Movement during pregnancy

During my pregnancies I felt each of my babies move differently. My eldest was like having a drum kit in my stomach. He kicked me incessantly throughout the time he was in utero. I remember being at a pre-natal class where another mum to be was having to record her kicks because her baby moved so infrequently. I felt a tad envious of her to be honest. It wasn’t until I got to my second pregnancy where my daughter barely kicked at all, I realized the set of anxiety and worry that comes with that instead.

It turned out that because of where my placenta was positioned it muffled my ability to feel my daughter move. Whereas with my eldest, it had provided very little protection from his constant jabbing.

However I read this study the other day that was carried out here in Australia. Christine East, study leader, midwife and clinical researcher at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne has found that we can usually only identify little more than one-third of our bub’s movements in utero, and that is mainly when the movements involve more than one foetal body part.

I’d love to have known this during my second and third pregnancy as it would have reduced my anxiety significantly.

As Christine herself says "It is terribly stressful when the baby seems to stop moving, because mothers are so in tune with their babies that to notice a change is very worrying.”

While previously it was thought that we felt up to 88 per cent of foetal movements, that is now known to be inaccurate.

While it is vital to talk to your doctor or midwife if you have any concerns about movement, it is also interesting to think that there are many factors that come into play in terms of us feeling bub moving during pregnancy.

Do you monitor your kicks and movement?