Here's my 17 week belly. I must say that it feels really good to have such a nice round belly again. What a relief to be "looking" and feeling pregnant again. I think that I might be feeling some little punches and kicks every now and then, but I can't be entirely sure yet. I need to look back on the blog to see when I started to feel Birdie moving around...she was so adorable when she did move within my womb.
More 17 Week photos here
21 comments:
your belly is so, so gorgeous. hi baby!
xoxo
Precious, precious, precious!! So happy for you guys!!;)
At this stage, it's gas. In about two - three weeks, what you think is gas, is baby moving.
So gorgeous! I can't wait to greet this baby on the outside!
yeah Beautiful Baby Belly!!!
antigonos....please don't leave comments anymore. Let me believe that maybe I am feeling my baby move, OK?
You don't need to burst my "bubble".
Erin I was feeling my second baby move at 12 weeks. You are the one in your body, and you know what gas feels like, and what YOUR BABY feels like. I have not doubt in my mind you are feeling your baby.
I wish you would no longer comment here as well Antigonos. Shame on you.
Interestingly enough a girlfriend of mine who is quite petite and slender (like you, Erin), during her second pregnancy, believed she felt the baby moving somewhere around 15 weeks. She had a scheduled ultrasound during that week and was watching and feeling the baby move at the same time. Her suspicions had been confirmed. I always think it is so odd when people (whether they are an experienced midwife or not) blame joyous baby moments on gas. This is similar to when very young babies smile in their sleep. Someone always has to say "it's just gas". I don't know about you but gas has never made me smile! It could VERY well be that you are feeling the baby move. There are no hard and fast RULES about when a woman may feel her baby move, only guidlines. It really has very much to do on the size of the baby and how much the mother is paying attention. Some women may not feel movement until 20 weeks. Some, I am sure, feel it before then. I can't believe this woman who posted such atrocious on this blog in the past feels the need now to come and offer her professional opinion.
I've been wanting to ask her to keep her comments to herself, but I thought she was a bossy friend so I kept my mouth shut (advice "she" should take). I'm glad you spoke up Erin and friends. I felt the boys move very early on because I was skinny like you are, with Hannah it was really late because I was so chubby ;) Erin, your baby is doing crazy somersaults in there! So if you feel some little flutters, and a brush in your belly here and there, that's a baby! Your baby! Your beautiful, amazing, full of life, baby :)
Love and hugs and prayers and kisses!
Meagan
Those fluttering movement I remember oh so well.... and I know I felt them way before the recommended time.;) It was great to feel those, I'm sure yours are too!!!
Oh my goodness, Erin! You're popping about as fast as I did with my third pregnancy, which ended only fourteen months after my second--after my first nearly three years went by before I did the pregnancy thing again and everything pretty much went back to normal and I only grew a LITTLE faster, but with number three I had to start maternity clothes at ELEVEN WEEKS, not so much because of weight gain as because my belly just didn't want to be confined AT ALL! I didn't have nearly such a nicely-SHAPED "bump" though--I had a TON of weight I was hanging onto from the second time around, whereas you look positively svelte to me! You *should* love your perfect little tum; maybe an early edition of the belly cast would make a nice comparison object for later on when the TRUE HUGENESS arrives (like in three months, hahahaaaaa), plus they're fun to decorate. I was always so miserable with my body during pregnancy for not being able to just hold onto the baby like seemingly EVERYONE (of course not really) except me can do so well that I never did a belly cast, and I really regret it now that I know for absolute certain I will never bear another child. Lately people do such cute things with them, like leaving square "tabs" above each breast, threading a ribbon through, tying a big floppy bow in between, and hanging them by the ties (I saw that in a waiting-room magazine yesterday and thought of you--it's so funny the way you carry "your" bloggers around in your head and think of them like friends, no?). I was looking up some thyroid stuff for my own self after yesterday's appointment and apparently much of the risk with pregnancy is when you have the ANTIBODIES those can cause an early m/c. Later in pregnancy they worry more that your baby's thyroid would overdevelop if they don't treat you and monitor you adequately during pregnancy. So you might get an extra anatomy scan out of this, but even if the baby DID have the big thyroid (and that's SO, SO rare with modern medical treatment) that is NOT a death sentence, but just needs monitoring and sometimes treatment during the first years of life. I say that not to be a jerk and minimize your entirely valid concerns (who wants to hear they have an endocrine condition during pregnancy? Not I and it IS reason for concern, just not necessarily terror) but because to someone not PERSONALLY carrying your "bags" right now it looks really hopeful given the point you've reached in the pregnancy. I for one am VERY optimistic that a little someone will be learning the letters of their big sister's name at the breast starting in five or six lunar months :)
Erin,
With Penelope I felt her very early at about three months too. Everyone said it couldn't be and it was gas but I knew it wasn't. It didn't feel like gas it felt like something totally separate from me, yet a part of me... I know you know what I mean. What kills me is that people tend to forget that each person and each pregnancy are different. ( I'm sure the grammar is wrong there... sorry...) I knew with out a test that I was pregnant at less than two weeks. I knew my body. It seams and not surprisingly that you are very in-tune with your body and this baby. relish it! and I'm with you on telling anyone that thinks they know you or your body better to shove off. ( although you said it nicer... ;o) )
love and peace to you.
antigonos,
I am not trying to gang up on you. but really... please let Erin enjoy her pregnancy. She is such a sweet dear person who is giving us the privilege of peering into her life, loss, hope and family. Don't forget that as you sit looking at your monitor that this is a real person you are reading about. We all have stories and come from different places. Our experiences are all unique. I think that's what makes bloging so interesting you can read how others see and experience things.
