weeks EVERYONE told me it was impossible being my first pregnancy you never feel it until late in the 19th week or the the 20th week well now being 16 and a half weeks last night when i was laying down quietly i started poking lightly at my belly and then shined a light on my belly once i did that i felt a very light but distinguished thump in the right spot, it only happened once but it was the same feeling i had a few weeks ago that evryone kept telling me was gas.....
Posted on April 10, 2009 12:18
Sharon said:
Okay, I totally used the goldfish-in-a-bag analogy with my first pregnancy, and everyone I said it to was like "oh.. ew... really? you're comparing your baby to a fish?" But it really does feel like that. And I'm so glad to hear it from someone else too!
I'm 16 weeks with my second, and have felt it a few times *I think*, but it may be wishful thinking -- I'm, er, significantly heavier than I was with my first, so I guess I might have to wait a while longer to be sure.
Posted on April 28, 2009 15:02
steph said:
I am 16 weeks. love going to bed--it's me and baby time! (hubby hates when I say that) If I lay on my side, I can feel a pinging popping feeling like a goldfish against its bag (I like that one!). I am sooo excited! Especially if this one works after my three miscarriage and one tubal preg disasters.
Posted on May 21, 2009 19:41
JennyRaz said:
My doctor told me that most women insist they feel their baby move long before the books tell them its possible... so why aren't the books catching up. This is my third pregnancy and I know I felt my baby move in what I thought was week 14, it turns out it was week 15, though, as they just changed my due date. Either way, I felt it and my doctor agreed I most likely knew what I was feeling better than the books did. :)
Posted on May 27, 2009 14:51