Forum Index
»
Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers
he's an odd (and maybe fun) question about feeling the baby inside of you
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
I'm very lucky to have a genuinely nice and warm MIL. I am 23 weeks pregnant with my first baby and she has been filled with advice, as you might imagine. I have to say, we do not agree about much with respect to pregnancy, since we have very different personalities and perspectives on birth (she advises me to get an elective c-section, thinks only "weirdos and hipsters" go for natural childbirth. (I think she meant hippies--LOL) Of course, this is the complete opposite to my approach and when I told her I was going to try to BE one of those "natural childbirth 'weirdos'" she slammed the brakes on that kind of talk. I'm digressing a bit because I don't have any issue with her approach, because she doesn't try to push any agenda or anything and is just trying to help.
I always have a great time talking pregnancy related things over with her. She's always got an answer for everything, and even if it isn't an answer that works for me, her advice is often hilarious and is ALWAYS well-intentioned. Because her advice is so frequently off the wall, though, I feel like I (and others) tend to be almost overly dismissive of a few gems of wisdoms tucked away in the sea of misfit advice. (She was the only one who told me that if I found saltines revolting, like she did, I should try eating spicy food to stave off pregancy nausea. I thought that sound crazy but, out of desperation, tried it, and I'll be d*mned if she wasn't right!) Anyway, here's a new one for the ages, and I just don't have any idea how to google this so I thought you ladies might like to take a crack at telling me whether this is possible. I am more curious than anything, as this is not really advice so much as a claim that my FIL and DH think is completely impossible. Here goes: My MIL told my husband and I that when she was pregnant with him she could feel and identify what body part was kicking her and could feel the outline of that body part. I don't find this that hard to believe, but then she said that if DH (while in utero) had his foot somewhere she didn't like (such as in her rib cage) she was able to physically move his foot from the rib cage to somewhere more agreeable by grabbing his heel. My FIL (who is a surgeon, but not anything OB related) and my DH (who is not medical at all) were shaking with laughter at this and clealy think she is F.O.S. But I am wondering if she might be right. It sounds weird, but I can see the baby moving around in my tummy already, so I guess why wouldn't I be able to maybe move him / her? I know that doctors / midwives are sometimes able to turn a breech baby in utero, so why not move a foot? She said it was like nudging a water balloon. Anyway, I'm here mostly to settle a family bet. I've sided with her (even though I'm not sure I believe it), mostly because I don't think any man should really laugh or try to say it's impossible for a woman to notice or do something while pregnant. Of course, I'm probably just saying this because I'm still having a hard time believing that there is a living being inside of my stomach right now. Anyway, anyone care to chime in on this one? Thanks and stay dry today! 
|
Anonymous
|
I'm late 3rd trimester and although I know when I am getting hit with a foot or arm, I have no idea which one. And there is NO WAY I could actually grab it and move it, that is if I could catch it. I'm not discrediting your MIL but I personally have not and could not do this.
|
Anonymous
|
I can feel my ovulation.
People don't really believe me when I say I do. I can hold my menses and "go potty" for it. People don't really believe me on that one either. I can't wait to get pregnant and move my baby around =] |
Anonymous
|
I know for a fact that my son, in his last weeks en utero, used to brace his brace against my ribs and push. My OB confirmed his positioning. One time, I thought he was going to crack on of my ribs.
However, I certainly couldn't grab a foot and move it. But I could move side to side and slightly dislodge his footholds. |
Anonymous
| She sounds like my MIL ... tall tales abound. I suppose it could be possible towards the very end of your pregnancy to guess which part but how do you really know if it's a foot or the hand? Or the head or a butt? I'm on my third pregnancy and all I know is that body parts are beating the crap out of me. |
Anonymous
| I guess if your DC had it's foot or elbow pressing out you may be able to grab it and move it (not that I'd want to, I'd be afraid of hurting DC). My DC had her butt jammed up in my ribcage /diaphragm area for a good portion of my last trimester. I would have loved to moved it because I couldn't eat more than a few bites of food at a time and forget about taking a deep breath. I frequently pushed (lightly) on my "baby bump" in the area under my ribcage to try to move her, but to no avail. She finally dropped around 36 weeks and life was so much better! I think maybe your MIL is exaggerating just a bit. : ) |
Anonymous
|
PP here: that should be "brace his feet" rather than "brace his brace!" Oh, and "one of my ribs."
