What if the baby is not kicking a lot?

[happyspider]

I just wanted some sound advice from you experienced mothers, I am a first mum to be and I am nearly there (a few weeks to go...) but my baby has never been very active. I mean, they say that from 30 weeks you should feel him/her constantly.
Well I don't and got so scared once that they monitored me for the whole afternoon as the doctor could not feel the heart either and they were fearing the worse. It turns out that the baby moves, but I don't feel him. In fact they did an emergency scan and even though the baby was moving on the screen, I could not feel anything.
Is it me only or is this normal?
Should I worry?
I haven't seen any thread on this (I think) so I thought to start one.

Happyspider - don't think this has been mentioned before so do you know which way your placenta is lying.

Mine was lying frontwards (not a tehcnical term you understand) and was effectively a barrier between the baby and my stomach so I felt considerably less kicking than "normal"

Having the heartbeat traced in the way Mears suggests is definately reassuring.

HTH

happyspider you sound just like me - you're baby's probably loving being rocked to sleep with all your activity! beware it could come early and take some time time to rest (said from bitter experience!) hope you're getting less concerned with all this lovely advice people are giving you

happyspider - it seems your baby is kicking but you just don't feel it. That is not as uncommon as you think. It is good that you can see movement so that is good enough. Relax and enjoy the last few weeks of peace that you will get for a long time

woozle
I have checked my medical notes and my placenta is in fact anterior like yours, so, if this is the answer I will really be able to enjoy my pregnancy more!

I will monitor my baby's movements by watching my bump from now. (poor little one will have to put up with splashing water and prodding and the odd Mars bars...)

Thanks ladies, you really made a difference as I feel quite relieved now!

Glad to hear that happyspider. Take care and enjoy.