Kicks count

[Hattiee]

Hi
I'm pregnant with my first. I've not felt any kicks or movements yet, should start to in next few weeks. I've been reading a lot about the kicks count campaign and I feel very overwhelmed and anxious about it.
I hope it is just because I have not felt the movements yet but I'm scared that I won't notice if something is wrong.
Is it easy to monitor movements? Is it obvious what counts as an active session? Is it something that you get fairly confident in recognising a pattern in?
A friend of mine gave birth at 36 weeks to a stillborn baby and always posts online about kicks count and stressing how important it is to count every kick and I'm scared I will miss something.
Thank you

Congratulations! No it isn’t always easy to monitor - I had a baby that was very erratic and ended up in hospital for reduced movements 9 or 10 times. She was fine just liked to not move for hours on end.

However you will get a sense of what is normal for your baby. If at any stage you feel something isn’t right - get checked. They never mind checking and everything being fine.

Also I don’t think it’s a case of counting kicks as such anymore, just noticing any change in movements rather than counting a specific amount in any given time.

@Caspiana Thank you! That's what I am scared of is ending up being in hospital time and time again as I don't recognise a pattern. I was scared they'd think I was a nuisance. I guess time will tell thank you for the advice hopefully it will make sense once baby starts moving

I thought that counting kicks had been advised as not very good? It’s more about patterns - eg does your baby move a lot morning or early evening.

They said that you shouldn’t try to stimulate your baby yourself if you think movement is quiet however both times I went into the hospital with reduced movement and I was on a monitor - the first thing they did was give me cold water to stimulate the baby... so always worth trying that if you are concerned.

As others have said ity is about getting to know your baby and your pattern of movements. But you know what? We don't care if you come in all the time with reduced movements. You will not be a pain, you will not be wasting anybody's time and we would much, much, much rather monitor you than have you anxious at home or god forbid have anything happen.

My baby had absolutely no pattern with kicks, the only thing I could rely on was he would move so much after I’d eaten or really late at night! My midwife always said it’s more to try and keep track of movements for if they ever reduce/become irregular. I went in for monitoring roughly 6 times throughout, just when I felt things weren’t quite right. Every time they were and it’s funny how they don’t move for hours and as soon as the Monitor goes on they have a party. You’ll be absolutely fine, just always go with your gut.

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy , the worrying gets worse from here! (But so so worth it in the end)

Your midwife should give you some info too, I was really worried as although I was feeling movement and it was in a pattern; it didn’t seem to be as regular as other people’s- but like clockwork so I can tell if something seems wrong. But the triage line is always there if you are concerned, and the first few weeks of feeling movement I wasn’t completely sure if it was definitely that, but it soon becomes unmistakable! If you have anything that might limit you feeling movements such as placenta position they should let you know as well.

Mimy first had a pattern but this time around there wasn't really a pattern of movement I noticed, but may have been because I was busy with DD. I got a kicks count band and after a week I noticed that everyday movements would be on 8, if I had a busy day of walking etc they'd be on 5. It was like clockwork. Then one day I sat down in the eve and checked my band and it said 1.that was unusual for me so I called and went straight in confident that for me that amount of movement was not normal seeing as I had my band recording 5-8 movements on everyday. Luckily everything was fine but the bracelet really helped

In my first pregnancy it was easy to monitor the kicks, but in this pregnancy I feel kicks some days and not others and i was terrified. It turns out it's because of the way the baby is positioned and facing. During my scan last week baby was moving non stop but I couldn't feel any of it.