Baby likes to dance

Last night I met up with a friend who is a salsa instructor at a ballroom she frequents. Doesn't that sound so old fashioned and elegant? There was no smoke, no alcohol, no meat market. It was the perfect dance club for someone in my condition.

And baby likes to dance. In fact, it's how he wakes me up every morning. He's worse than a dog, I swear. What is it he's doing in there anyway? It feels like he's tripping the limited womb-light fantastic, or trying to stand on his head. Very strange, this fluttering, poking, water balloon on my organs feeling.

I like to interpret his movements. If someone is doing something to annoy me, and baby kicks, that means he's on my side. If I'm having a great time and baby kicks, he likes the same things I do. If I'm sad and baby kicks, he's agreeing that the world is can be a messed up place, but also assuring me he's ready to come out and make some changes.

Being a creature of the internet age, I turn to youtube and wikipedia in my time of wondering. "Fetal movement" calls up 46 results of pregnant bellies. I don't need to see these, but it's somehow reassuring that 46 people found this amazing enough to go to the trouble of filming it and posting to youtube. Wikipedia was more enlightening, describing the quaint notion of quickening and the more modern conception of fetal movement:

By about week 21, the fetus begins to develop a regular schedule of movement.^[13] The startle reflex is present in half of all fetuses by week 24 and in all fetuses by week 28.^[15]

I noticed the startle reflex last week. I was riding home from work, pedaling through Castleberry Hill on Peter Street, when a car decided not to pull out suddenly from a side street without bothering to stop first. This happens often at that particular intersection, so I'm usually prepared, but that night I was distracted. As my hand flew out to get the driver's attention and my heart flew into my throat, baby took a dive to the left, away from the car. Only 21 weeks and already he has the reflexes of a much younger man.

In later pregnancy, a complex motion called "stepping" develops. This movement consists of circular "bicycling" motion of legs, which helps the fetus move to a head-down position in preparation for birth.^[11]

BICYCLING! I knew this kid was mine.