Counting Baby Kicks

Over the last couple of months, my OB-GYN began each visit with the question “Is the baby moving okay?” At first, I wasn’t sure what she meant and how to answer. I thought the baby was moving from time to time, but I was not sure. Plus, I didn’t know what was considered normal. Was I supposed to feel him kick at any particular time of the day? How many times were considered sufficient? How strong should the kicks be in order to count?

I had read somewhere that first-time moms had trouble recognizing baby movements for what they were but most women would undoubtedly start feeling a baby’s foot or elbow nudge sometime in the second trimester. Indeed, by the end of the second trimester I too could satisfactorily report that I’ve felt the baby kicking.

Expectant mothers are supposed to know their babies best and thus be able to tell at what time of the day, or under what conditions, their baby is most active. I hadn’t detected a pattern, however. I felt the baby move the most at night, after I’d gone to bed, but that could have been due to my busy schedule during the day. (When I’m focused on my work, I don’t think about whatever might be taking place inside my belly.)

So, when my doctor asked me for the first time if the baby was moving okay, I gave her a tentative answer: “I think so.” My doctor had apparently heard this answer often enough from first-time moms, so she instructed me to do the following: eat some food, drink some water, lie on my side, and start counting the baby kicks. If the baby didn’t move at least ten times within one hour, I was to go to the hospital for a checkup.

What my doctor forgot to explain to me was that this rule didn’t apply for any and all hours of the day. In the weeks to follow, I was pretty sure my baby was moving more than ten times in a given hour, but there were hours when I was positive it hadn’t moved even once (or at least I hadn’t felt a nudge). And this is the reason I ended up in the hospital strapped to a monitor for four hours yesterday.

I had read that babies were more active after their mother drinks or eats something sugary. I had tried it and confirmed that it was true in our case as well. But yesterday was different. I ate chunk after chunk of watermelon but didn’t feel a stir. Then I ate a cup of creamy custard. Still nothing. I picked up the phone and called my OB-GYN’s office.

It wasn’t the first time I was worried about the baby not moving enough, but my fears had always been quickly assuaged by a slice of watermelon. When this time the trick didn’t work, I felt I needed the reassurance of a doctor. I had heard of mothers who had lost their babies that late in the pregnancy, and I didn’t want to join the statistics.

The nurse at my doctor’s office repeated the same instructions the doctor had given me weeks prior: to lie down on my side after I’ve eaten and start counting the movements. If I failed to reach the count of ten, then I should go to the hospital.

I nervously lied down and waited. I didn’t wait for an entire hour to pass, but after feeling no fetal movement for what seemed an eternity, I hopped in my car and drove myself to the hospital.

The baby started moving just as I was nearing the parking lot. He kept turning around and stretching myself while I sat in the waiting room. I considered telling the receptionist not to bother checking me in, but she advised me to have the baby checked up just in case—I was already there anyway.

I was taken to the triage room, and a nurse placed two sensors on my belly—one for me and one for the baby. Though the staff continued monitoring me for nearly four hours, it became apparent right away that nothing was wrong. The nurse then explained why my fears were groundless. She said that I shouldn’t expect the baby to move any time (not even most of the time). The counting of kicks (or flips or any other sort of fetal movement), she elaborated, mattered only during the active periods of the baby. In other words, if I feel one movement (especially if it’s during a time when I normally feel the baby move), I should then start counting and see if I reach ten by the end of an hour.

The nurse gave me a sample kick-counting log and told me it could help figure out a pattern or at least get a feel of how active the baby is on a normal day. All I need to record is the time I start counting (starting with the first move), the time the tenth’s move is felt, and the number of minutes it took for these ten movements to happen.

I gave the log a try first thing this morning. I felt the baby stir at 6:37 AM. By the time it was 6:44 AM, he had already shifted ten times. I certainly won’t expect such frantic activity every day, but at least I have a benchmark to make a comparison. And I do feel immensely relieved knowing that I don’t need to count more than once or twice a day. I just need to worry about keeping the baby inside me for a few more weeks—ideally till we reach full term.

Five more weeks to go.