15 weeks, 5 days: The Quickening

I felt the baby move today.

Our midwife said it usually happens around 16 weeks or so and it seems she's right. Score one for the midwife. I had been paying attention to my lower belly area for the last couple of days, trying to concentrate on whether I felt something either inside or on the surface. I was told to expect something that felt like little gas bubbles, or maybe a slight muscle twitch, or perhaps a goldfish swimming around in there. So I sat quietly in my chair, or in the shower, or in bed, with my hands on my belly and my mind tuned in. Nothing.

But this morning Jay was gone early to work and I was just lying in bed, listening to NPR with my hands on my lower belly. And I felt something, both inside and outside. Just like a little gas bubble. I thought it might be baby, but I wasn't sure because I wasn't clear as to whether one would be able to feel this little, tiny (4-5 inches long from head to rump, plus legs) baby moving from the outside, on my skin.

I carried on with my morning and didn't call Jay. Did some work, then went to visit my friends Stephen and Melanie for some xmas cookie baking and decorating. They have a 10-week-old darling little boy. Aside from a great afternoon, one tasty batch of cookies, one total disaster batch of dough that ended up in the trashcan, and a bag full of borrowed maternity clothes (yay!), I came away convinced that I had felt the baby. Mel said that the first time she felt Harold (their darling) move at around 17 weeks, Stephen had his hand on her belly and felt it at the same time she did. So you can feel it on the skin.

So tonight in the car on the way out to dinner (mmm, Onesto was very tasty) I thought I felt the baby again and shoved Jay's hand down the front of my maternity jeans so he could get a good feel. And he felt it, too! It was like a little fluttering of muscle spasms. This is what they call "the quickening," and I'm not sure if that's because you can tell the baby is stimulated and moving, or if it's because it makes your heart quicken. Either way, it's both strange and wonderful - like so much else about this process.

And yes, I am now wearing maternity jeans most of the time. I only have two pairs, so I have to treat them gently. But my pre-prego jeans are all so slim-fitting and even with the belly band they were starting to pinch around my pubic bone when I sat down. They still fit in the rump and legs, though! I've gained about 9 pounds so far. Not bad.

We met with the midwife earlier this week and I learned that the top of my uterus (the fundus, they call it) is now only about three finger-widths below my belly button. Rising on up! This baby is truckin! All health signs are still great, and she suggested I get a neti pot for the nasal congestion that is plaguing me every morning. Pregnancy congestion they call it. Feels just like hayfever every day between 2 am and noon. And then it's gone. Every. Day. Lots of tissues. Next OB appointment is on Thursday.

Time for bed.