Great Expectations: Meagan @ 26 Weeks

I have reached that exciting point in pregnancy where the quick, little flutters of movement have now evolved into real kicks. Instead of just feeling a general twitch or hiccup, I can now feel limbs and appendages moving around. I have felt the change internally for a week or so, but at times, I can now feel the baby on the outside as well. Just this morning, the baby was moving and pushing on one side of me. So I pushed back. I could feel the limb as it pushed and retracted. During my first pregnancy, my son was typically active in the afternoon and I'd take a break from writing to play with him. I'd push where he'd push and then feel him squirm to the other side. We'd banter back and forth this way for a while. I always wondered what that must've felt like to him. And now I'm getting to that point once again. Sure, all of this movement does mean there is sometimes an elbow in my bladder or foot in my abdomen, but it's still the best part of pregnancy and one that I will miss once the baby is born.

While that has been exciting, a new pregnancy symptom has begun that I was hoping to avoid this time around: leg cramps. I had them with my first two pregnancies, but since I hadn't had one yet this time around, I was hoping to avoid them. Unfortunately I have been woken from my sleep three times in the past week with horrible calf cramps. Thankfully they go away in about a minute, once I remember to breathe through them and stretch as my birthing instructor advised years ago. She likened them to preparations for birth where you have to remember to not focus on the pain and not to give in to it. Wise words.

My husband and I are still playing the name game. We've been contemplating a name for a while now and have yet to settle on one. We do have what others would consider to be a lot of criteria, but we figure if our baby is going to be stuck with this name for the rest of her life, we had better put some thought into it and make it as close to perfect as possible. We still have 14 weeks or so before the name is a necessity. Though last week I did have a friend give birth two months premature. Thankfully baby and mom are both doing well, but it goes to show you never really know when the baby will decide to arrive.

Meagan is the blogger at www.DefiningMotherhood.com where she explores her role as a mother of two-and-a-half little ones, as well as Unexpectant, where she explores the realities of birth, babies and beyond. Learn more by following @unexpectant on Twitter or visiting www.MeaganChurch.com.

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