Room in the womb

Yesterday marked a sudden shift in baby's movements. Rachel and I were out all day shopping for baby stuff, so things were pretty quiet in there as they usually are when I'm busy. But when I got home and sat down to relax, the time when the baby usually wakes up and starts groovin', nothing happened. I wasn't worried yet, because we were about to eat, and the baby is always super active in the evenings after dinner, kicking and rolling and repositioning itself and stretching out it's legs before bedtime. But last night the baby seemed sleepy, only making small, light movements. I counted more than ten tiny swirls and bumps in less than an hour, and also felt the familiar tap, tap, tap of hiccups, which made me feel a little better. But still, something was different.

This morning I woke up to a few reassuring medium-strength bumps. Then I felt two more big kicks when I put the headphones on my belly, blaring new agey meditation music into baby's house right where I suspect it's little ears are. Good sign. I contacted the midwives and received a return phone call from Judy, the director, about an hour later. She listened to me and advised that as long as there were an appropriate number of movements (no less than 5 in an hour), the strength of the movements would begin to vary greatly in the last weeks of pregnancy due to lack of room in the womb! The baby is pretty cramped up in there and is running out of room to wind up for those belly shaking punches and kicks. I knew that was part of it, but hadn't expected such a sudden and pronounced change.

From now on I'll spend some time each day counting baby's movements. I've been blogging for about half an hour now and already the baby has moved more than the required amount. It's such a relief to feel those tiny feet in my ribs and know that everything is okay in there.

I now have another theory on why new parents don't get enough sleep... worry.