I THINK I FELT THE FIRST QUICKENING!

While some women notice "quickening" as early as 13 weeks, many don't feel their baby move until about 18 weeks or more, some first time mom's not feeling these earliest movements that feel like little flutters, gas bubbles, or even like popcorn popping, until 20 weeks. Women that have had previous pregnancies tend to feel them sooner as they are more experienced in what it feels like, after all, they'd been there before! There is a broad range of when the first detection of movement can be felt, ranging from 13-25 weeks.

 But tonight, I think I felt the first recognizable quickening!

I am super aware of most of what is going on 'down there' and 'in there' so whenever I feel the slightest flutter, bubble, or otherwise, I pay close attention to the feeling and analyize what I am doing or have eaten that could contribute to the feeling. I think the feelings began about a week ago, but after reviewing what I had eaten prior to feeling the flutters, I am not confident enought to say that I fell they were quickening movements, but gas. But tonight, there was nothing that I had eaten that could be considered a culprit for gas...and the feeling was quite strong considering! It truly had to be quickening, I am sure of it!

They say that once you feel quickening, you will probably be able to feel it everyday, however some days it may not be as often or as strong as others and if you want to get your baby active, it is often suggested that you drink a big glass of orange juice and lay down to wait for your baby to move. I just so happened to have taken a drink of a can of soda, so the sugar was a wake up call to Baby K- a little sugar rush, if you will. It's also said that when you are up moving around, it often rocks your baby to sleep, so when you stop moving, he/she is able to wake up and start moving on his/her own.

Here is something else that I found interesting: if you start to feel what you think is quickening, but has a definite pattern, like a tap every five to ten seconds, it could be that your baby has the hiccups! Hiccups, like the quickening are a sure sign that your baby is growing and is healthy inside your belly. How exciting!

Over the following weeks these feelings of movement will grow stronger and I'll be able to feel them much more frequently and there will be less and less confusion on what is gas bubbles and what is Baby K making his/her presence known, even if only to me at first!