a future soccer player?

At the ultrasound last week, I mentioned to the ultrasound technician that I'd been feeling the baby move in the last few days. He quickly assured me that what I was feeling was NOT the baby, since the baby was far too small to be felt. He was quick to follow up with a "you'll feel it move in a few weeks, don't worry."

This struck me as odd, because:
(a) I was 18 and a half weeks at the time, not outrageously early from what I've heard,
(b) the feeling is rather unmistakable, and not like anything I've ever felt before, and finally,
(c) if a pregnant woman tells you she feels her baby, you DO NOT tell her that she doesn't!

People seem to describe the feeling as fluttering, but I never felt that. A couple of weeks ago I called my doctor because I was feeling a strange pressure in my lower abdomen. It would come and go, and wasn't necessarily painful, just uncomfortable. I called her because I was worried that perhaps I had a bladder infection, or was having mild contractions. She thought maybe it was my round ligaments stretching or something to do with my uterus growing, but nothing to worry about.

That weekend, the pressure continued, but was followed up with tapping coming from inside, and it was then that I realized that I'd been feeling the baby moving around. What I described as pressure must have been movements that weren't yet strong enough to feel clearly. Since last weekend, the tapping has been getting stronger and stronger.

There is no doubt in my mind that I am feeling this baby moving and shaking. All of last week, I noticed an increase in how much movement I could feel, and particularly, an increase after I ate. On the way to work one morning, I played the music loud and sang along, and felt baby kicking up a storm for the 20 minute drive.

Yesterday, though, were the strongest movements yet. I generally notice the movement most at nighttime when I collapse on the couch, but yesterday I felt baby while both sitting and walking around in my office. A couple of times, I felt hard jabs that I can only imagine are kicks, and even felt my hand move while resting it on my belly.

Armed with this knowledge, I made Josh sit next to me when he got home from the Red Sox game and rest his hand on my belly. I poked my stomach a few times, and settled in to see what happened. I did the play by play at the same time, moving his hand around, telling him when I felt the taps, and all the while he insisted that it wasn't the baby. And then, baby followed through with a beautiful hard kick aimed right at the center of his palm, and his head whipped around in shock. "I felt that!"

So last night marks the first time that baby made his presence known to daddy. I'm sure it won't be the last.