Knock, Knock

Something extraordinary happened last night while in bed.  My soon-to-be daughter started her usual evening somersaults and cartwheels as I was lying down in bed.  My husband leaned over and put his hand on my belly wanting to feel these Olympic feats.  But mostly she's rather shy about tact and as soon as he places his hand on my belly she suddenly stops all activity.  It had been a few days since my husband last felt her kicks. So I placed his hand back on my belly and then I started soothingly calling her name.  I did this a couple of times until my husband's hand suddenly jerked up.  She had responded!  What an awesome feeling. We did this again and again, and even poked my belly a few times to see if she would respond to touch rather than voice and guess what?  She kicked again and again! So what did we do last night? Had us our first baby dialogue with our baby daughter. So moving.

Waiting for the tap dance

I’m soon approaching 17 weeks of pregnancy and waiting to feel the baby move has been a restless pursuit. About two days ago I was trying to dose off and felt two taps inside my belly, twice.  I opened my eyes and waited for a third time but it didn’t happen again.  I won’t know with certainty if this was the baby until it happens again and more often.  Some first time moms don’t experience this until week 20.  I hope that is not the case with me.

In other news, our 4-month prenatal appointment was this week. We listened to her heartbeat through the Doppler.  Every day in and everyday out, I go through my day without feeling pregnant because I’m not yet big nor conspicuously showing.  So the only reassurance of pregnancy we experience are those doctor visits, where everyone treats you like the special mom you will become and where we get to see or hear the baby.

I can’t wait for the tap dance, the monkey dance or the samba to know that she is doing well, and since her hearing is fine tuning as we speak maybe I’ll coax her with some merengue.