Skippy Says: 23 Weeks (Pregnancy Journal)

23 Weeks

Dear baby girl,

I can't believe how strong you have gotten in such a short amount of time. I had kind of a late start on feeling you move, but since then you have more than made up for it with your kicks getting stronger daily. When you're feeling particularly excitable, you kick so hard that daddy can see your squirms just by looking at my belly! No luck so far with determining whether it's your hand, foot, head, or some other body part that's the culprit, but daddy can tell exactly where inside my belly you're moving since that part will raise slightly up from the rest of my belly and jiggle a bit. Daddy gets super excited pointing to the part of my belly where he sees you and going "there," "there," and then looking over to me for confirmation. You can bet we have a new nightly ritual. And you can bet I have no say in whether or not I want to do it. Lastly, you can bet I'm going to start messing with his head by pretending you're kicking in a totally different spot than he sees. Hey, if he can have his fun, I can have mine.

You definitely have your favorite times to move around-- in the morning, at night, anytime after I eat, and, strangely enough, whenever I'm riding on the bus. All the other times are supposedly common, but that last one is a doozy. I'm not sure what it is about the bus that gets you so riled up. Is it the stop and go jerky motion? The people standing next to me invading my personal space? I certainly hope it's not that one man who smells like he hasn't showered in, oh, about a decade who I always have to try to discreetly move away from so that I don't gag. My books tell me all your senses have developed now, so I know you know who I'm talking about. Plus, I swear I can feel you scrunching up your nose in disgust whenever we're less than 10 feet away from him.

Speaking of your developed senses, you apparently can hear everything I hear now too. I mean, in a muffled, protected by layers of tissue and amniotic fluid sort of way, but still. Perhaps that means I should stop swearing so much. At this rate, you'll fly down my birth canal yelling "craaaaap," which I think would leave your grandmas and grandpas pretty disappointed, although undoubtedly impressed.

I've told daddy he should start talking to you now that you can hear him, since I've read that if he talks to you enough you'll come to recognize his voice and kick in response to hearing it. Pretty neat, huh? Daddy's interpretation of my order request is to put his mouth right up on my belly and say "moooooove, come on, moooooooooove." And then he sticks is tongue in my belly button because he's gross like that and knows it will make me squeal in horror. I'm generally unable to fight back on my own, though I put up a damn darn good fight. I can't wait until you're around, and we can plot ways to get back at him together. You know you wanna be on my side.

Love,

Mama