One of the most surreal things about being pregnant is all the motion in my belly. One would think that you wouldn't feel all new sensations at the ripe age of 31, but this pregnancy has thrown me for a loop.
I felt the first kicks around week 18 when we were at the opera Macbeth. Something about the swelling music (or maybe just coincidence) had me feeling the first tiny little taps from my insides. I jumped in shock.
For awhile, the kicks were intermittent, and I wouldn't feel them every day. Start around week 22 or 23, I started feeling kicks most days in the evening. I'd lay down to relax and then the baby would get going. Ever since then, these sensations have intensified.
I'm at week 30 now, and I feel these kicks all the time. The baby definitely has waking periods during the day. A lot of the kicks can be seen from the outside, so I've had a few students catch some of the movement. The biggest ones are still at night, and that's when we get the dance party going. Another friend refers to these sensations as Loch Nessing. In any case, the baby seems to roll around and make big pushes within my uterus. I get noticeably large bulges. Sometimes, I even look down and ask the baby what's going on. Matt and I have both been amazed by the activity.
Tonight, our cat Lucy even settled onto my lap tonight and put up with some amount of kicking before she bailed. She's been really snuggly recently. I don't think she quite knows what is going to happen to her, but I think she senses that something is going on. We've been remaking "her" room (our guest room) as the baby room, and I keep getting bigger.
This whole process is pretty amazing. It's simultaneously awesome that I'm 75% there and weird to think I still have 10 weeks or so left. I'm excited, nervous, and everything all at once. For now, I'm just enjoying the evening dance party and slowly getting ready.
PS Maternity pants make me feel like Steve Urkel. Maybe I'm one of the few that feels this way, but I will be really excited when I can fit back into pants with a normal waistband.