Baby Boy Kicks

I felt Baby Boy kick me last night, very well and obvious. It was a very reassuring feeling. For the last week I've been feeling little flutters and quick cramps that I wasn't sure of. But now I know what those feelings are. I love that I've been feeling the kicks on and off all day.

Chris being Cute

Chris has been so cute and sweet about LBG! I was worried that he wasn't feeling "involved" in the pregnancy (other than that initial bit) but I think that since he's started being able to feel her and see her move around he's come around to it. He's super excited about her, and it's so cute. He touches my belly a lot, and every night before we go to sleep he puts his head on it and talks to her. He's even read to her a little bit. It's so cute.
And she responds! She locates his voice and starts pushing back on him. Just the thought of this makes me smile so much. He gets so excited, and honestly... so do I. It's good to know that she "knows" his voice. She pushes around his nose or cheek, I'm assuming with her foot (because she should be head down by now and it's pretty strong).
He's so cute about the whole thing... and I love it. I'm glad to know he's excited. Not that I thought he wasn't, I've just been playing the whole thing down a bit because I'm worried about other peoples feelings. But there are times I just want to shout out about her. I don't like hogging the conversation, but I could talk about her for hours! I'm really excited about her, and he seems to be too. Which makes me super happy. I really was a bit worried about him not feeling involved. But I think he's fine. I love my husband, and I love LBG. This family has a great amount of love for each other before it's even seen each other.
Ooo... she's got the hick-ups again. We both got too excited. Time to stop typing for a bit. Night. :)

Kicks a Miss

Little baby girl (LBG) worried me today... and last night. It's all good, but I just wanted to document it for myself.
Alright, so last night I ate waaaayy too much, which I didn't think was too much because it was a pretty average sized sinner, but then the desert was a bit big and probably put me over. A ton of sugary goodness, that after I ate it was almost instantly regretting having it all to myself. Oh, glutony, what a cruel cruel thing.
Anyway, My stomach was feeling super-dooper tight, and was visibly so too because Chris was concerned when he saw it. I went and tried to relieve it by relaxing in the tub for a bit, but that only worked slightly. So then I decided to get up and walk around a bit, you know exercise it off maybe. So I went out and picked up the doggie doo (at 9:30pm). That didn't work either.
That's when I started to notice that I ahdn't felt her move. I mean, I had noticed it at first, but just thought she couldn't because of everything I ate. I went and laid down for a little bit, and still couldn't get her going. Finally I just gave in to my superior worring skills and called the "baby hotline."
The "Baby Hotline" is a special thing I signed up for free of charge with BCBS. They have 24 hour nurses on call for any worries or questions I might have. I asked her what I should do, and she said to drink a lot of water, then go lay on my left side and count her movement. She should move 5-10 times in one hour. Well, she did, but it was barely. So I still worried and didn't get a lot of sleep because I coudln't feel her when I normally could (rolling over, getting up to go pee, etc). So when I got up at 3am and couldn't feel her any more I lay worrying. I woke Chris up and borrowed his iPhone so I could play her music. I played a number of songs, but only got 1 kick... and that worried me a lot because they were songs she usually went crazy on! I voiced my concern, but then went back to sleep because she had kicked.
When I got up this morning for work I was so exhausted. She didn't kick me at all like she normally does early on. So again, I was worried, but figured it was because we were both exhausted. Went to work and she laid low the whole time. When I got home I ate and drank some juice (something the nurse had reccomended last night, but I didn't have any)(the juice is good because of the sugar), then I went and laid down again. Nothing. No movement. LBG was scaring the crap out of me now!
Let's recap: Last night my stomach was feeling super dooper tight, add to that her lack of movement. Then since then I'd started to get cramps that felt like really bad menstrul cramps.
So I decided I'd call my nurse here locally and see if I needed to go in or what. She gave me the same advice "drink lots of liquids, preferably juice, lay down on my left side and count the kicks." There were some mild differences: "I mean, a ton of liquids; like those 42-oz big gulps," and for the kicks "there should be 6-10 per hour," she also added "to maybe have something sugary to eat." So I did. I followed the instructions as best I could. I only had one more juice box, so I didn't drink that. But I did have a miniature Hershey bar from our trick-or-treat stash and two full tall glasses of ice-cold water (I'd read that they respond a bit more if it's really cold). Then I went and laid down. She started kicking right away. I got to six before half an hour. She was doing just fine, she even gave me some weird little movements that are still hard to describe (but I'll try: it's like she adjusted her position, and sat on it).
To conclude, yes, she scared me, but everything's alright. She's up and moving as I type. My stomach hurts off and on, but I'm trying to take it easy and eat a little at a time. Maybe I'm dehydrated?

