How do I know if it's the baby moving? or something else?

mmmmkay · January 2016

I'm 17 weeks or so I just started getting a bunch of what feels like little muscle spasms just under my rib cage on the left.
I can even feel them if i put my fingers there. I'm assuming it's just a muscle spasm as the location seems a bit odd (shouldn't it be lower?) and my doctor said i might not feel them as soon as normal as my placenta is anterior.

What did the first movements feel like to you?

tgortney · January 2016

I'm 22 weeks and didn't really start feeling till 19-20 week range. Now my son is super active! Especially at night when I lay on my left side.

My OB actually said 16-17 weeks is a little early to feel any real movement but I swear I felt some that early. Now, I know for sure it's the baby. It's usually lower and not around my rib cage at all but babies change positions a lot so you never know.

TaylorK89 · January 2016

I'm 18+2 and last night while relaxing on the couch I swear I thought I felt the baby. To be more honest, I felt something "weird" low in my pelvis, and since I'm familiar w/ what gas and indigestion feel like, I'm assuming it was baby. It was a strange, kind of undulating/rolling sensation, followed by a few pokes. Weiredddd (I'm a ftm, so it was a very new sensation). I've felt it a couple more times throughout the day today as well. Still trying to truly decipher if it's baby or not, but the more I feel it, the more I think it is!

I agree the location (up toward your ribs) seems like an odd place to feel baby. According to what I've read the uterus hasn't even reached belly button height yet, so maybe it's something else?

tripledaggerWed95976 · January 2016

At 17 weeks your uterus is about 3 fingers width below your belly button so you wouldn't be feeling the baby that high up for many more weeks. I'm 22 weeks and I feel the movements at or below my belly button still

SarahFoley725 · January 2016

Just guessing based off of the location you're describing it probably is just a muscle spasm from your uterus growing and everything stretching. I personally felt movement once a week 16-19 and then consistently after that but that's on the early side. Hang in there, before you know it you will have feet in your ribs (:

clairemwalker · January 2016

I have an anterior placenta too, and i felt my first definite movement at 18+1 although it was definitely low, below the bellybutton. So its most likely a muscle spasm this time but hang in there it will be soonish!! It also depends WHERE anterior it is, mine is right in the middle so i only felt things quite sporadicly until about 25 weeks, wheras my sisters was anterior but quite high, so never affected her feeling movement at all. I hope it happens for you soon! Edited cause grammar late at night is hard

CecilB93 · January 2016

My placenta is also anterior and I didn't feel anything until about 22 weeks. But I agree with pp, it's going to be down below or right around your belly button depending on the size of your uterus, not by the ribs yet. I honestly didn't feel anything up high by my ribs till maybe about 28 or 29 weeks, but I think my baby likes to hang out kind of low plus he was breech for the longest time.

nkob · January 2016

You're probably feeling a muscle spasm if it's that high. I felt my first for sure at 18 weeks and the day I did you could actually see my belly go angled (bump on one side, then the other - we actually took a picture it was so obvious) it was pretty cool but I'm thin so I don't think that's the norm. I did think I had been feeing something for the week before but I wasn't sure, once I could feel for sure I knew it was him. In the 17th week it felt like a tickle almost (kind of like a tiny feeling of when you go on a roller coaster) but it's only if you're relaxing and paying attention. I never understood when people say it feels like gas, mine never did but maybe I have weird gas feelings

Good luck, it'll happen any day now!!

kyraaD · January 2016

i agree with PP's. I would definitely say muscle spasm. at 17 weeks, baby isn't big enough to reach your rib cage.

i also have an anterior placenta, but i actually felt my first littl nudge at 17 weeks (a little below my belly button). i didn't really feel him again until 19-20 weeks. you'll know when you feel baby move. it's a feeling like no other!

fourtsixand2 · January 2016

I don't think that's the baby you're feeling, honestly. My first baby movements felt like a rumbly tummy after an upset stomach, or butterflies. At just after 21 weeks I felt my first "for sure" movement. It felt like a little something poking me from the inside. Try laying on your back very still and see if you feel anything moving around.
I'm almost 26 months now and don't confuse the baby moving at all...it's very much obvious at this point. I think when you know, you really know.

wmam35 · January 2016

I'm 24 weeks with twins and only just started feeling them move around 22 weeks. Around 18 weeks I started wondering if certain things I was feeling were baby movements or something else, but when I felt them move, I just *knew* it was them - there was no mistaking it! Maybe it was my first taste of mother's intuition

peregrinefalconx · January 2016

I am pretty sure I am feeling baby's movements these days (17-18 weeks). Little kind of "tink tinks" a few fingers width above my pubic area. My mom called it "gas" but they are too similar to each other. From what I have heard, you'll know for sure with the benefit of hindsight, once you feel kicking more clearly. Agree with PPs that it is spasming under ribs. I did not think I would feel much of anything because of a tipped uterus (not sure if that is different than an anterior placenta).

LadySamLady · January 2016

I have an anterior placenta too and only started feeling real definitive movement at 21 weeks. Before that I felt some twinges and things that I thought (hoped) might be my LO, but in hindsight weren't. Like other PPs have said, once you feel it you know. There is really no mistaking it for anything else.

hime0021 · January 2016

You'll just kinda know when it's baby versus something else. I don't really know how to describe it other than it just feels weird and strange. I'm 26 weeks now and my little guy is extremely active. He moves constantly and I'm able to see my belly twitch now with his movements. It's really fun.

little_bren · January 2016

Mine just kinda feels like a goldfish swimming around. My placenta was anterior last time but I'm guessing it's not this time since I have felt LO already. Plus, being a STM, I know what to look for.

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