She's Gonna Be A Soccer Player

I'm sure some of you are wondering if Becca and I are still having a baby because it's been so long since I've posted on her progress. So here's a combination of a post I had wanted to publish a while ago along with some up to date information on how everything is going.

Becca's about 33 weeks along now and back around 20 weeks she got to start feeling the baby kicking inside of her. At first she wasn't quite sure if what she was feeling was the baby or not, but as the jabs became more frequent she realized that she could actually feel the little human growing inside of her. Unfortunately for me, it took a couple more weeks before the gut feeling she was getting could actually be felt from the outside. Even once Becca started feeling the kicks with her hands I wasn't so lucky with my timing to get to feel her too. On a regular basis Becca would call me over to feel her belly only to have me sit there waiting anxiously with no feedback. I'm sure our little girl is going to be a stubborn one so there's no way she was going to make it that easy on me.

Then one day while we were laying on the couch, Becca once again grabbed my hand and placed it on her stomach. However, unlike previous times, I felt an ever so slight thump when I pressed down. It's a pretty surreal moment when you get to feel that bump for the first time and actually realize that your baby is moving around inside. It's a very hard idea for me to wrap my mind around. I sat there that night and got to feel the occasional kick as our girl rolled around in Becca's tummy and it was a really great experience.

Since then the kicks have become more frequent and much more forceful. Within just a few more weeks I went from being lucky if I got to feel her during any given day, to feeling her on an hourly basis. The light thumps that could have easily been mistaken for Becca's pulse have become thrusts and waves as the baby's whole body rolls along Becca's stomach. Becca feels here all the time now and I can just about feel her anytime I want. In the last couple of weeks I've gotten to not only feel kicks, but entire body parts by gently pressing on Becca's tummy from top to bottom and making out the form of our little girl. Actually the kicks have become so forceful lately, that Becca regularly says she feels like her ribs are bruised from the party going on inside. It's a very strange and fun experience and has gotten us very excited.

You Scared the Crap Out of Me!

Lately Becca has developed a less than endearing new habit. While we're laying in bed, trying to go to sleep, she will wait until the precise moment where I'm transitioning from being awake to being asleep. At that point I still respond to cues from the world around me but I'm completely disoriented from drifting into the quiet of peaceful sleep. It's at this point that an interesting topic has popped into Becca's head and she decides to start up a conversation. Amongst complete silence she lets out what seems to be a booming, random interjection like "Jarrod...", "You know what...", or "I was thinking..." I am abruptly pulled back from my descent into dreaming and brought back to reality with a shortness of breath from the fear of having no idea what just happened. Generally, after catching my breath, the first words out of my mouth are, "You scared the crap out of me!" which results in a small giggle from the other side of the bed. To be fair I don't honestly think she is startling me on purpose, and while Becca has the uncanny ability to sleep in almost any situation (in a car, in a plane, on the ground, etc.) when we're in our bed I usually fall asleep much faster than she does leaving her to sit in silence with just her thoughts.

A couple of nights ago, we went through the routine again. I was just entering my comatose state when a startled "Jarrod" was uttered. Jerked from my sleep I responded with a half-hearted "What?" to which she informed me that she had just felt the baby kick. For a few weeks now Becca has been concerned about the fact that she hadn't felt the baby yet. During the ultrasound we had seen our little girl flailing about, but Becca still hadn't felt anything. So now that she had finally gotten the confirmation that we both were waiting for it was a pretty exciting moment. A few little thumps, a pause, and then a few more thumps were all she felt but I was more than happy to be awaken for those thumps. Hopefully in the future I'll be a little more patient when Becca decides to start a midnight conversation. And hopefully soon I'll be able to feel some thumps too.