Can you tell I didn't get much sleep last night? Apparently, 4 AM is the preferred time for babies to practice crawling in their cribs. Betcha didn't know that! |
Anonymous
|
When I was pregnant last year, I could tell, roughly, what part of my baby was where. I knew where her head was because she pressed it up against the uterine wall, producing a pain like how I thought a hernia would feel. From there, I knew which bulge was her butt, and when she kicked me, I could usually tell from the intensity whether it was a leg or an arm- the legs produced stronger movements. She also had very regular active periods every day; like at 10:45 a.m. every day, she'd be running sprints in there. She's still that way, at 5 mos.
Your mother-in-law may not be messing with you - there were a few times when my daughter would poke her foot up into my lung and it REALLY hurt. So I'd poke her in the foot till she moved it. Couldn't do anything about her poking my bladder with a foot or hand, though. In my case, I had a fairly big baby (8 lbs at birth) and I am naturally low-fat through the stomach area (i gain in my butt), so it was easier to pick out baby body parts than it might have been for other people. Near the end, I would lie on my bed every night and watch my stomach ripple, and various parts would poke out from my stomach like something out of Alien. so cool. enjoy the pregnancy! |
Anonymous
| No comment, but it is so refreshing to hear your perspective on your MIL. Your account of her very different personality from yours is so healthy and touching. It is so nice when people can learn from other people's differing opinions and outlooks, I wish more people particularly in the DC area took your attitude. I think this country would be such a better place. |
Anonymous
I think most women can feel ovulation pain, and most women, if sitting can hold blood in their vagina and run to the bathroom. Dont think you are holding your menses, you are just feeling a bunch of pooled up blood. |
Anonymous
|
I find some women just exxagerate a bit (or remember incorrectly). I kind of doubt she could "grab" it and move it, but she may be able to coerce the little guy into moving. Maybe if she just poked at the body part, the baby would move, or if she poked at another part, the baby moved to explore the poking.
I had a breech baby, and all the suggestions to get it to move were things like flash a flashlight on your belly, so the baby would move toward it, so certainly at some point babies can be "moved" by external factors. OK, mine didn't fall for the flashlight, but he did move around (probably in attempt to get into position, but the poor thing was stuck). I have heard woman say they could actually see the outline of a foot, or hand, or elbow. I guess it is possible. Or maybe you just see what you think you see. But doctors can tell the baby's position by feeling and I do remember a round object protruding out on occassion. I'm pretty sure it was the head (due to lack of other round objects). |
Anonymous
| I remember moving fetal body parts. If I felt a foot or knee (or whatever part it was, a hard bony part) sticking out and it was uncomfortable, I kind of pushed behind it a little bit to encourage the baby to move the part elsewhere. |
Anonymous
|
There were a few weeks of my pregnancy where I would have agreed with your MIL. Around the 30-week mark, I think. I could cup my hand over the baby's bottom and wiggle her a little bit, causing her to wiggle in response. Some days, I could tell where her back was, and I could run my finger along her spine. This triggers a reflex that made her arch her back. Good party trick. My mom told me to watch for the outline of a foot moving across my belly when the baby changed positions-- she recalls that part fondly-- but I never saw that.
As for knowing if it was hand or foot or elbow or something else, I couldn't tell. And I couldn't really move something as small as a limb. I could move her whole body. And this phase was a very brief part of the whole pregnancy, that little window where she was big enough to come into contact with the uterine walls, but still small enough to have room to move around. I don't think your MIL is full of it at all. She might be exaggerating slightly, but isn't that part of the fun? |
Anonymous
|
The only thing I could truly identify was the butt and the head.
I kept telling my OB my baby was breech and he insisted no, it was a butt in my rib cage. I said no, it is too hard, it is a head. I ended up having a c-section it was the head. |