Boky’s Moving!

Mommy D and I were watching an old movie last night (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) when Boky moved very perceptively inside her, utterly surprising Mommy D who initially felt that there was some alien species invading her very own flesh and eating her from within.

She actually felt scared and very uncomfortable. Worse was that Boky kept moving for the next 5 to 10 minutes and all that Mommy D could do was lie on her side, with her head snug on my shoulder (nyaks!), hoping that Boky would tire himself/herself out and keep still.

With Boky moving, and now at 18 weeks of gestation, the reality of fatherhood has come much earlier than I had expected. Fatherhood actually doesn’t begin the moment the child is born, but even while he’s still snug in the womb. It feels like it’s such an awesome (yet, hopefully, manageable) responsibility.

That’s what Mommy D and I have talked about many times. Life is a matter of trade-offs. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too. A child – any child – will always bring hope and light to any couple, but it also brings with it responsibility – not only in terms of giving it food to eat but also a secure future – in other words, teaching him/her how to fish.

Now, going back to Boky’s movements, here’s what the literature says:

“Fetal movements can usually be felt around 18-20 weeks. Sometimes these can be uncomfortable as the baby signals to you from within. Some babies suffer from the hiccups too!” (Robertson: Preparing for Birth, 1989)

Another source says:

As your baby grows, movements become stronger and occur quite often. Between 20 and 32 weeks of pregnancy, the fetus can move between 200 and 500 times a day, including kicking, rolling or wiggling. (Curtis: Your Pregnancy (Every Woman’s Guide, 1999))

All these movements tell us one thing: Boky is alive and literally kicking, and Mommy D and I can’t wait to see him/her in the flesh.