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How do you tell if it is a foot a head or a fist?

8 replies

marsup · 28/09/2003 15:01

I am now 25 weeks and I've been feeling lots of movement for ages, getting stronger and with more definite patterns. But I've heard somewhere that it's possible to tell which 'bit' is making the movement and that helps you guess what position the baby is in. I did feel a hard raised lump which I thought might be a head, but when I pushed at it a bit it gave me two punches back (!). Does anyone have any tips on recognising which bit is which?

OP posts:

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SoupDragon · 28/09/2003 15:26

Goodness knows. I swear I was gestating an octopus with both mine - they seemed to have far more than the required number of limbs.

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monkey · 29/09/2003 10:26

I'm with Soupdragon on this - I have a many-headed, many limbed beast in there. Have you seen Billy Elliott? The dance he did for his dad is what mine was doing last night. (except with more limbs)

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bluecow · 30/09/2003 12:46

Dunno - even the professionals don't always know. A friend of mine only found at at the last minute her baby was breech when all the way through she was told it was the right way round. They obiously though the baby's bottom was her head!

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elliott · 30/09/2003 13:01

ooh, that's a relief - I seem to have come across a lot of people who were convinced they knew exactly where every hand and foot was, thought I was the only clueless one around!

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poppyknot · 30/09/2003 13:50

I had an undiagnosed breech - literally last minute Caesarian as i had got to the last stage of pushing and my waters were broken by the midwife, and then panic stations!. Afterwards i got a lot of sheepish apologies from the medics.

So for months the bum I was patting confidently was actually the head - and this was baby no 2 so i thought i knew...........

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monkey · 30/09/2003 16:03

snap poppyknot, except I didn't get any sheepish apologies. I was even confidently told the head was engaged & it was breech.

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Hayls · 30/09/2003 18:16

I'm 23 weeks so it's probably a bit more difficult for me to tell at this stage anyway but I really can't tell. Mine seems to move around really quickly as one second I'll feel a 'kick' on one side and on the other the next- maybe it's like SoupDragon's and has more limbs than required! Do you feel strong kicks on your bladder? Every so often I feel a kick and it feels as though I might -ahem- leak. HAven't yet though, thankfully
Sorry to hijack your thread so much Marsup but I was also wondering how much movement varies fron day to day? Some days I feel regular movements throughout the day but others hardly any. I did wonder if this depended on how occupied I was during the day, as in I just don't notice it as much. Some days the first I really feel it is when I go to bed- this seems to be the favourite position for karate kicks to start. Although not today -as I'm typing I'm being gently kicked in a loving manner Think she's going to be a party animal who only comes out at night!

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marsup · 02/10/2003 18:37

Hayls, I agree it does vary a lot from day to day. I find if I move a lot during a particular day he sleeps, whereas if I stay sitting down at the computer (as I am supposed to for my job!)he wakes up. Also he is more active in the afternoons and evenings - the books seem to confirm this is normal. I'm sort of glad (but disappointed too) that no one else seems to be able to tell which bit is which!