Personality!

A few nights ago, Baby woke me up at 4:30am with the usual quick bathroom trip. But even though I wanted to crawl back into bed and get in the last hour and a half of sleep, Baby was kicking up a storm and I realized...I was hungry.

Now, first trimester hunger I absolutely could not ignore. I would get nauseous and feel terrible and just unable to wait more than two hours to eat. Late second trimester hunger I can hold off until I'm able to get a decent, healthy meal. The hunger is not quite as intense. I could have crawled back into bed and waited an hour and a half before it was time to get up, shower, and make breakfast.

But Baby was kicking, kicking, kicking, and while I was excited at first to feel him move so much, I started to wonder--what if he was kicking so much because he couldn't wait to eat? Maybe I was hungry but he was extra hungry!

Not wanting to deprive my child, I hurried downstairs at 4:30am to make myself a bowl of cereal, and added peanut butter and a slice of cheese for extra protein. Baby seemed to settle down after that, and I got about one more hour of sleep before I had to wake up and get ready for the day.

Of course, I have since discovered times when Baby is kicking, kicking, kicking, and I'm not hungry at all. He seems to be most active during early morning and late at night, though sometimes he will surprise me with a particularly strong kick in the middle of the day when I'm just quietly sitting on the couch surfing online.

Which leads me to believe that his 4:30am hunger kicking was just a rouse. Clearly he likes to play games.

The next time Baby kicked me that much was around 11:30 at night when I was trying to get some sleep. Again, it was super exciting to feel him move so frequently and so strongly. For once I could have Hubby put his arms on my belly and he could feel his son distinctly for a long period of time! But after a while Hubby got tired and rolled over to go to sleep. And I was tired too. I thought maybe Baby was so active because he missed his Daddy.

So I rolled over and let Baby proceed to kick Hubby in the back while he slept (He likes this game too). Sure enough, this appeared to calm our son and he finally became a little more still, or maybe I just drifted off to sleep and stopped noticing.

It's fun to feel Baby every day and try to determine what his movements mean. Is a kick a sign he likes something? Doesn't like something? Is he just uncomfortable and trying to stretch? Or maybe it's involuntary while he's sleeping?

However, his favorite game of all is still "Discredit Mommy," as I still often call Hubby over to feel kicks and he'll immediately stop after. He's also done this when I've tried to get my own mom to feel a kick, when I've tried to get Hubby's aunt to feel a kick, and even when I've tried to capture a tiny tummy vibration on video. He stops the second a hand is on my belly, which could mean he likes the touch. But then how does that explain him being camera shy??

Baby's clearly got personality already, which is a great way to make pregnancy sink into reality during a second trimester that is relatively smooth and symptom free. There have pretty much been no cravings, my brief back ache period disappeared, and even my itchy skin is gone as I continue to bask in the second trimester glow of feeling "pretty good" (what I've been responding to most people who ask how I'm feeling). I know this will all change soon enough, so I'm enjoying the fact that my biggest complaint this trimester was waking up with a leg cramp in my calf that's been sore for a couple days.

Hopefully Baby's personality will continue to shine through in the next couple of months as we prepare for the next upcoming adventure in pregnancy: our baby shower!