After the first time to feel baby’s movement, I began to get used to his/her movements everyday. With the time going, I began to identify the pattern of his/her movements.

1. Increased movements before meal: breakfast, lunch and dinner. It seems baby knows “it is time for dinner”. Sometimes around 11 am when I was engaged into work, baby began to jolt. If I didn’t stand up to eat something or begin to prepare the lunch, he/she would increase the activity, sometimes even rolled over in my tummy.

Sometimes I didn’t have any feelings of hungry, but baby was restless in my tummy. If I didn’t eat anything, then 1 hour later I would feel hungry. After identifying this pattern, whenever I feel baby’s activities, I will grab something quick or immediately begin to prepare for dinner, therefore I will have something to eat when I do feel the need to eat something.

2. Regular activities at night. Since I like to go to bed and get up at regular hours, I wish my baby will do the same thing after birth. After a period of time of erratic movements at night, I began to notice that baby form a pattern of activities. For example, a lot of times I go to bed at 9 pm. Sometimes when I stay a little bit late, baby begins to act up. This activity has become more and more regular that I can even set my watch by it.

3. No long-time sitting still. It seems my baby doesn’t like me sitting at one position too long. He/she seems to want me stand up, take a walk, or do something else rather than just sitting for a long time. If I ignore his/her movements, he/she will keep bumping and kicking until I surrender. Therefore, nowadays as soon as I feel his/her restlessness, I will stand up, walk around, do something else and then come back to work.

4. Music is good, but not rock-and-roll. Every time when I play Mozart music for the baby, he/she is always quiet. I interpret that he/she likes the music. However, if the music is not smooth and beautiful melody but loud and noisy rock-and-roll or heavy medal, the baby will immediately kick me to show his/her disapproval.

5. Increased activities with mommy’s anxiety. According to the fetal/prenatal education theory, a mother’s stress, anxiety, and depression during pregnancy can affect the baby’s development.

My personal experience proves the validity of this theory. When I am worried and anxious about life events, the baby’s movements become more frequent, agitated, and obvious. If I toss and turn at night because I cannot fall into sleep, I can feel the increased rolling and kicking of the baby in my tummy.

6. Interact with mommy. The most interesting thing is baby interacts with me via his/her movements. Sometimes when I feel his/her activities, I will pat gently on the tummy by some rhythm. And then baby reacts to me when I stop; if I pat again, he/she stops and then reacts to me when I stop. We can keep interacting like this for up to 30 minutes, then baby becomes quiet, probably goes to sleep.

Related posts:
Baby’s first movement
Baby is moving

Tags: Pregnancy | From Lina, Pregnancy | Lina | January 31, 2008 7:59 am | Comments (0)