My co-worker (not the one with the belly-button though) just said: 

 - What a perfect AutoCAD belly! 

Now this is THE ultimate compliment an architect could hope for :) 

One of my co-workers just asked me pointing at my ever growing belly button - "Is that the baby's head?"

 There are sixteen different kinds of kicks, as it turns out:

Dreamy - just those random gentle nudges scattered through the day. Tend to fill Mom with inexplicable dreamy feeling of happiness and overall love to the entire world.

Hungry - those are a bit stronger, the "hey, what's for dinner?" kind. Fill Mom with guilt and send her hunting for food.

Full (of sugar) - after a meal - very strong happy kicks. Let's go crazy and turn this place upside down (literally)!

Picky #1 - very deliberate picking on a particular spot on Mom's right side of the belly. Probably curious if he can make a hole. I used to do that with wall paper when I was small. There were layers, and layers, and I did not stop unitl I finally got to the concrete partition.

Picky #2 -  same only on left side of the tummy.

Picky #3 -  same right near the belly button.

Annoyed (get off me you heavy elephant!) - usually once Mom is finally settled in bed. This nudging is more effective than all articles in the world on "How you should not sleep on your tummy during pregnancy"

Maradona (Ronaldo for those who are too young to have heard of Maradona ;) - kicks that send Mommy jumping, screaming and giggling in public. This is VERY ticklish.

And last but not least - either one of the described above in the middle of the night - I read somewhere that babies are most active during the night. We just sleep right through it. Well, on those ocassions when I do get up at night - there they are, my dear friends.

This is a note of support and encouragement to all new and expentant mothers, who know what I'm talking about.


Now please let me assert myself. I am not against parental advice in general. In the past 5 months I have read half a billion books and taken half a dozen classes on pregnancy and parenting. And of course I greatly enjoy sharing experiences and accepting advice from my friends and family... - when I ask for it.

Special note for Masha, Mama and Grandma - I love YOUR advice and input. It is ALWAYS welcome. This post is about others - or rather "well meaning others...

But apparently having a pregnant belly gives your friends, relatives, acquaintances and absolutely random strangers a false impression that they are entitled to giving you advice and directives on how and what you should be doing whenever they please. Just the other day a well-meaning random stranger exclaimed that she is SO HAPPY she is not in my tummy, after hearing that I drink coffee every morning. The fact that 3 OBGyns and Harvard Medical School Report all agreed that it was harmless and possibly beneficial in my low blood pressure case did not seem to impress her in the least. Oh well, that's what my beloved professor Bell would call an unsolicited personal attack. I was warned about them, numerous times, as well as of how every other freaking mother of young kids I encounter will rush to tell me how I should brace myself, how the end of the world is approaching, how neither me or my husband will never sleep (eat, drink, have sex, fill in the blank) again once the baby comes. Smart people who warned me about this and gave some useful advice, such as nod politely, say yes and then do exactly what you were going to anyway, or just wear earplugs.

But last night I received a piece of advice that I would really like to share - and seriously consider having it engraved in gold on marble.
My dear friend Nancy, a mother of two beautiful girls, told me quite simply:

Just as there are no two identical fingerprints, there are no two mothers with exact same phisiology, genetic make-up, surroundings, circumstances, background and endless other factors that make any given person the person they are. And just like that - there is NO ONE RIGHT WAY that fits all - there are MANY RIGHT WAYS that will take you to the same happy result - a happy and healthy baby.