I wish you love and peace too.
Sorry if this all seams like rambling. I really think we all can forget that this space ( the blogasphere) is a raw, special and sadly can be a place we aren't as nice as we might be if we were face to face....
Oh and I felt my first move at thirteen weeks--nobody wanted to believe me least of all my OBGYN, but during a frequent monitoring u/s I said "SEE RIGHT THERE" and at the time I had a wet cloth over my eyes because my blood pressure had bottomed out and I'd fainted, hence the ultrasound and COULDN'T HAVE SEEN IT and I was right!!! With my second even my husband could feel movement at fifteen weeks (you had to put your hand pretty low, so that's why just him at that point, LOL!) and with my third by seventeen weeks you could SEE my belly jump! Everyone is different, and it depends on where your placenta is (mine were all in "good" spots for catching baby wiggles early) and how much body fat you have, etc., but I think in your case Erin your abs and skin haven't fully "unstretched," and maybe that gives the little one some extra elasticity to play around in. I am always amazed when a woman reports getting to sixteen or seventeen (or even twenty!) weeks and NOT feeling movement yet--also since I was so high risk all three times I think I probably spent more time consciously feeling and trying to "sense" the baby's presence and well-being. If you want to test your theory drink some OJ and lie flat just for a moment or two on a hard surface--I know the books say don't do that after sixteen weeks but this is what I tell friends who are before sixteen weeks and aren't sure if that's "it" or not and I figure if it's safe to lie flat for twenty minutes for a u/s, five or ten minutes once a week or so for peace of mind (i.e. if I was doing a kick count and YES I DID THEM THAT EARLY BECAUSE IT HELPED SET MY MIND AT EASE TO KNOW THE BABY WAS ACTIVE EVEN IF IT WAS TOO SOON FOR THEM TO BE VIABLE OUTSIDE THE WOMB) is no biggie :)
That sounded like the kind of "advice" someome would give a first-time expecting mother, and often people say that because (and my own doctor even told me this when I proved her wrong at that u/s) early on you don't always RELIABLY feel movement and they don't want you freaking out if the baby has a "quiet" day, but as I told my doctor "I am going to freak out anyway; just let me be happy when I CAN feel motion and personally verify that my baby is alive and *I* will worry about my mental health if I don't feel anything for a bit, OKAY?" I don't think (or at least I choose to hope not) the previous commenter meant to be dismissive or insensitive, but then sometimes I think my tendency to be liberal with the benefit of the doubt is a character flaw...I absolutely believe you are feeling your baby, Erin. And I'm so, so glad that you can, because when you're worried a little wiggle can be the most wonderful feeling in the world :)
Just for the record, I felt movement very early with both kids that I KNEW was movement, before 18 weeks, and only at 18 weeks would my family believe me. But it was the same blessed feeling (and I do mean blessed!!) at 18 as it had been at 15 and 16 and 17 and so on...fluttery butterflies. Lovely wonderful fluttery butterflies.
Hug that belly for me! Embrace every moment.
Pondering - this petite thing probably has something to do with it. I am not a big person, and I felt movement very early. You are tiny. Less space = earlier assertion of infant presence!!!
Same here. I felt ALL my babies move for the first time between 15 and 17 weeks (and no, it was NOT gas) except my fourth child, who I did not feel move until close to 20 weeks because I had an anterior placenta with her.
All the best Erin; you are in my prayers.
Hi - just wanted to let you know that I am inspired and encouraged by you, and am in awe of the joy and hope that you have the courage to let yourself feel in being pregnant again. How lucky all of your children are to have you for a mama. My son Henry was found to have died at 35 weeks gestation and was delivered March 31st, seven weeks ago today. I wish very much for another child, but worry that I will be a basket case for the entire pregnancy. Thanks for showing me that it is possible to be positive even after experiencing the tragic loss of your daughter. Much love to you and your family!
You look beautiful!
Yes, the first one i didn't feel until after 20 weeks, but after that i felt all of them move around 14-15 weeks or so. What a wonderful feeling it is!
It's beautiful, birdies mama.
I just stumbled onto your blog. Your courage and grace in the face of what you have been through is beautiful and awe-inspiring. I wish you every joy in this pregnancy, every moment to be a beautiful reminder that you are already a great Mother. My prayers are with you and your family.
I just stumbled onto your blog. Your courage and grace in the face of what you have been through is beautiful and awe-inspiring. I wish you every joy in this pregnancy, every moment to be a beautiful reminder that you are already a great Mother. My prayers are with you and your family.
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