What baby kicks feel like

Before I was pregnant I always wondered what exactly it would feel like to have a baby moving around inside you. Before I felt any movement I read that it would feel like butterflies fluttering, gas bubbles, or hunger rumblings. To me that's not how I'd describe it. I would describe it more like muscle twitches. For example, if you've ever had your leg muscles twitch after standing on them all day or had a spasm in your eyelid or something, that's what it feels like.

You're supposed to begin feeling movement around 16-25 weeks or as early as 7 weeks for 2nd+ time mothers. It was hard for me to really know if I was feeling movement or not. After a couple more weeks, though, it's hard to miss.

By now you can see my belly move if he kicks hard enough. This is such a weird experience. I'm amazed some days that people standing around me aren't seeing him kick, especially when I'm at work. Landon has watched him move and agrees that it's very weird. Remington has a tendency to kick on my left side the majority of the time. His kicks have also moved up to slightly above my belly button. When I first felt movement it was usually below or right at the top of my pants. Now I can also feel a sort of pressure like he's leaning on a leg or arm, then he'll give a big kick. I'm not able to distinguish body parts yet, but maybe some day.

Many people describe feeling the baby move as an incredibly emotional and wonderful feeling. I think it's pretty cool at times, but eh, I'm not that emotional. There was a week (around week 24) where I was feeling pessimistic and worried about having a healthy baby. Nothing in particular happened to make me worried, it was just something that I felt. Anyway, I worried that he wasn't kicking as much as he used to and that something might be wrong so I started doing kick counts. I read that he's supposed to kick at least 10 times within an hour. I silently obsessed about this for about a week and would even poke and jiggle my stomach to make him move. Conveniently, we had an ultrasound this week so we knew he was okay and the movement soon picked back up. It was a very good feeling to feel a kick at this time, when I was freaking out. Now he kicks so much I wouldn't know what to do if it stopped.

Baby movement is definately a unique experience and sharing it with Landon, especially the first time, is one of the greatest things about being expectant parents. Besides the increasing size of the belly, baby kicks are a constant reminder that you will soon be holding a beautiful baby of your own. I can not wait to hold Remington and watch those kicks and punches come from chubby, little, pink toes and fingers. :)

Picture: A huge, stuffed dog my brother bought for Remington.