Pregnancy Update

My pregnancy symptoms have been close to nil, which makes me both happy and worried. I feel like it's normal to not be very symptomatic during the second trimester, but I also worry that it means something is wrong. Also, I haven't had much of an appetite these last few weeks, and it's hard to make myself eat enough protein. When I do eat, I just want a bowl of cereal or an apple.

The only symptoms I seem to have are a bit of swelling and frequent urination. There are some parts of the day when my wedding rings start to feel tight from my swollen fingers. I'll probably have to remove them soon. As for peeing... it wasn't bad at all during the first trimester, but it's been terrible this whole trimester. There are frequent periods where I have to get up and pee every 20 minutes. Embarrassingly, I've also made sure to always wear a liner because a small amount urine seems to leak out a couple times a day. It's not enough to go through my clothes or anything, but I don't want to stink like pee! I know it's a fairly common side effect of pregnancy, but I don't like it one bit.

The good news is that I've gone two mornings in a row with absolutely no bleeding or spotting. This is the longest I've gone without bleeding in about three weeks.

I'm officially well into my 18th week of pregnancy and have started month five. I don't feel any kicks or movement, which makes me feel confident that the sensations I felt starting in week 12 were not kicks at all. I knew they were too strong, but I couldn't image what else they were. They felt exactly like strong baby kicks. Now, I wonder if they were strong muscle spasms from straining myself too much because I haven't had them at all since I was put on limited activity.

My next check-up is in a week and a half, and I'll get an ultrasound. I can't wait to see the ultrasound and know that everything is going OK. I really hope to see lots of movement, a healthy heartbeat, and no blood in the uterus!

Baby Kicking? Part II

I'm still not sure what to make of the sensations I'm feeling. Two weeks ago, I started to feel an occasional spasm that felt exactly like a baby kick, but when a baby is much older (like 25 weeks). I finally decided that it must not be the baby because the feeling was so strong.

This morning, I was holding Oliver on my left hip and leaned to my right and felt a huge "kick" on my right side, near my belly button. It startled me so much! I was shocked how strong it was and felt more confident than ever that it wasn't a kick. No baby this early could kick so hard! I worried it's a weak muscle or something spasming.

Then, just a few minutes ago, my husband called. Oliver was playing with his bowling pins, so I took the opportunity to sit on the couch and rest. I sat down and talked to him for about two minutes when I felt a sudden, firm "kick" in the same place, about two inches directly to the right of my belly button. It was so firm and startled me so much that I let out a scream and dropped the phone. I tried to explain to my husband that it didn't hurt at all (it felt like a baby kick, but how could he know what I meant). He worried, though, which made me worry, so I called my midwife. She was telling me my "pains" could be gas pains. I understood she was trying to keep me from worrying, but I knew that I wasn't feeling painful gas. This was a momentary burst of sensation that feels just like a baby kicked me. It's not a cramping and extended pain. She told me it's certainly possible to feel a baby at 14 weeks, but I still felt like there could be no way that these hard "kicks" could be baby kicks this whole time. How is that possible?

Have any of you felt distinct, firm baby kicks this early? Enough to make you yelp in surprise?

Baby Kick? Nah...

Let me start out by saying that I'm 12 weeks pregnant as of today. At my ultrasound appointment on Wednesday, they claimed I was 12 weeks and 3 days. So, it's possible I'm 12 weeks and 5 days along.

That's beside the point.

When I was pregnant with Oliver, I didn't feel him kick until well after 20 weeks. I heard it takes a lot longer to feel it with the first because you don't know what it feels like.

Well, on Wednesday, I held Oliver on my left hip. I was talking to him, and it felt like someone took their finger and poked me on the right side of my stomach. I was so surprised, I jumped! I immediately called Andrew and told him, but I insisted it had to be a weird muscle spasm or something since it's so early in the pregnancy.

I left it at that until an hour ago when I had the same sensation. I felt a little poke on the front area of my stomach, but to the right again. What the heck?! I knew I definitely felt something, but I didn't think it could possibly be the little one. I looked it up online and read that the earliest you can possibly feel movements is at twelve weeks. I'm dumb founded.

I still hesitate to say, "I felt him/her move!" I think the third time will be the charm.

Andrew Feels a Kick

Andrew made me a snack of apple slices and peanut butter. Soon after I started eating, our little boy started going nuts in my tummy. I started to feel all sorts of kicks. Andrew put his hand on me to try to feel them, and at first missed out. After a little lull, I started to feel the kicks again, only this time hard enough to make me jump. Andrew came over and put both hands on my stomach just in time to feel a whole series of sharp kicks! It was so exciting. He looked up at me, giggling, and said, "What have we done?" (sarcastically, of course). I love that he felt it, too... that someone else gets to feel the little thumps our baby boy makes.

First Kicks

On Monday, Andrew picked me up to go look at some townhomes. As we were driving, I felt a little thump in my lower abdomen. I thought it was unusual, and then about five minutes later, it happened again. I couldn't be sure, but I thought it was probably our baby kicking!

That night, I was laying down and reading, and I started to feel it again. And then yesterday (Tuesday), I felt some thumps at lunch. It's so exciting! And weird, to know there's a person inside of you, kicking you. I'm getting excited to meet our little guy, but I'm also excited for the rest of the pregnancy, when Andrew can start feeling those little thumps, too!