Amount of movements or a pattern

[NewbiePL]

Hi all
i was wondering if someone could help me? I’m approaching my 34th week in pregnancy which has relatively been straightforward apart from
some episodes of what I thought was reduced movements.
I went in earlier today and they fitted me in for a quick scan in between appointments as this was my fourth episode and second in just under two weeks. The sonographer that scanned me today asked how I was feeling and I said I don’t feel the baby is moving as much as they usually do as I try and keep a track of the number of movements daily so I know when there’s a change. But she said they’ve moved away from counting kicks or movements and to focus on a pattern instead e.g if baby moves at certain times of the day or after food/drink. The sonographer said I have to be reviewed by the doctor because of the number of episodes I’ve had and I’m no longer low risk.
I‘m now left really confused because I had focused completely on the number of kicks/movements I had in a day instead of patterns regardless of the amount of kicks. But surely reduced movements would mean baby moving less? So I knew this morning my baby moved a lot less when I first woke up when they’re usually active. But accordingly to the sonographer it doesn’t matter about the amount but just as long as baby moves at regular times throughout the day.
i’m really worried that I’ve moved out of a low risk pregnancy into a higher one when I’ve got the whole reduced movements wrong.
has anyone else had any similar experiences? Or how we can really measure reduced movements?
sorry for the longer than intended post.

I don’t have much practical advice but wanted to bump and also say I’ve been in similar position. I was never sure what constituted a pattern (amount of movement, same time, reactive to certain things) and found it very confusing. I went into hospital for monitoring a handful of times in third trimester because of this. An example would be I would have a week of her moving every morning when I woke up, nice strong kicks then I’d have a morning without that or it would start much later. Did that constitute reduced movements? No idea! But I always went in to be on the safe side x

They stopped doing count the kicks years ago, they just ask you to look for patterns like your sonographer said. So my baby would have an episode of movement every night when I got into bed and put tummy butter on for example. Your looking at episodes of movements rather than counting each kick/movement. This should have been explained by your midwife

If the baby is moving less than normal that’s a change in the pattern anyway, even if they are still moving in a morning, but just less, that’s a change. Baby can be unwell/in distress and still
move, but that pattern may change or they may move less. It’s always worth getting checked so don’t doubt yourself OP.

thank you @Anotheranxiousone and @PickledScrump
I’ve seen two different midwives during my antenatal appointments and they’ve kept saying it’s just a change in movements and what’s normal for you. So say for example in the morning my baby moves as soon as I wake up I just class that as an episode and not focus on how many times they moved in the first hour of me waking etc? I’ve got another appointment with my midwife this week and due a call back from the doctor so will ask for greater clarity on what to focus on.

@NewbiePL yes obviously if the movements seem weaker than normal or the movements are considerably less then it’s worth a mention. But if baby is having an episode of movement then that’s what you are looking for. This is from nhs website.

If you’re counting each movement you’ll drive yourself mad. I had a bracelet which was really helpful. It’s called an Aska bracelet and you move the charm over a bead for each episode of movement. At the end of each day the number of beads was about the same every day (about half way round). Really helped keep track that baby was moving regularly. They gave me one free with my second as they were trialling them but now they’ve been launched so you have to buy them. Absolutely worth it though.

Thank you @PickledScrump I will have a look and search for the bracelet you mentioned

So I knew this morning my baby moved a lot less when I first woke up when they’re usually active.

Going by that you absolutely did the right thing. Your baby had a change in their pattern.