Baby Kicks Chris

Yeah!!! So excited! These last few days I've been able to visibly see her kick more and more. Last night when we all went to bed, she was doing so big time. At first I just had Chris put his hand on my stomach and feel, but then I figured out that he doesn't know what he's feeling for and that it'd be much easier for him to see it beforehand. Chris let me use his iphone and we played some jovial music on it and she became very visible about it! Chris saw the baby kick! So then he put his hand over where she was kicking and was able to feel her! It was such a cool thing! I know I notice her move a lot, but last night with all the music... it was cute, and she would somewhat follow it (not rythmically, but location wise). Like originally we put the phone's speaker right below my bellybutton (which has not popped out fully yet), and she'd kick at that area. Then we moved it to the side, and she'd kick at it over there! It was so cool! Although I'm not sure if that means she liked the music or was trying to get rid of it. It was an awesome thing that I'm so glad Chris can finally be a part of.

Rolling Over

Last night I had an epiphany (that I think I had before, so a re-piphany): The baby rolls over every time I do. She was kicking me really hard right after I'd roll over. I think she was trying to get situated or something (because even though they're in the fluids, it's still not zero-gravity. So I was wondering how good this was for the baby, and it's apparently okay. It just worried me if I needed to slow down my rollover, or something. It's good to feel her kick, but I don't want her to be uncomfortable.

Quick Update

My belly button is almost fully popped out. It's odd feeling.
Also, whenever she had hickups today (or was kicking me extremely), I had major bowel movements. I don't know if it's due to what she's doing on the inside or vice versa.

I just have to say...

Someone was saying that the best time in their life was when they were pregnant (I think it was Patty, but I'm not sure). And I'm finding that to be true as well. I look at Linda and have asked her if her little one is kicking her a lot, and she seems a bit annoyed by it when she answers. But I absolutely love it when she kicks! It reminds me that she's there, otherwise I just feel regular (with some extra weight and heartburn). But I cannot wait until Chris can feel her kick too (not that I want it to end anytime soon, I just want him to be able to feel it too)! It's THE BEST feeling in the world! I absolutely love it! I could lay there for hours with my hand on my stomach and have her kick me. I thought I would get annoyed or bothered by it after a while, but the more she does it the more I love it! And when we're in public and she gives me a big kick I just smile and want to yell out about it, but I don't.
I will definetly tell her after she's born that she makes me so happy, she even made me smile when she was in the womb.
Her kicks remind me to talk to her. Like when I was looking at images for her nursery, she kept kicking me when we came across this one castle image. I thought the nursery would be nice with Blarney Castle in it, but I've decided to change the castle to the one that she kept kicking me on. I'd scroll past this one castle (a picture I took in Ireland, I don't even know what the castle's name is), and she kicked me. This happened whenever I went past it, just in passing, so that is the castle we're using.
Another cute time she kicked me was yesterday. At Sarah M's wedding she kicked me throughout the prayers, but only during the prayers, so I know my child will know God (which, of course, also makes me happy). It was so fun, a bit destracting, but made me smile.

Hiccups

Today I felt her hiccup for a good few minutes. I didn't realize what it was at first, it was like little kicks, but constant. When I put my hand over her, that's when I realized it was pulsing, like a heartbeat. But her heartbeat is faster than that (it was like my heartbeat rate, but it was definetly her kicking or something). It was so cool! It makes me smile whenever I think about it. :) I'm so excited for the next time she has hiccups. Sometimes I don't feel pregnant, but then I feel her moving about, kicking and whatnot, and it is so amazing. I enjoy this feeling so much. I hope she's as happy a baby as I am when I think of her.

Feeling the Kicks

Today I felt the kicks! On the outside! It felt like bubbles in the bottom of my stomach. So, I put my hand on it, and I could totally feel the kick on my hand! It was so cool! She does it ever so often in little bits, but that time, it totally was her doing her Tia-bow or something cause she was going crazy for a number of minutes. I was actually able to monitor it. I tried to get Chris to come and feel it, but he was in the shower, and I didn't want to move, in case she stopped. By the time he was done with the shower, she was done with her karate practice.
But now she's not doing it for more than one or two kicks at a time. I'm waiting for the next time she goes all crazy kickboxer on me. Hopefully Chris'll be around. We're both looking forward to him getting to feel her. This is such a cool experience, the whole pregnancy thing.

Feeling the Kicks

Alright, so about this time last week, I think I was finally starting to feel the little kick flutters. All I know is that I'm feeling something ever so often. Last week I was pretty sure they were the kicks. But they feel more like a spider crawling in one place really quickly for a brief moment. It's kind of like those creepy crawly feelings you get when you "just know" a bug is crawling on you (even if it isn't). And at first I thought it was just that, until I realized it was localized to my stomach. Now I can't get enough of it! I know I'll be tired of the kicks and all once they really get harder, but for right now, it sort of worries me if I haven't felt them in a while. I'm being a silly new mom-to-be and talking to my stomach, coaxing it to kick me and let me know it's doing well.

Feeling the Baby

Today I was sitting down watching a movie with Chris and was trying to feel the baby, because it seems like I should be able to feel it (kick or whatever). Anyway, I pressed down a little bit and I could totally feel the heartbeat! No kicks yet, but the heartbeat was nice and strong. :)