I’ve been waiting for this since Day 1. Of course, the first trimester distracted me from actually feeling pregnant and it was more like I was suffering from… well, just suffering. But ever since I’ve been feeling better and more like my old self than I did in the past few months, I’ve been waiting to feel it. To feel some sign of life inside me.
Sure, the ultrasounds showed me, but I wanted to feel it.
The day I completed 16 weeks, it happened.
I was lying in the bed, reading just before going to sleep when I felt a 360-degree flip inside my belly. I was ecstatic. I had read that I should be able to feel the baby moving anywhere between weeks 16 and 22, and there it was, on the dot, just like my morning sickness. I was so, so happy that I stopped reading and stayed still for a few minutes in the hope that I’d feel it again.
Nope. Nothing. Nada.
*disappointed*
To add to this, I had my first experience of heartburn that night too, at 3 AM no less. This baby was doing things to my body like clockwork, I tell you. Never mind that these ‘things’ didn’t happen consistently and for things like heartburn, I was thankful that they didn’t, but I thought it was kind of mean to let me feel some movement for barely a second and then stay still.
For another FOUR WEEKS.
That’s right. Baby Bear made me wait another four weeks, that’s TWENTY EIGHT DAYS, before I could feel that ‘bubbly’ joy again.
It was a hot Saturday afternoon and in addition to chilled water and iced tea, I had a Popsicle and it felt great. In the eagerness to devour the glorious piece of flavoured ice, I bit a huge chunk of it.
And then I felt it.
I immediately took my husband’s hand and placed it on my belly because it was still happening. Sadly, he couldn’t feel it (and almost a week later, still can’t) but I was over the moon.
Over the next few hours, it happened once or twice more. That night, I was so desperate to feel the baby moving that I had another Popsicle. And here’s what happened.
I had a Popsicle yesterday & the baby moved. So I had one again last night & a while ago. No reaction. #moodybaby #pregnant #20weekspregnant— Mamma Bear (@beingmammabear) May 8, 2016
But later that night, as I was about to sleep, Baby Bear began, what I’d like to call, its* dance. I’m sure it wasn’t ‘dancing’ but there was so much movement, that it’s all I could think the baby was up to. And I was so excited about being able to feel it that I didn’t want to sleep.
I stayed awake for another hour (maybe more, I lost track of time) because I didn’t want to miss anything. Turns out, the movements, even though adorable and exciting, when they become strong, won’t let you sleep and it’s not just because you want to stay awake. But that night and the next, I stayed awake a little longer on purpose.
My friends who have been pregnant have termed this as ‘normal.’ Not my normal, normal people’s normal, so yay! 🙂
Another strange thing that happened after I felt those first flutters was the dreams. The first two nights I dreamed that I’d already had the baby. And here’s a funny thing: in the dream, even though the baby was really tiny, as in, barely able to hold its head up on its own kind of tiny, I asked the baby if their diaper needed to be changed and the baby said ‘no.’ Yes, the baby actually told me that the diaper was fresh and I could let it stay on a while longer.
Now I know it’s silly but don’t weird things happen in dreams anyway? Also, how cool would it be if a 4 or 6-week-old baby could tell their mamma if they needed a diaper change? LOL.
So after a while (still in the dream) I did change the baby’s diaper and obviously saw the baby’s private parts. Now considering that they won’t tell us the sex of the baby here in India, do you think what I saw (or didn’t see :P) in my dream could be an indication of whether I’m having a girl or a boy?
Let me know. 🙂
Love.
P.S. It requires mention that the baby is happily (I hope) moving inside and that makes me one happy mamma. 🙂
*As of now I’m calling the baby ‘it’ because: a) I don’ t know if my baby is a boy or a girl, and b) I don’t want to assume one only to find out it’s the other.
Being Mamma Bear 