He/She Likes to Move It Move It

The baby is moving.

I thought I felt it moving last week, on Tuesday. Around 4:00 or so, I was sitting in our regularly scheduled Tuesday books meeting at work, when I felt this tapping. Just four or five little taps, kind of like what I imagine a drum must feel like from the inside. I thought, is that it? Is that the baby? And I waited. And waited. But I didn’t feel anything else.

Then a couple days later, I felt the same tapping, this time just a couple of taps. Again, I wondered, is that the baby? But again little Cupcake refused to confirm his/her intentions.

But Friday and Saturday, I could no longer question it. I felt it quite often, especially when eating, and it felt just like a little teeny baby moving around. All the books say this feeling is hard to describe. I used to think, pffft, it can’t possibly be THAT hard to describe. But it really is. To me, I can say it feels like little bubbles popping, or a little swimmy feeling—but those don’t really give you a sense of what it feels like, if you haven’t felt it for yourself. Because to me, it just feels like a tiny 5-inch-long creature wiggling around and occasionally bumping into something (me). And how do you really describe something that just feels like what it is?

It’s an amazing thing, it really is. Even as I’m typing this, I just finished eating lunch, and I am acutely aware of my tiny cupcake getting in her/his post-lunch calisthenics. Good job, baby! Don’t forget to stretch!