Wed 13 Jul 2011
Last weekend, I was sitting at our Lake listening to an old-school R&B band perform, tucked into a low beach chair, when my right arm was pushed away from my side where it had been pressing. Simultaneously, I felt the now-familiar internal muscle spasm sensation where my arm was pushed. And that was when I realized, what I’d been feeling inside since like week 15 can now be felt from the outside. Maybe it’s because of the deep bass vibrating my insides, but she kept up her rhythm movements through the rest of the concert. It still kinda wigs me out a little, cuz it’s so similar (identical, except for location) to having a gas bubble moving around.
It took until last nite before it occurred to me to actually put my hand on my abdomen to feel for the jolts externally when I was feeling them internally. As I sat in my big plush La-Z-Boy rocking recliner reviewing some Escrow refinance docs with Mr. W on the computer, Allison continuously broke my attention by her attempts to dance a jig. I pressed a hand gently on the area she was jostling around in. She responded with a movement every 5-8 seconds. I mentioned this to Mr. W, and asked if he wanted to feel it. “I don’t think I’d be able to feel that,” he said, but I pressed his hand onto the same spot my hand was, and for a moment, I thought Allison wasn’t going to cooperate. Then she gave her daddy a high-five, in two different spots, one right after the other. Mr. W’s face lit up. “That’s neat!” he said. Then we both turned back to the Escrow docs, altho Allison really did not settle back down for more than 20 minutes at a time the rest of the night. Last nite was her most active night; usually she’ll move a bit after I’ve had something sweet, like fruit or juice, or if I’m laying in a way that puts pressure on a part of my abdomen, cuz she’ll gently tap at the pressurized spot in protest. But last nite, she was just rockin’ and rollin’ all on her own for a long time.
I told Mr. W that I wish I had an ultrasound machine so I could see what she was doing in there. She doesn’t just poke at one area like she used to; now it’s a tap on the left side, then almost immediately, a brush in the middle above my belly button, then a tap on the way left side of my abdomen. What movements is she making? Supposedly at this stage, we can hear her heartbeat with a stethoscope on my stomach, and she’s having sleeping/waking cycles. Maybe she’s an active dreamer.
Official music video by one of my fave indie artists, David Choi. “By My Side,” new, and relevant. 🙂 (By my side, by my inside, same diff. haha)
The cutest video I’d seen in a long time, and I have yet to come across an original song by David Choi that I didn’t immediately love.
This is one of the exciting things about pregnancy that I really liked! I still remember during one of my final checkups, while I was lying on the exam bed, suddenly my OB pointing at my tummy and exclaimed “What’s this?”. My son was apparently trying to say hello to my Dr. by having his buttock bulging out at the centre of my tummy. We all had a good laugh.
Don’t worry too much about your weight gain; sometimes the gain picks up a bit faster and sometime not. I added 3 lbs in one week but the following week, I lost 1 lb. So long you’re healthy and are not putting on too much will do.
Are we going to have a poll to vote for your dancer’s name? Or a name guessing corner? Just for fun. 😛
You can tell it’s a buttock? Wow! It’s been over 5 months and I’m still not “used to” pregnancy yet. There are so many changes all the time, everything’s still new.
The name’s been announced, it’s Allison.
Have you taken many photographs? You should take one every single day… belly side shots!
I’ve only taken one set of pregnancy-specific photos so far — the ones from 4 months that you’ve already seen. Every day?! Yikes. That’s a lot of photos.
You’ll wish you had. It takes 10 seconds… these last few months are going to zoom by… take some more photos. You don’t have to post them (although I’d like to see some) but keep them for you… I’m serious.
I love that song…very appropriate! Indie artists, in some ways, are so much better than Top 40, especially live.
That’s so cool you can feel her swimming around inside you.
Are you going to get a stethoscope?
Jordan – I’m not sure I want so much of my physical changes documented. But I do have another preg progress photo shoot coming up in August.
Flat Coke – Isn’t that such a happy refreshing song? 🙂 Undecided about stethoscope. We’re not even sure where to get one. Mr. W wants one, tho.
You can get a stethoscope online or at any uniform store. One of the places I shop online: allheart.com as a matter of fact Littman’s are on sale right NOW. I find better prices online than I do in the uniform shops…
cute song!
and yeah, i know how you feel about the pregnant belly shots. i took NONE with kyden. and it took a lot of convincing for me to take (and publicly post) the one i took this time around.
Jordan – ooh! thanks for the tip, I’m gonna go look!
flip flop girl – do you regret not having preggy pix?
nah, i don’t regret not having pictures of my BIG round belly =P
i DO regret not having more photos of kyden. i have plenty of iphone pics, but not many real newborn portraits =(
I didn’t think I’d regret not having preggy pix, either. But since everyone else was convinced I would, I’m doing the growth series in 3 phases. =P
I think Allie will be DSLR’ed to death upon her arrival. 🙂