18 Weeks and Waiting for a Sign

18 Weeks already…the 51/2 month mark! Wow. Where is time going? It is said that you should start to feel your baby moving anywhere from 16-20 weeks. I have been waiting patiently for the last two weeks, but I don’t think I have felt any movements yet (or if I have I just don’t know what I am supposed to be feeling). The first movements are called “quickening” and are supposed to feel like butterflies or little bubbles in your stomach.

I remember lying on the couch with my husband one night. His head was resting on my belly. I thought I had felt something move, so he started listening to my stomach. He heard something alright…turns out it was just my food digesting and gas bubbles moving around. (I forgot my uterus is still a few inches below my belly button so those bubbles moving around below my ribs couldn’t have been my baby).

How am I supposed to know these things? I have never felt bubbles moving around in my stomach like that. I guess having a uterus the size of a cantaloupe has already started pushing everything around in my stomach so things are not where I would expect them. Something about your intestines and organs moving around to accommodate my growing belly really grosses me out…at least I cant see or feel that part!

I think the first kicks are the part I have been most anxiously awaiting so far. Aside from hearing the heartbeat, it will be the first physical sign of this precious little baby inside of me.