Anastasia’s pregnancy diary - weeks 18-20

There it is in print. ‘Week 18: If this is your first pregnancy, it is now that you will probably feel your baby move for the first time. It’s an exciting experience to feel the reassuring movements of your baby, telling you that everything is fine.’ How could a pregnancy book be so irresponsible? I’d love to feel those reassuring foetal movements, but so far, nothing. Nada. Not a twitch. Not an hour goes by without me wondering why I can’t feel anything when, seemingly, every other pregnant woman at this stage can. My friends with babies are no help – they can’t remember when they felt their first movements, and they tell me not to worry about it. My frantic research uncovers even worse news: if you feel an absence of foetal movement for 24 hours, it says, go to your doctor immediately. So what am I supposed to do? I must admit that, somewhere deep inside I know I’m being alarmist. I am able to find the sound of the heartbeat with my magic device (the stethoscope-like listening contraption my friend brought over from the States), so I know the baby’s OK in there. But I hate to miss out on something I’m ‘supposed’ to be feeling. Must be that competitive nature combined with too much information and pregnancy hormones. Either way, it’s really getting under my skin.

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